The chemistry of Mandelin’s test for strychnine
Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City (CDMX), Mexico.
Research Article
Open Access Research Journal of Chemistry and Pharmacy, 2023, 03(01), 001–004.
Article DOI: 10.53022/oarjcp.2023.3.1.0040
Publication history:
Received on 22 November 2022; revised on 07 January 2023; accepted on 09 January 2023
Abstract:
Strychnine reacts with Mandelin’s reagent giving a violet-blue colouration which changes to orange-red and finally to yellow. The chromic acid test for strychnine was surpassed by Mandelin’s assay due to better reagent stability, lower detection limits and fewer false positives. The reagent is ammonium metavanadate in sulphuric acid. In this communication we provide the reaction route and the mechanism of each step, from the alkaloid to the complex final oxidation product. Several oxidations take place and the vanadic acid formed in situ is reduced to vanadous acid. Some information related to vanadium and vanadium compounds is given in order to understand the reactivity of the involved compound.
Keywords:
Ammonium metavanadate; Reaction mechanism; Reactive intermediates; Redox reactions; Vanadium electron shells;Electron configuration;Oxidation states
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Copyright © 2023 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0