NPR2005-22-111

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REVIEW

NPR

Zhong Jin Institute and State Key Laboratory of Elemento-organic Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, P. R. China. E-mail: jinzhong2000@eyou.com

www.rsc.org/npr

Amaryllidaceae and Sceletium alkaloids

Received (in Cambridge, UK) 2nd December 2004 First published as an Advance Article on the web 10th January 2005

Covering: January 2003 to June 2004. Previous review: Nat. Prod. Rep., 2003, 20, 606 This review covers the morphology, isolation, total synthesis and biological activity of the naturally occurring alkaloids isolated from the Amaryllidaceae family, as well as the structurally related Sceletium alkaloids.

1 2 2.1 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.2.4 2.2.5 2.3 3 4

Introduction Amaryllidaceae alkaloids Morphology, isolation and structure Total syntheses of alkaloids and their analogues Crinine-type alkaloids Galanthamine-type alkaloids Lycorine-type alkaloids Cherylline-type alkaloids Phenanthridine-type and related benzo[c]phenanthri-dine alkaloids Biological activity Sceletium alkaloids References

1 Introduction Alkaloids are an important group of diversely distributed, chemically, biologically and commercially significant natural products. According to a recent analysis of the NAPRALERTSM database, about 27 000 known alkaloids out of 150 000 characterized natural products have been reported from a variety of sources including plants, fungi, marine microorganisms, mammals, etc., and the total number of plant-derived alkaloids is 22 000 or so. Plants of the Amaryllidaceae family, a small group of monocotyledonous species, belong to the 20 most important alkaloid-containing plant families. Up to now, nearly 500 structurally diverse alkaloids have been isolated from the Amaryllidaceae family with a wide range of interesting

DOI: 10.1039/b316106b

Born in Nanjin, P. R. China in 1973, Zhong Jin started to study chemistry at Nankai University in 1991. After obtaining his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in organic chemistry from Nankai University, he joined the faculty of Nankai University in 2002. His research interests focus on the discovery of novel natural and unnatural biological molecules, the development of new selective and efficient synthetic methods, and the total syntheses of natural products, especially alkaloids.

Zhong Jin This journal is

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biological activities and some of them have been approved for clinical therapy. 2 Amaryllidaceae alkaloids 2.1 Morphology, isolation and structure Alkaloid metabolism in the genus Galanthus has been investigated by GC/MS and TLC methods.1 Fourteen known alkaloids (trispheridine 1, galanthamine 2, buphanisine 3, norgalanthamine 4, norlycoramine 5, narwedine 6, crinine 7, maritidine 8, haemanthamine 9, tazettine 10, galwesine 11, lycorine 12, N-formylgalanthamine 13, and O-methylleucotamine 14) were identified out of twenty-one Amaryllidaceae alkaloids from sixteen Bulgarian Galanthus elwesii populations. The inter-population and intra-population variability in alkaloid metabolism showed remarkable differences in respect of their type of biosynthesis, the main alkaloid and the number of alkaloids. The alkaloids were, in the metabolic pathways, synthesized at least by three different types of intramolecular phenol oxidative coupling, that is, the coupling between the p–o , p–p , and o–p positions (phenol-O-methylcatechol) in Omethylnorbelladine (Scheme 1). Galanthamine 2, a quite widespread alkaloid in the Amaryllidaceae family, has become the most attractive of the alkaloids for its use in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. It is a longacting, selective, reversible and competitive acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, and produces beneficial effects even after the drug treatment has been terminated. Sixteen populations of Galanthus elwesii Hook fil and five populations of Galanthus nivalis L. growing in Bulgaria have been investigated for the presence of galanthamine by TLC and GC-MS.2 Galanthamine was found in two populations of G. elwesii. The distribution of galanthamine and four other alkaloids, N-formylnorgalanthamine 13, haemanthamine 9, homolycorine 15, and tazettine 10, in different organs (bulbs, leaves, stems, flowers and roots) of Narcissus confusus species, as well as the variations occurring during the ontogenic cycle of this plant species, have also been studied.3 The five alkaloids were found to be present in all the organs at every stage, with the exception of haemanthamine 9 in senescent flowers. A method for rapid qualitative and quantitative determination of galanthamine 2 in Amaryllidaceae plants using reverse-phase HPLC has been developed.4 The separation was achieved by a system consisting of a reversed phase C18 small ˚ ) column and TFA–water–acetonitrile (v/v/v 0.01 : pore (100 A 95 : 5) as the mobile phase. The alkaloids cherylline 16, crinamidine 17, crinine 7, epibuphanisine 18, lycorine 12, powelline 19, undulatine 20, 1epideacetylbowdensine 21, and 3-O-acetylhamayne 22 have been identified in bulblets of Crinum moorei propagated in vitro.5 Of the nine alkaloids identified, 22 was reported to occur in these bulblets for the first time. In addition, alkaloid production in C. moorei cultures was successfully triggered by manipulating the physical and nutritional environment under artificial conditions for growth.

The Royal Society of Chemistry 2005

Nat. Prod. Rep., 2005, 22, 111–126

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