Taxonomic patterns in the distribution of alkaloids, phenolic compounds and cyanogenic glycosides in the genistoid group, which includes the tribes Brongniartieae, Genisteae, Thermopsideae, Crotalarieae, Podalyrieae, Euchresteae and part of the Sophoreae, are reviewed. Discontinuities in the distribution of secondary metabolites agree well with recent modifications to generic and tribal delimit...

Lys-derived alkaloids, including piperidine, quinolizidine, indolizidine, and lycopodium alkaloids, are widely distributed throughout the plant kingdom. Several of these alkaloids have beneficial properties for humans and have been used in medicine. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis of these alkaloids are not well understood. In the present article, we discuss recent...

Recently, Uncaria tomentosa (Willd.) D.C. has become known as a healing plant with an ethnomedicinal background. There have been several reports on its constituents, in particular, oxindole alkaloids. It was found that 2 chemotypes of Uncaria tomentosa with different alkaloid patterns occur in nature. The roots of one type contain pentacyclic oxindoles and the other contains tetracyclic oxindol...

Various species of common box (Buxus) are cultivated in the Arboretum of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Mlyňany under the same soil and climatic conditions; consequently, the examination of alkaloids produced by those plants is of chemotaxonomical importance. From this locality we investigated so far alkaloids from Buxus sempervirens L.[l,2], B. microphylla SIEB, et ZUCC. var. sinica REHD. e...

plants are the important sources of drugs. secondary metabolites are responsible for therapeutic propertiesin plants. three compounds including (-)-hyoscyamine, its racemate atropine, and scopolamine (hyoscine) are the most famous tropane alkaloids in the solanaceae familly. nowadays, attempts to developthese alkaloids in biotechnological procedures which are principally based on the hairy root...

objectives: datura stramonium (ds) is a common weed along roadsides, in cornfields and pastures and in waste areas. it belongs to the family solanaceae and its toxic components are tropane belladonna alkaloids. it has been used voluntarily by teenagers for its hallucinogenic effect. the plant is named in iran as tatoore. symptoms and signs of acute d. stramonium poisoning usually are similar to...

lesser periwinkle (vinca minor l.), a member of apocynaceae, is not only an ornamental plant with lilac-blue flowers, but also a medical plant producing an important alkaloid, vincamine, found in the leaves which shows a pronounced cerebrovasodilatory and neuroprotective activity. this plant is native to northern spain, western france, central and southern europe, and caucasus. it has been rece...

The clavine alkaloids produced by the fungi of the Aspergillaceae and Arthrodermatacea families differ from the ergot alkaloids produced by Claviceps and Neotyphodium. The clavine alkaloids lack the extensive peptide chain modifications that occur in lysergic acid derived ergot alkaloids. Both clavine and ergot alkaloids arise from the condensation of tryptophan and dimethylallylpyrophosphate b...

Four new gelsedine-type indole alkaloids (1-4) were isolated from the leaves of Gelsemium elegans, together with 11 known alkaloids. The structures were determined as 14-acetoxygelsenicine (1), 14-acetoxy-15-hydroxygelsenicine (2), 14-hydroxy-19-oxogelsenicine (3), and 14-acetoxygelselegine (4), respectively, by spectroscopic analysis. The cytotoxic effects of 14 Gelsemium alkaloids including t...

background & aim: papaver bracteatum lindl.  (papaverace) is an important pharmaceutical plant which contains isoqinoline alkaloids. isoqinoline alkaloids constitute one distinct group of secondary metabolites of the papaverace family. codeine and thebaine are important alkaloids of papaver bracteatum which use widely due to its medicinal properties. therefore it is necessary to determinati...