Spectrophotometric determination of total alkaloids in some Iranian medicinal plants

A simple spectrophotometric method based on the reaction with bromocresol green (BCG) has been developed for determination of total alkaloids in medicinal plants.A yellow complex forms and is easily extractable by chloroform at pH 4.7.The absorbance of the complex obeys Beer's law over the concentration range of 4-13 pg atropine per ml of chloroform.This procedure can be carried out in the presence of other compounds without interference.