Evaluation of nonpolar metabolites in plant extracts by 13C NMR spectroscopy

13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was explored as a simple and efficient technique for the quantitative analysis of nonpolar metabolites in plants. The method was first optimized with a mixture of known metabolites and then applied to the nonpolar leaf extracts of plants harvested in the Valencian community (eastern Spain) belonging to three different genera: Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae), Araujia (Apocynaceae), and Morus (Moraceae). Furthermore, an exhaustive analysis of Euphorbia characias leaf and stem extracts from different geographic locations allowed that quantitative 13C NMR spectroscopy is a suitable tool for metabolic profiling purpose. © 2011 American Chemical Society.
We thank the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion of Spain (MICINN, SAF2008 01845) and the Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe for their economic support We also thank Cemex Sustainable Chair in Spain for the predoctoral fellowship to P V E