Mayer Test

Mayer test is a simple test to indicate the presence of alkaloids in plant material.For almost two years doing my Msc. I don't get a positive result for this test until today. What was lucky I'm to finally succed!

Mayer test step:

1) weight 20g dried plant materials
2) wet the plant materials with 25% ammonia solution (smelly!)
3) let it for 15-30 minutes
4) add solvent 200mL such as dichloromethane or chloroform
5) heat it for 15 minutes
6) filter the solvent and evaporate it using rotary evaporator (rotavap)
7) residue plant extract add with 5% hydrochloric acids
8) add MAYER reagent
9) positive test : creamy precipitate!
10) take a photo as the evidence of your founding.

That's all. I'm so happy today :)