Chrysopentamine, an Antiplasmodial Anhydronium Base from Strychnos usambarensis Leaves

Michel Frédérich; Assunção Cristino; Young Hae Choi; Robert Verpoorte; Monique Tits; Luc Angenot; Elise Prost; Jean-Marc Nuzillard; Monique Zèches-Hanrot

doi:10.1055/s-2004-815461

Planta Med 2004; 70(1): 72-76
DOI: 10.1055/s-2004-815461

Letter

Chrysopentamine, an Antiplasmodial Anhydronium Base from Strychnos usambarensis Leaves

Michel Frédérich¹ ^, ² , Assunção Cristino² ^, ³ , Young Hae Choi¹ , Robert Verpoorte¹ , Monique Tits² , Luc Angenot² , Elise Prost⁴ , Jean-Marc Nuzillard⁴ , Monique Zèches-Hanrot⁴

¹Division of Pharmacognosy, Section Metabolomics, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
²Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Natural and Synthetic Drug Research Center, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
³Present address: Pharmaceutics and Biopharmacy Department, Quality Control Directorat, INFARMED, Parque de Saúde de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
⁴Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie, UMR 6013 CNRS, Reims, France

The Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program of the Korea Science Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) and the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) are gratefully acknowledged for their support to Y.H. Choi and M. Frédérich, respectively. This research was in part supported by a grant from the ”Fond de la Recherche Scientifique Médicale” (FRSM, Belgium, grant No 3 453 201)

Abstract

A new derivative of strychnopentamine was isolated from the leaves of Strychnos usambarensis. This compound, named chrysopentamine, was identified by detailed spectroscopic methods (UV, IR, HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR). Chrysopentamine presented an original hydroxy substitution on C-14 and an aromatization of the ring D of strychnopentamine leading to anhydronium base properties and exhibited strong antiplasmodial properties (IC₅₀ less than 1 μM).

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References

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Michel Frédérich

Laboratory of Pharmacognosy

Natural and Synthetic Drug Research Center

University of Liège

Avenue de l'hôpital 1, B36

4000 Liège

Belgium

Phone: +32-4-366-4338

Fax: +32-4-366-4332

Email: M.Frederich@ulg.ac.be