Determination of gossypol enantiomer ratio in cotton plants by chiral higher-performance liquid chromatography.

A celulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) coated onto APS silica (Nucleosil, particle size, 7 microm; pore size, 500 A) was used under a reversed-phase condition to measure the enantiomeric ratios of gossypol enantiomers in cottonseeds, flowers, and roots in a number of cultivars samples of different Gossipium species. While unidimensional chromatography was used for measuring the enantiomeric ratio of all the samples of G. hirsutum, G. mustelinum, and in the seeds of G. barbadense, multidimensional chromatography was necessary for the analysis of samples of roots and flowers of G. barbadense. In the latter case, an ODS Hypersil column was used in the first dimension for sample clean up, and the enantiomers were resolved on the second dimension by the chiral column. As expected, all the seed samples of G. hirsutum and G. mustelinum showed the (P)-(+)-enantiomer in excess, whereas the seeds of G. barbadense showed the (M)-(-)-enantiomer. However, (P)-(+)-gossypol was found in enantiomeric excess in three samples examined of roots and in one of flower of G. barbadense. These results are discussed in this paper.