Modern Methods of Plant Analysis When the handbook Modern Methods of Plant Analysis was first introduced in 1954 the considerations were: 1. the dependence of scientific progress in biology on the improvement of existing and the introduction of new methods; 2. the difficulty in finding many new analytical methods in specialized journals which are normally not accessible to experimental plant biologists; 3. the fact that in the methods sections of papers the description of methods is frequently so compact, or even sometimes so incomplete that it is difficult to reproduce experiments. These considerations still stand today. The series was highly successful, seven volumes appearing between 1956 and 1964. Since there is still today a demand for the old series, the publisher has decided to resume publication of Modern Methods of Plant Analysis. It is hoped that the New Series will be just as acceptable to those working in plant sciences and related fields as the early volumes undoubtedly were. It is difficult to single out the major reasons for success of any publication, but we believe that the methods published in the first series were up-to-date at the time and presented in a way that made description, as applied to plant material, complete in itself with little need to consult other publications. Contributing authors have attempted to follow these guidelines in this New Series of volumes.

Klappentext

This volume compiles gas chromatographic and mass spectrometric methods for the analysis of plant material that until now were only to be found widely scattered in specialist journals. Experts have contributed chapters on such topics as plant hormones, essential oils, terpenoids, phospholipids, volatile flavour components, polysaccharides, and cyclic nucleotides. By bringing together GC/MS analyses on different classes of plant compounds, the authors make it possible for researchers working with plant cells, particularly plant physiologists, to better appreciate the advantages and limitations of this technique.

Inhalt
The Use of Combined Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry in the Analysis of Plant Growth Substances.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Identification by GC-MS.- 3 Gibberellins.- 4 Abscisic Acid and Related Compounds.- 5 Brassinosteroids.- References.- Applications of Mass Spectrometry for the Examination of Pectic Polysaccharides.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Structural Analysis of Pectic Polysaccharides.- 3 Determination of the Nature of the Glycosidic Linkages.- 4 Separation and Identification of Partially Methylated Alditol Acetates.- 5 Extensions of Methylation Analysis.- 6 Sequencing of Sugar Residues in Pectins.- 7 Sequencing of Pectic Polysaccharides by Partial Depolymerisation of Permethylated Derivatives.- 8 Experimental.- References.- GC-MS Methods for Cyclic Nucleotides in Higher Plants and for Free High Unsaturated Fatty Acids in Oils.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Methods of GC-MS.- 3 Adenosine-3?:5?-Monophosphate (cAMP) in Maize Seedlings (Zea mays).- 4 An Isotope Dilution GC-MS Spectrometric Assay for cAMP in Cultured Tobacco Tissue.- 5 Stability of Cyclic Purine Nucleotides in the Presence of Hydrochloric Acid During Extraction.- 6 Guanosine-3?:5?-Monophosphate (cGMP) in Maize Seedlings (Zea mays).- 7 GC-Separation of Synthetic cAMP and cGMP in a Mixture.- 8 Cyclic Pyrimidine Nucleotides in Plants?.- 9 Free High Unsaturated Fatty Acids in Oils.- 10 Conclusions.- References.- GC-MS Methods for Lower Plant Glycolipid Fatty Acids.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Extraction of the Plant Material.- 3 Separation of Glycolipids from the Total Lipid Extract.- 4 Isolation of the Glycolipids.- 5 Derivatization of the Glycolipid Fatty Acids for GC-MS.- 6 GLC Instrumentation for Fatty Acid Analysis.- 7 Column Selection for Fatty Acid GLC Analysis.- 8 Interpretation of GC Data and Calculation ofResults.- 9 Fatty Acid Ester Structure Determination by GC-MS.- 10 Abbreviations.- References.- Analysis of Phospholipid Molecular Species by Gas Chromatography and Coupled Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Lipid Preparation.- 3 Formation of Derivatives for GC or GC-MS.- 4 Gas Chromatography.- 5 Mass Spectrometry.- 6 Determination of Positional Distribution of Acyl Chains Using Phospholipase A2.- 7 Conclusion.- References.- GC-MS of Plant Sterol Analysis.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Development of GC-MS Plant Sterol Analysis.- 3 Operations Before GC-MS Sterol Analysis.- 4 Characterization of Sterols.- 5 Conclusion.- References.- GC-MS Methods for Terpenoids.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Isolation Methods.- 3 Prefractionation and Ancillary Reactions.- 4 Gas Chromatography.- 5 Retention Data.- 6 Mass Spectrometry.- References.- GC-MS of Auxins.- 1 Introduction.- 2 The Compounds Involved.- 3 Reference Compounds.- 4 Extraction.- 5 Purification.- 6 Columns for GC.- 7 Injection Techniques.- 8 Derivatisation.- 9 Interface Between GC and MS.- 10 Mass Spectrometer.- 11 Data Systems.- 12 Ionization.- 13 GC-MS Strategy for Auxin Analysis.- 14 Quantification.- 15 The Internal Standard.- 16 Experimental Procedure.- 17 Conclusions.- References.- GC-MS Methods for the Quantitative Determination and Structural Characterization of Esters of Indole-3-Acetic Acid and myo-Inositol.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Quantitative Analysis and Identification of the IAA-Inositols.- 2.2.1 A Quantitative Estimation of IAA-Inositol Using [3H]-IAA-myo-Inositol as an Internal Standard.- 3 Qualitative Analysis of IAA-Inositols.- 4 Conclusions.- 5 Abbreviations.- References.- GC-MS Methods for Cytokinins and Metabolites.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Gas Chromatography (GC).- 3 Mass Spectrometry.- 4 Applications ofMass Spectrometry in Cytokinin Analysis.- 5 General Remarks and Conclusion.- References.- GC-MS Method for Volatile Flavor Components of Foods.- 1 Introduction.- 2 GC-MS Methods.- 3 Volatile Flavor Components.- References.- GC-MS Methods for Tobacco Constituents.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Cembranoids and Their Degraded Compounds.- 3 Labdanoids and Their Degraded Compounds.- 4 Carotenoid-Degraded Compounds.- 5 Sesquiterpenoids.- 6 Terpenoid Glycosides.- 7 Linked Scanning.- References.