Occurrence of formaldehyde in intact plants, micropropagated plants and hairy root cultures of chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.)

In different parts of both micropropagated and intact (ordinary, soil-grown ) chamomile plants and in hairy root cultures of this species, formaldehyde (HCHO) in dimedone adduct form was identified and quantified by an automat ic OPLC instrument using authentic formaldemethone as a standard. The amoun t of HCHO bound by the dimedone reagent increases as the concentration of d imedone is increased, until a maximum is reached. The HCHO detected is thou ght to be derived from metabolically-labile hydroxymethyl groups, and sugge sts that some as yet unidentified hydroxymethyl-containing molecule in cham omile may play an important role in the metabolism of this common medicinal plant.