I may have detected vitamin D3 from my plant extracts using GC-MS. I searched the literature and came up with studies that say it's possible and others that says otherwise. What is your expert opinion on this?
I assume you ran a standard to compare retention time, etc on your system? If so, you probably did see it.
I see nothing in the structure, other than possibly size, that would prevent it from running in GC.
I don't see cholecalciferol as being particularly "MS friendly", although there is the lone OH group that could take a charge- perhaps with APCI, APPI, or EI ionization, it could show well (I note the ionization technique isn't listed in the question).
Dr. Silver, we did a quick, initial run for characterization, I am currently looking for a standard to compare my results to. By the way, our method used EI ionization at 70 eV.
EI should work for that compound, and it should also give fragments that help to confirm the structure.
Hello,
I agree with Jack Silver about the size issue. Was this derivatized or not? Do you know the molecular ion? Oh, and was the fragmentation pattern of this peak compared to NIST (or any other data base), run with a standard or how was it suggested it appears to be Vitamin D3?
Also, I don't know what kind of ionization method and column you have used, but with the structure of this compound there is a risk of a rearrangement in the column when it is heated...this could lead to two peaks, pyrocholecalciferol and isopyrocholecalciferol (attachment).
regards,
JR
Alright, some of the questions had already been answered. Sorry, I was in the lab.
Thank you for that valuable input Dr. Raitanen. What bothers me is the idea of the presence of Vitamin D3 in plants. Is that possible? I know that rearrangement may occur, but so far those two peaks you mentioned were not present in my chromatogram.
Just for the sake of mentioning, the fragments of our run corresponds directly to those from NIST. I am currently looking for a standard for comparative reasons. I searched the literature and some papers reported the presence of Vitamin D3 from their plant extracts. I am sure my plant samples were not contaminated by fungi of some sort because Ergosterol and Ergocalciferol were not observed in the chromatogram. They don't even show up on the hit list of fragments per peak that I analyzed.
Hi,
yes, in contrary to common belief, Vitamin D3 can be found in some plant species. Have a look at (and references therein):
Jäpelt, R.B.; Jakobsen, J. "Vitamin D in plants: a review of occurrence, analysis, and biosynthesis", Front Plant Sci., 2013, 4, 136.
regards,
JR
Several plants contain minute amounts of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol, the hormonally active form of cholecalciferol, such as Solanum glaucophyllum, Trisetum flavescens and Cestrum diurnum.
The only plant that contains > 1 ppm of (heavily glycosylated) 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol is Solanum glaucophyllum.
Herbonis, a Swiss company (www.herbonis.com), produces and markets solid and aqueous extracts of Solanum glaucophyllum obtained from clones of Solanum glaucophyllum that have been carefully optimized for high 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol content (> 20 ppm). These extracts are mainly sold as feed additives to poultry farms.
Herbonis also has characterised the composition of their Solanum glaucophyllum extracts (H. Bachmann, S. Autzen, U. Frey, U. Wehr, W. Rambeck, H. McCormack, C.C. Whitehead: The efficacy of a standardised product from dried leaves of Solanum glaucophyllum as source of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol for poultry. Br. Poult. Sci. 2013, 54(5), 642-652).
I am curious to find out whether other plants of the nightshade or other plant families also contain vitamin D3 metabolites.
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