Geneviève Philippe

Indolomonoterpenic alkaloids from Strychnos icaja roots

In the course of our search for new antiplasmodial alkaloids from Strychnos icaja, we have isolated five alkaloids: three monomers, protostrychnine and genostrychnine, previously described in Strychnos nux-vomica, pseudostrychnine, already found in the leaves of the plant, a new bisindolic alkaloid, named strychnogucine C, and the first naturally occurring trimeric indolomonoterpenic alkaloid: strychnohexamine. This latter trimeric alkaloid presented an antiplasmodial activity against the FCA Plasmodium falciparum line near 1 microM.

Strychnohexamine from Strychnos icaja, a naturally occurring trimeric indolomonoterpenic alkaloid

Abstract A reinvestigation of Strychnos icaja roots has resulted in the isolation, from the EtOAC extract, of one tertiary trisindole alkaloid, named strychnohexamine. Its structure has been investigated by means of spectroscopic data interpretation (UV, IR, HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR). This is the first time that a natural trimeric indolomonoterpenic alkaloid has been isolated directly from a plant species. This compound is one of the largest alkaloids ever discovered.