The Alkaloids of Ergot

Useful general articles on the pharmacology of the ergot alkaloids have been published by Nelson and Calvery, Wliite, " and Barger, and monographs on ergotamine and the alkaloids of ergot by StoU (1945). ... 

Sandoz Process for Separating and Purifying the Alkaloids of Ergot ... 

Smith, S. Timmis, G.M. The Alkaloids of Ergot. Part 3. Ergine, a New Base Obtained by the Degration of Ergotoxine and Ergotinine Journal of the Chemical Society (1932) 763-766... 

Smith, S. and G.M. Timmis 1932. The alkaloids of ergot. Part in. Ergine, a new-base obtained by the degradation ofergo-toxine and ergotinine Journal of the Chemical Society 1932 763—766. 

Note h Chloroform is the best solvent for the alkaloids of ergot. 10 per cent methanol in chloroform is sufficient to render the ammonia solution miscible. The presence of only one liquid phase rather than two is preferable here. 

Note 2, Sulphuric acid in dilute solution is a somewhat better solvent for the alkaloids of ergot than is tartaric acid, which was originally proposed. 

The discovery of D-amino acids in antibiotics like penicillin, gramicidin, tyrocidine, in the alkaloids of ergot, and in the capsular substances of several bacteria has in recent years focused attention on the general distribution of D-amino acids in nature. However, apart from these well-established examples, several workers have reported the isolation of d-... 

The disease takes two different forms depending apparently on whether ergotoxia, the alkaloid ia ergot, attacks predomiaantiy the aervous or the circulatory system. The former coaditioa is characterized by severe coavulsive seizures the latter produces an iatense burning and itching of the skin called St. Anthony s Fire. 

Poisoning by ergot still occurs occasionally in countries where rye is extensively used as a food grain or where ergotised grain is liable to be fed to cattle and methods for its detection have been devised, but interest in the analysis of ergot centres chiefly on the estimation of the active alkaloids in the crude drug or its preparations. The methods used may... 

DinitrQ-ll-Qxatricyclo[6 2 1 0 undec-9-ene has been prepared by an intramolecular Diels-Alder reacdon of the furan with a idtroalkene group as shown in Eq 8 26 This tricyclic compound is a versatile synthedc tool for the preparadon of ergot alkaloids... 

Today, 2-bromo-a-ergocryptine (bromocriptine) is the second (after dihydroergotoxine) most extensively used compound from the group of ergot alkaloids. 

The designation Van Urk s reagent can be traced back to a publication in 1929 [7] which describes the detection of ergot alkaloids with 4-(dimethylamino)-benzadehyde in aqueous solution by cautiously underlayering with concentrated sulfuric acid. 

Hindmarch I, Parrott AC and Lanza M (1979). The effects of ergot alkaloid derivative (Hydergine) on aspects of psychomotor performance, arousal, and cognitive processing ability. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 19, 726-732. 

An entirely different approach to 3-haloindoles involves a mercuration/iodination sequence, which has been adopted by Hegedus to prepare 4-bromo-3-iodo-l-(4-toluenesulfonyl)indole for use in the synthesis of ergot alkaloids [20,21], We will discuss this chemistry later. 

In his general studies aimed at the synthesis of ergot alkaloids, Hegedus effected the coupling of dihaloindole 79 with the zinc reagent 80, generated in situ from l-methoxy-l,2-propadiene, to afford ketene 81 [21],... 

Bhattacharji, S., A. J. Birch, A. Brack, A. Hofmann, H. Kobel, D. C. C. Smith, H. Smith and J. Winter Studies in Relation to Biosynthesis. Part XXVII. The Biosynthesis of Ergot Alkaloids. J. cheni. Soc. [London] 1962, 421. 

Weygand, F, and H. G. Floss The Biogenesis of Ergot Alkaloids. Angew. Chem. intemat. Edit. 2, 243 (1963). 

The Structure of Ergot Alkaloid, Elymoclavine. Bull, agric. chem. Soc. Japan 19, 94 (1955). 

Li SM, Unsold lA, Post-genome research on the biosynthesis of ergot alkaloids. PlantMed72 n 7-n2Q, 2006. 

Ergot alkaloids were the first adrenoblockers to be studied. Despite the fact that the majority of ergot alkaloids exhibit a-adrenoblocking activity, their pharmacology is often different. In terms of chemistry, ergotamine and ergonovine are derivatives of lysergic acid. 

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