Picrotoxanes Found in Animals and Animal Products

Unfortunately, the next isolation of a picrotoxane from a sap-sucking insect, Asterococcus muratae (Homoptera), has only been presented at two scientific 

How can this scattered taxonomic occurrence of the picrotoxanes be explained Many of the apparent chemical convergences in animal toxins have been explained as toxins received via the food chain e.g. brevetoxin, pederin, saxitoxin, tetrodo-toxin, and the toxins of the arrow-poison frogs). This may explain the occurrence of picrotoxanes in both parasitic animals and plants, but further research will be necessary for a better understanding of this phenomenon. 

The isolation procedures for the picrotoxanes have been mostly quite conventional. Plant material has been extracted with alcohols, and in few cases with chloroform. On concentration, water was added in many cases with subsequent 

A few of the more recent isolation protocols are given as examples in the paragraphs below. 

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