3 Analytical Methods for Isolation, Separation and Identification of Selected Furanocoumarins in Plant Material Katarzyna Szewczyk and Anna Bogucka - Kocka Chair and Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Medical University of Lublin, Poland 1. Introduction Coumarins are α–pyrone derivatives synthesized as secondary metabolites in plants. They occur as free compounds or glycosides in plants. They have been isolated from A. Vogel, since 1820, from the tonka beans (Coumarouna odorata Aubl. = Dipteryx odorata Will.) and they have been synthesized in 1868 from W. H. Perkin, through the famous Perkin reaction (Dewick, 2009). Furanocoumarins are one of the coumarin derivatives. They can be grouped into the linear type, where the furan ring (dihydro) is attached at C(6) and C(7), and the angular type, carrying the substitution at C(7) and C(8). The most abundant linear furanocoumarins are psolaren, xanthotoxin, bergapten and isopimpinellin, whereas the angular type is mostly represented by angelicin, sphondin, and pimpinellin. Some structures of furanocoumarins are presented in table 1. As was mentioned for the simple coumarins, numerous minor furanocoumarins have been described in the literature, for example bergamottin (5-geranoxy-psolaren) (Stanley & Vannier, 1967), which has received attention recently as a major grapefruit component interfering with drug metabolism by intestinal CYP3A4 (Bourgaud et al., 2006; Wen et al., 2008). 2. Distribution of furanocoumarins in plants Linear furanocoumarins (syn. psolarens) are principally distributed in four angiosperm families: Apiaceae (Umbelliferae), Moraceae (Brosimum, Dorstenia, Fatoua and Ficus), Rutaceae and Leguminose (restricted to Psoralea and Coronilla generae). The angular (dihydro) furanocoumarins are less widely distributed and primarily confined to the Apiaceae and Leguminosae (Berenbaum et al., 1991; Bourgaud et al., 1995). Moreover, furanocoumarins have been reported from Asteraceae (Compositae), Pittosporaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae and Thymelaeaceae (Milesi et al., 2001; Murray et al., 1982). Certain precursors to this group of compounds are found in the Cneoraceae (Murray, 1982). www.intechopen.com