California poppy - A preliminary study of a commercial 20:1 extract vs authentic plant material There is cheap, widespread availability of herbal extracts - notably of Chinese origin - but are they accurate extracts of the plant that capture the desired phytochemical constituents? The purpose of this was to study a commercial 20:1 extract of California poppy to see how it fared against the actual plant (homegrown). The root was used as a reference sample as it is much richer in the pharmacologically active alkaloids. The commercial 20:1 extract was as pictured below: A sample of the 20:1 was macerated in basified solvent (aq. ammonia), so too the root material and both concentrated to a small sample TLC of commercial 20:1 vs Root of California poppy (silica, 0.2mm, glass backed, I 2 visualisation) a) acetone elution b) acetone:white spirits:1:1 elution 1 A third TLC revealed some phytochemical density in the commercial 20:1 but it was considerably different to that seen in the root. As can be seen from the TLCs, the root gave a rich spectrum of constituents which was notably absent in the 20:1 in both solvent system runs. While there are some similarities particularly seen in the mixed solvent elution, it seems like the 20:1 is a comparatively poor extract of the pharmacologically relevant constituents and despite claiming to be 20 times strength, may not capture the desired constituents which instead, may sometimes be better obtained from raw plant material. 2