OCCURRENCE OF TWO BRANCHED PENTA-AMINES IN LEGUME SEEDS HAS NOT BEEN CONFIRMED
Authors: Koei Hamana and Masaru Niitsu
Koei Hamana: Faculty of Engineering, Maebashi Institute of Technology, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-0816, Japan.
Masaru Niitsu: Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Josai University, Sakado, Saitama, 350-0295, Japan.
ABSTRACT
We detected N4-bis(aminopropyl)spermidine [3(3)(3)4], a quaternary branched penta-amine and N5-aminobutylhomospermine [4(4)44], a tertiary branched penta-amine by liquid chromatography and gas chromatography of the concentrated/purified polyamine fraction acid-extracted from the legume seeds of Crotalaria spectabilis,and other legume seeds of Vicia sativa (narrow-leaved vetch), Vicia villosa (hairy vetch) and Phaseolus coccineus (runner bean), respectively, and we have reported tentatively the natural occurrence of the two penta-amines in legume seeds. We validated and evaluated the analyses of the two penta-amines in our previous studies and showed here some unreproducible polyamine profiles among the seeds supplied from markets, which we cultivated and collected in fields. Contamination of the branched penta-amines during concentration/purification to obtain polyamine fraction before performing the two chromatographical analyses, was not excluded. Therefore, the natural occurrence of the two branched penta-amines in leguminous plant seeds has not been confirmed.
Keywords: Polyamines; Branched penta-amines; Legume seeds; HPLC; GC-MS; Crotalaria spectabilis