Alkaloid standards (sanguinarine, chelerythrine, magnoflorine, palmatine, protopine and chelidonine) were purchased from Chem Faces Biochemical Co., Ltd. (Wuhan, China). Berberine was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA).
Plant materials were collected and identified in the Botanical Garden of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (Poland). Voucher specimens no. 12/2021 are available in the collection of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Medical University, Lublin. Sanguinaria canadensis was collected before flowering in March, during flowering in April and after flowering in June 2020. Mahonia aquifolium was collected during flowering in April. Chelidonium majus was collected before flowering in April, during flowering in May and after flowering in June 2018 and 2020. Plant organs were cut into pieces and dried at ambient temperature for 2 weeks.