Structural alkaloid drug metabolites

LC-MS/MS Approaches to the Identification/Structural Elucidation of Alkaloid Drug Metabolites... 

Saponins are glycosylated secondary metabolites that are widely distributed in the Plant Kingdom.3,4 They are a diverse and chemically complex family of compounds that can be divided into three major groups depending on the structure of the aglycone, which may be a steroid, a steroidal alkaloid, or a triterpenoid. These molecules have been proposed to contribute to plant defense.3 6 Saponins are also exploited as drugs and medicines and for a variety of other purposes.4 Despite the considerable commercial interest in this important group of natural products, little is known about their biosynthesis. This is due in part to the complexity of the molecules, and also to the lack of pathway intermediates for biochemical studies. 

The first secondary metabolites that were isolated from natural sources are the alkaloids, these were also the compounds which were the first group of natural products studied systematically by chemists. These compounds were named alkaloids because all of them have nitrogen in their molecules and it is known that nitrogen causes alkaline behavior. As is typical for all secondary metabolites, the molecules of alkaloids can have a wide variety of structures. Many alkaloids induce marked physiological effects, especially on the nervous systans. Some of them like nicotine or components of opium are drugs or have analgesic properties. 

Moderate antipyretic, analgesic and anti-edema activities were shown by the alkaloid damascenin, 3-methoxy-N-methylanthrani-late, (XV) again structurally related to a metabolite in the tryptophan pyrrolase pathway as are several antirheumatic drugs. 

---