Bioactivity-guided fractionation was used to determine the cytotoxic alkaloids from the toxic plant Peganum harmala. Two novel indole alkaloids, together with ten known ones, were isolated and identified. The novel alkaloids were elucidated to be 2-(indol-3-yl)ethyl-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (2) and 3-hydroxy-3-(N-acetyl-2-aminoethyl)-6-methoxyindol-2-one (3). The cytotoxi...

Cocaine, atropine and scopolamine are the three most important alkaloids in the tropane group. The detection of these alkaloids and their metabolites, at trace levels in biological matrices, is reviewed. These matrices include human and rat physiological fluids such as blood, urine, and saliva as well as human body tissue and hair. The detection, isolation, and determination of cocaine and rela...

I t is known that the alkaloids are very strong poisons. Their poisoning power can be compared only with that of the glucosides, the hormones, the saponins, HCN, and some bacterial toxins. The alkaloids are sufficiently studied physiologically, and in relation to their chemical structure, but what chemical substances enter in combination with them in the body and in the cell is wholly obscure. ...

The development of fungal endophytes of the genus Epichloë in grasses results in the production of different groups of alkaloids, whose mechanism and biological spectrum of toxicity can differ considerably. Ergot alkaloids, when present in endophyte-infected tall fescue, are responsible for "fescue toxicosis" in livestock, whereas indole-diterpene alkaloids, when present in endophyte-infected r...

The type and content change of alkaloids of Radix Aconiti Lateralis (Lateral root of Aconitum carmichaeli Debx, an important and popular medicinal herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine) in processing were studied using high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-multi-stage mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS(n)). Extract containing alkaloids, which were known to be the main bioact...

Seventeen pyrrolizidine alkaloids were studied with the hepatocyte primary culture-DNA repair test using rat hepatocytes. DNA repair synthesis was elicited by 15 alkaloids, including 11 of unknown carcinogenicity, i.e., senecionine, seneciphylline, jacobine, epoxyseneciphylline, senecicannabine, acetylfukinotoxin, syneilesine, dihydroclivorine, ligularidine, neoligularidine, and ligularizine. T...

Papaver pseudo-orientale population Tarom was shown to contain two major alkaloids, isothebaine (0.65%), Orientalidine (0.15%) and four minor alkaloids, bracteoline, mecambridine, Or and a novel alkaloid, nor-methyl Or .

papaver fugax poiret population khalkhal was shown to contain four major alkaloids, roemerine (0.19%), mecamberine (0.39%), liriodenine (0.20%) and salutaridine (0.10%). papaver caucasicum m. b. population elika was shown to contain four major alkaloids, nuciferine (0.50%), amurensinine (0.15%), lysicamine (0.30%) and nornuciferine (0.40%). lysicarnine and nornuciferine were detected for the fi...

Ergot alkaloids, produced by the plant parasitic fungi Claviceps purpurea are important pharmaceuticals. The chemistry, biosynthesis, bioconversions, physiological controls, and biochemistry have been extensively reviewed by earlier authors. We present here the research done on the organic synthesis of the ergot alkaloids during the past two decades. Our aim is to apply this knowledge to the sy...

Twenty-four bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids were screened for antiplasmoidal, antiamoebic, and cytotoxic activities by use of in vitro microtests. Eight of the alkaloids had antiplasmodial activity, with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of less than 1 microM against a multidrug-resistant strain of Plasmodium falciparum (chloroquine had an IC50 of 0.2 microM). The three alkaloids most activ...