ANALYSIS OF HYDROXYPIPECOLIC ACIDS BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

The development of a method is described for the analysis of hydroxypi pecolic acids in crudely purified plant extracts, All eight known natu rally-occurring mono-and di-hydroxypipecolic acids could be resolved i n a single analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) of their trimethyfsilyl derivatives, The mass spectra and retention time s of these derivatives are provided, The applicability of the method t o chemotaxonomic studies using hydroxypipecoiic acids Is assessed by s urveying the patterns of these compounds in herbarium leaf material of 11 species of Inga. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.