Australian plant

Cryptaustoline (1) and (-)-cryptowoline (2) were obtained as iodides from the Australian plant Cryptocarya bowiei (Hook) Druce, and their structures... 

Mono-bicyclic Itmg-chain Achyranthes aspera, Amaranthaceae, Ang. from India Misra 1993) citrinin (Australian plant Crotolaria crispata and Aspergillus, Clavariopsis, Penicillium spp., Eumyc. MI). 

Power and Tutin,244 its identity was not established until years later.246 (—)-Vibumitol has also been found in Stephania hemandifolia, an Australian plant,247 and in Menispermum canadense.l46... 

The work in Adelaide then dealt with terpenes, mostly isolated from Australian plants. Mills worked on the synthesis of terpene analogs, and soon found that the cyclohexane system offered interesting stereochemical problems. He was also dismayed by the difficulty, in those days (before the rise of chromatography), of separating dia-stereoisomers. Separation and characterization of the 3-methylcyclo-hexanols presented his first problem, and similar compounds followed. For this research, he was awarded in 1947 the Rennie Memorial Medal, an annual award of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute for the best research carried out in Australia by a chemist under the age of 36. 

Because of the large economic losses attributed to loco-weed poisoning, several studies have been conducted to define conditions of maximal contact of bovines and ovines without poisoning [44-50], and to detect the presence of swainsonine in an Australian plant, which produces... 

Ajaykumar, P.V., Samad, A., Shasany, A.K., Gupta, M.K., Alam, M. and Rastogi, S. (2007). First record of a Candidates phytoplasma associated with little leaf disease of Portulaca grandiflora. Australian Plant Disease Notes, 2 67-69. 

In 1999, Hecht and coworkers isolated mispyric acid (59, Figure 2.50), a monocyclic triperpene dicar-boxylic acid, from the stem bark of an Australian plant Mischocarpus pyriformis as an inhibitor of DNA... 

With the isolation of the first alkaloids in Europe in the early 19th century and a study of their properties, interest soon developed in examining the flora of countries throughout the world for plant bases that might be useful as drugs. The first alkaloid from an Australian plant, the Tasmanian sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum, family Monimiaceae), was isolated in a German laboratory about fifty years later by Zeyer [1] and named atherospermine he described it thus ... 

Zeyer s alkaloid was almost certainly an impure sample of the bisbenzylisoquinoline berbamine (1), the principal alkaloid of the plant, but nearly a century went by before it was reisolated from sassafras and its structure fully elucidated (2. Shortly after Zeyer s study, a second alkaloid, alstonine (2), was obtained in an impure form from another Australian plant, Alstonia constricta (Apocynaceae) [3]. This work was also done in Germany, and a similar period elapsed before the complete structure and stereochemistry of alstonine were established [4,443],... 

In the meantime the presence of alkaloids was observed in many other Australian plants, including a small tree whose leaves are known to the aborigines of central Australia as "pituri". In 1872 the effects of pituri, later identified as foliage of Duboisia hopwoodii (Solanaceae) [5], were studied by Joseph Bancroft [6], a Brisbane medico, who reported as follows ... 

In the CSIRO survey of Papua-New Guinea plants, a somewhat more elaborate testing method [19] was adopted finely ground plant material was extracted with ammoniacal chloroform, then the filtered extract was shaken with sufficient dilute acid to neutralise the ammonia and to extract any alkaloid present. The clarified acid solution was tested with Mayer s reagent, and the result rated as - or + to ++++ as in the case of Webb s surveys. The necessary equipment was designed to fit into a portable kit that could be taken into the field. The same procedure was used in some later screens of mainland Australian plants by the CSIRO [20] and in the surveys of orchidaceous plants [24, 25] also in the Tasmanian survey, with some modifications to make it more convenient under field conditions [22]. 

Volume 10 of this series presents four timely reviews. Chapter 1 is a monumental survey of "Alkaloids from Australian Flora" by I. R. C. Bick of the University of Tasmania. This chapter provides a fascinating account of the history of alkaloid discovery in Australia beginning with the isolation of the first alkaloid from an Australian plant, the Tasmanian sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum), by Zeyer in 1861. Also included is a comprehensive survey of alkaloid-bearing plants, and a section dealing with detection, estimation, extraction, and work-up procedures for alkaloids. 

Fluoroacetate (3), the sodium salt of monofluoroacetic acid, is also a substance of vegetable origin, reported to poison sheep and cattle repeatedly. It is the toxic substance of a South African plant called gifblaar (Dichapetalum cymostm) and of the Australian plant Acacia georginae (Marais, 1944). The compound is readily soluble in water and is very toxic. Its acute oral lDj for rats is 0.2-2 mg/kg. The compound is converted via the citrate cycle into fluorocitrate and this blocks the citrate cycle. 

Diels-Alder reactions have been postulated as key steps in a number of biosynthetic conversions. The biosynthesis of the endiandric acids 26 and 27 is discussed below as an example for a spontaneous [4-i-2]-cyclo-addition. This class of compounds which is produced by the Australian plant Endiandra introsa (Lauraceae) is remarkable, because different constitutional isomers were formed simultaneously and in all cases racemic mixtures were synthesized by the plant. It was first postulated by Black et al. [10] and later confirmed via biomimetic total syntheses by Nicolaou et al. [11] that the endiandric acids A, B and C (26a, 26b and 27) are formed by a cascade of electrocyclic reactions (Scheme... 

Porantherin (1) is an alkaloid from the Australian plant Poranthera corymbosa and possesses an interesting tetracyclic skeleton of the 9b-azaphenalene type [167]. In an instructive biomimetic synthesis of 1 developed by Corey [168] the key intermediate (X) was subjected to the following reactions (a) and (b) leading via A to B, which was further transformed to the target molecule 1 ... 

Two new pigments (279) and (280) have been isolated from the flowers and roots of Australian plants. 

Occurrence (-)-F. in the essential oil of Artemisia fi-lifolta (Asteraceae), a sand sage from Arizona, content up to 11 % (+)-F. in the essential oil of the Australian plant Zieria smithii (Rutaceae). For synthesis, see Lit. - ... 

C15H14O4, Mr 258.27, yellow needles, mp. 128°C, uvmax 333 nm (C2H5OH), occurs in the seeds of the Australian plant Lomatia ilicifolia and other Lomatia species (Proteaceae) as well as in the heartwood of Para-tecoma peroba (Bignoniaceae). 

The name beyerane stems from the Australian plant Beyeria leschenaultii, which contains (+)-17-0-cinnamoyl-15-beyerene-3,17,19-triol, also referred to as the cinnamic acid ester of beyerol. (+)-15-Beyerene as the parent hydrocarbon is one of the constituents of Erythroxylon monogynum (Araliaceae) its (-)-enantiomer is found in the ethereal oils of some conifers such as Thujopsis dolabrata and Cupres-sus macrocarpa (Cupressaceae). (+)-15-Beyeren-3-one occurs in the Tambooti wood from Spirostachys africana, and (+)-7-hydroxy-15-beyeren-19-oic acid was isolated from Stevia aristata (Asteraceae). 

The earliest reference to biological activity of a plant in the family Haemodoraceae seems to have been one by Darwin (73) to the toxic action of Lachnanthes on white pigs and the immunity of the black ones. This has frequently been assumed by later writers to indicate a photodynamic action. Some experimental support for this belief has been obtained by the observation that extracts of Lachnanthes tinctoria induce phototoxicity in microorganisms 74). The Australian plant Haemodorum corymbosum has also been regarded as toxic to animals (75). Haemocorin, the phenalenone pigment from this plant, was shown to have antitumor activity 76) and a wide range of antibacterial activity (77). 

Cooke, R. G., and R. L. Thomas Colouring Matters of Australian Plants. XVIII. Constituents of Anigozanthos rufus. Austral. J. Chem. 28, 1053 (1975). 

Colouring Matters of Australian Plants V. Haemocorin The Chemistry of the... 

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