Abstract:Plants are rich in nutrients，among which there are many types of alkaloids with complex structures，resulting in a variety of biological activities. In order to make full use of the biological activity of alkaloids，suitable extraction，separation，and purification methods should be used for different alkaloids. In this paper，the types of alkaloids in plants were summarized from the perspective of chemical structure，and the advantages and disadvantages of different extraction and separation methods were compared. The analysis and detection methods of alkaloids were summed up，and the efficacy of alkaloids in medicinal and edible homologous plants was summarized，so as to provide a useful reference for the development of alkaloids in plants and their application in the field of functional foods.