Brucine biological activity

Physical form Brucine is a crystalline alkaloid, having weak bitter taste. Biological activity Local anaesthetic. 

However, as investigation progressed, ethnobotanical and pharmacological works have revealed that alkaloids of Strychnos species display a broad spectrum of biological activities [3, 4]. This has attracted the interests of phytochemists over the last three decades as evidenced by the continued publication of several review articles devoted to this series of alkaloids [5, 6, 7]. While 150 years were necessary to completely elucidate the structure of 1, structure determination has considerably benefited from the progress of NMR techniques, especially H- H and 2D-NMR experiments. Based on their particular structures, the Strychnos alkaloids have been the focal point of considerable spectroscopic efforts. More recently some selected Strychnos alkaloids, 1 and brucine (2), and their N-oxide derivatives, have been used successfully as model compounds for the application of the 15N NMR methods [8, 9]. 

L-Tryptophan is an indole ring containing aromatic amino acid derived via the shikimate pathway. The tryptophan-derived alkaloids are found in eight families, of which, Apocynaceae, Loganiaceae, Rubiaceae, and Nyssaceae are the best sources. The alkaloids under discussion are the Catharanthus alkaloids, namely, ajmalicine, tabersonine, catharanthine, vindoline, vinblastine, vincristine and vincamine as well as terpenoid alkaloids derived from other families, namely, yohimbine, reserpine, strychnine, brucine, and ellipticine. The above-mentioned alkaloids are pharmacologically very important and hence extremely valuable. This chapter describes various aspects of the tryptophan-derived alkaloids like occurrence, biological activity, phytochemistry, and commercial and biotechnological aspects. 

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