Polychlorinated alkaloids

Marine sponges of the genus Dysidea are a rich source of structurally unique and biologically active compounds, including spiro-sesquiterpenes such as spirodysin and dehydroherbadysinolide, furanosesquiterpenes based on the furodysinin and furodysin skeletons, brominated diphenyl ethers, polychlorinated alkaloids and other compounds [99-103],... 

In their second 1998 report, Schmitz and co-workers97 reported the isolation and characterization of a series of 12 new polychlorinated diketopiperazines from the sponge Dysidae chlorea. The structure of one of these alkaloids, dysamide-I is shown (37). 

Monocrotaline, a pyrrolizidine alkaloid of chemotherapeutic interest, has been extracted from the seeds of Crotalaria spectabilis using supercritical carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide-ethanol mixtures (29). Other alkaloids that have been extracted using SFE include nicotine and caffeine. Environmental applications of supercritical fluids include regeneration of activated carbon, extraction of organic contaminants like polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls from water and soils, and the newly emerging field of supercritical water oxidation. 

A large number of chemicals are known to induce liver cancer in animals. These carcinogens include acetylaminofluorene, nitros-amines, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), vinyl chloride, and many alkaloids. 

Many polyhalogenated indoles (37-42) were identified in Rhodophyllis membranacea collected from the Kaikoura coast (New Zealand). The fractions (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42) obtained from the extract of R. membranacea contain polychlorinated and polybrominated alkaloids [53] (Fig. 2.6). 

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