Addendum Venenatine

Govindachari et al. have recently recorded the extraction of reserpine, venenatine (LXXVII), and 3-isovenenatine from the bark of Alstonia venenata R. Br. (98). 3-Isovenenatine may be identical with alstovenine, isolated earlier from the same species by Ray and Chatterjee (99), together with a second, unnamed base, m.p. 192°. 

Research Department, CIBA Pharmaceutical Company, Division oj CIBA Corporation, Summit, New Jersey 

The alkaloids can be conveniently grouped as shown in Table I, and it should be noted that the trivial names currently used obscure their similarities. 

Many of the alkaloids suffer facile autoxidation to yield hydroperoxy-and hydroxyindolenines, whose further degradation products are 4-hydroxyquinolines and pseudoindoxyls (Table I). Therefore, the 

Oxidation and rearrangement products of parent bases C. Acetyl side chain R3 = 0 

---