2.6. Determination of total alkaloids

Five grams (5g) of each of the sample was weighed into 250 ml beaker and 200 ml of 10% acetic acid in ethanol was added, covered and allowed to stand for 4 h. This was filtered and the extract was concentrated on a water bath to one-quarter of the original volume. Concentrated ammonium hydroxide was added dropwise to the extract until the precipitation was complete. The whole solution was allowed to settle and the precipitate was collected and washed with dilute ammonium hydroxide and then filtered. The residue is the alkaloid, which was dried and weighed.