Studies have been carried out on the protein solubility profile of Kulthi (Macrotylona uniflorus, Lam.) seed in aqueous solution over various pHs and at different concentrations of NaCl, Na2SO3, CaCl2, and MgCl2 at pH 8.0. Amino acid analysis of isolated protein identified 17 amino acids, 9 of which are essential. Gel-permeation chromatography on Sephadex G-200 revealed the presence of seven components in the protein fraction. Their molecular weights were determined by two comparable standard methods. Extractable Kulthi seed proteins in salt solutions were separated electrophoretically into eight fractions whose molecular weights were found to be 186,200, 131,800, 108,400, 91,200, 53,700, 44,700, 38,000, and 27,500.

Identification of amino acids is extremely important for the evaluation of protein structure. Thin layer chromatography is an important tool for detecting amino acids by variety of spray reagents. Among these ninhydrin is the most popular due to its high sensitivity. However, ninhydrin produces the same purple/violet color with most amino acids. A spray reagent with high sensitivity for easy and rapid identification of amino acids on thin-layer plates has been introduced.

No abstract

No abstract

Leaf cuticle was covered by epicuticular wax consisting mainly of straight chain aliphatic hydrocarbons with a variety of substituted groups. The studies of cuticular characters of leaves had played an important role in chemotaxonomy. An n-hexane extract of fresh and mature leaves of Ficus glomerata, containing a thin layer of epicuticular waxes was analyzed for the first time by Thin Layer Chromatography, Infrared Spectroscopy, Gas Chromatography and Scanning Electron Microscopy using standard hydrocarbons. The leaves contained 18 identified long chain (C 15 -C 33 ) n-alkanes except C 23 accounting for 68.82% of the hydrocarbons, and an unknown number of unidentified branched chain alkanes. The predominant n-alkanes were C 16 (5.92%), C 17 (6.18%), C 27 (5.11%), C 29 (5.29%), C 31 (5.47%), whilst C 15 (4.21%), C 18 (4.57%), C 26 (3.88%), C 28 (3.53%), C 30 (3.43%) n-alkanes were moderately abundant. The C 19 (2.53%), C 20 (2.52%) and C 22 (2.16%) homologues were present only in minor amounts. SEM views were also taken for epicuticular layers and hydrocarbons of the leaves. Qualitative and Quantitative characterization of n-alkanes present in the epicuticular wax can be used as an effective tool in chemotaxonomical work.