STRATEGIES FOR THE CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORETIC SEPARATION OF INDOLE ALKALOIDS IN PSILOCYBE SEMILANCEATA

While the hallucinogenic mushrooms Psilocybe semilanceata have previou sly been analyzed for the indole alkaloids psilocybin and baeocystin b y capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) at pH 11.5, the present work fo cused on the development of an alternative and complementary capillary electrophoretic method for their identification. Owing to their struc tural similarity and zwitterionic nature, the compounds were difficult to resolve based on different interactions with cationic or anionic m icelles. However, while the attempts with micellar electrokinetic chro matography (MEKC) were unsuccessful, rapid derivatization with propyl chloroformate and reanalysis by CZE at pH 11.5 was effective to suppor t identification of the two indole alkaloids. Psilocin was difficult t o analyze by CZE at pH 11.5 owing to comigration with the electroosmot ic flow. For this compound, the pH of the running buffer was reduced t o 7.2 to effectively enhance the electrophoretic mobility.