Cinchona alkaloids are also produced by an endophytic filamentous fungus living in cinchona plant

We report that the endophytic filamentous fungus Diaporthe sp., isolated from Cinchona ledgeriana and cultivated in a synthetic liquid medium, produces Cinchona alkaloids (quinine, quinidine, cinchonidine, and cinchonine). This shows that Cinchona alkaloids are produced not only in Cinchona plant cells, but also in endophytic microbe cells.     

Using Natural Cinchona Alkaloids to Promote the Enantioselective Addition of Dialkylzinc to N－Diphenylphosphinylimines

Cinchona alkaloids are utilized as chiral ligands to promote the enantioselective addition of dialkylzinc to N-diphenyiphosphinylirnlnes affording enantiomerically enriched N-diphenyiphosphinylamines in up to 91% ee.     

Stereoselective C9 arylation and vinylation of Cinchona alkaloids

A simple and efficient method for the highly stereoselective C-9 arylation and vinylation of Cinchona alkaloids was developed. Both 9S- and 9R-chloroquinine with PhMgBr yielded 9S-phenylquinine (X-ray structure). The reactions with various aryl and vinyl Grignard reagents resulted in the series of 9S-aryl and vinyl alkaloid derivatives. The stereochemical outcome was rationalized by coordination of the magnesium atom to the quinuclidine nitrogen, thus directing the nucleophilic attack at the C-9 stereogenic center.     

Crystal Structure of Quinine: The Effects of Vinyl and Methoxy Groups on Molecular Assemblies of Cinchona Alkaloids Cannot Be Ignored

Quinine, one of Cinchona alkaloids, has been of great interest from medical, synthetic, and supramolecular viewpoints. However, unaccountably, the guest‐free (GF) crystal of quinine containing no solvent or other molecules has not been reported for nearly three decades, although GF crystals of other Cinchona alkaloids, such as quinidine, cinchonidine, and cinchonine, are already known. In this study, we successfully revealed the crystal structure of quinine, which belongs to the P2₁ space group with the cell parameters of a=6.0587(1), b=19.2492(5), c=22.2824(7) Å, β=92.1646(11)°, and V=2596.83(12) ų. Interestingly, the crystal has three crystallographically independent molecules in the cell (Z′=3) that are connected through a N(quinoline)???H? O hydrogen bond to form a pseudo three‐two‐fold (3₂) double‐helical motif. The helical motif is completely different from those observed in GF crystals of other Cinchona alkaloids. Hierarchical comparison on the crystal structures of a series of Cinchona alkaloids including quinine clearly demonstrated that only small structural differences of a molecule, particularly the position of the vinyl group, cause a significant variety of assembly manner in the crystalline state. There have been no reports systematically demonstrating such steric effect in crystals of Cinchona alkaloids, and, therefore, the present system contributes to the design of desired functional crystal structures.     

金鸡纳生物碱电喷雾质谱裂解规律研究

利用电喷雾离子阱质谱（ES-ITMS）技术进行了金鸡纳中4种喹啉类生物碱（奎宁、奎尼定、辛可宁和辛可尼定）的电喷雾质谱研究。在优化的质谱条件下,正离子全扫描时,4种生物碱都易形成带一个质子的分子离子;进一步碰撞诱导解离四种母离子,二级质谱表明羟基丢失、奎宁环断裂及重排为其主要裂解方式。     

金鸡钠碱催化烯胺的不对称C-亚磺酰化反应

以金鸡钠碱催化烯胺的不对称C-亚磺酰化反应,产物(E,Z)-N-苄氧羰基-2-苯亚磺酰基-1-苯基丙烯胺[(E,Z)-4],收率71%,立体选择性E:Z=3:2,其中(E)-4和(Z)-4的对映选择性分别为75%ee和93%ee。     

Cinchona alkaloid derived ligands in catalytic asymmetric transfer hydrogenation

A collection of chiral quinuclidine ligands, derived from the Cinchona alkaloids quinine and quinidine, has been evaluated in the catalytic asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones. It was fond that [IrCl(COD)]2 complexes of the diamines QCI-Amine and QCD-Amine gave the most active catalysts, capable of reducing a range of aromatic ketones with excellent conversions and good enantioselectivities (up to 95% ee). These are the best selectivities reported for ligands based on the quinuclidine core in an asymmetric transformation, and advocate that these ligands, commercially available in both pseudo-enantiomeric forms, will find practical use in this and other catalytic processes.     

The rational design of modified Cinchona alkaloid catalysts. Application to a new asymmetric synthesis of chiral chromanes

A new asymmetric synthesis of 2-substituted chiral chromanes has been achieved. The key step is the intramolecular conjugate addition of a phenolic nucleophile on a α,β-unsaturated ester catalyzed by Cinchona alkaloids. The high ee’s obtained with cinchonine and its derivatives have been rationalized by ab initio quantum chemistry calculations of transition state structures.     

A study of the behaviour of some new column materials in the chromatographic analysis of Cinchona alkaloids

Summary A major problem in the HPLC analysis of alkaloids is the poor peak shape and consequently low resolution, due to the interactions of the basic alkaloids with the residual acidic silanol groups of most reversed phase materials. The performance of new packing materials specially designed for the separation of basic compounds has been studied using mobile phases without the special additives commonly applied in the analysis of alkaloids. Strongly basic Cinchona alkaloids were used as test compounds. Retention characteristics and selectivities of each material were studied, after mobile phase optimisation for the column. The influence of the major factors (nature and content of the organic modifier, pH value, salt concentration) affecting resolution was studied. The mobile phases were chosen so that they could be used in thermospray LC-MS. The addition of salts to the mobile phase improves separation but in general the modification of the mobile phase gave little change in selectivity. The performance of silicabased C₁₈ material proved superior to the polymer materials tested.     

A study of the behaviour of some new column materials in the chromatographic analysis of Cinchona alkaloids

Summary A major problem in the HPLC analysis of alkaloids is the poor peak shape and consequently low resolution, due to the interactions of the basic alkaloids with the residual acidic silanol groups of most reversed phase materials. The performance of new packing materials specially designed for the separation of basic compounds has been studied using mobile phases without the special additives commonly applied in the analysis of alkaloids. Strongly basic Cinchona alkaloids were used as test compounds. Retention characteristics and selectivities of each material were studied, after mobile phase optimisation for the column. The influence of the major factors (nature and content of the organic modifier, pH value, salt concentration) affecting resolution was studied. The mobile phases were chosen so that they could be used in thermospray LC-MS. The addition of salts to the mobile phase improves separation but in general the modification of the mobile phase gave little change in selectivity. The performance of silica-based C₁₈ material proved superior to the polymer materials tested.     

Analysis of the Cinchona alkaloids by high-performance liquid chromatography and other separation techniques

The Cinchona alkaloids, which include the pharmaceuticals quinine and quinidine, continue to have a wide variety of important uses. A number of different chromatographic procedures have been developed for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of these compounds in a variety of sample matrices. Reversed-phase HPLC using ODS columns in combination with acidic mobile phases, and UV detection, is the most widely used method. Nevertheless, precautions need to be taken due to the strong silanophilic interactions which can occur with these analytes and the column surface, which can lead to poor peak shape and resolution. Different selectivity may be achieved in HPLC separations by use of alternative stationary phases, or by varying mobile phase pH. The specificity of detection systems may be improved by use of photodiode array UV detectors, or especially mass spectrometers. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) provides a cheap alternative analytical method, which is especially useful for qualitative analysis. High-performance TLC, gas chromatography, capillary electrophoresis and capillary electrochromatography are all methods which after some development, could prove useful for Cinchona alkaloid separations.     

Capillary electrophoretic chiral separation of Cinchona alkaloids using a cyclodextrin selector

A new capillary electrophoretic method for the chiral separation of four major Cinchona alkaloids (quinine/quinidine and cinchonine/cinchonidine) was developed using heptakis-(2,6-di-O-methyl)-beta-cyclodextrin as the chiral selector. The inner walls of the separation capillary were modified with a thin polyacrylamide layer, which substantially reduced the electroosmotic flow and improved the chiral resolution and the reproducibility of the migration time of the analytes. Various operation parameters were optimised, including the pH, the capillary temperature, the concentration of the background electrolyte, and the concentration of the chiral selector. Baseline separation of the two diastereomer pairs was achieved in 12 minutes in ammonium acetate background electrolyte pH 5.0 with addition of cyclodextrin in a concentration of 3 mM or higher.     

Liquid chromatographic analysis of cinchona alkaloids in beverages

A method for the determination of Cinchona extract (whose main components are the alkaloids cinchonine, cinchonidine, quinidine, and quinine) in beverages by liquid chromatography was developed. A beverage with an alcohol content of more than 10% was loaded onto an OASIS HLB solid-phase extraction cartridge, after it was adjusted to pH 10 with 28% ammonium hydroxide. Other beverages were centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 5 min, and the supernatant was loaded onto the cartridge. The cartridge was washed with water followed by 15% methanol, and the Cinchona alkaloids were eluted with methanol. The Cinchona alkaloids in the eluate were chromatographed on an L-column ODS (4.6 mm id x 150 mm) with methanol and 20 mmol/L potassium dihydrogen phosphate (3 + 7) as the mobile phase. Cinchona alkaloids were monitored with an ultraviolet (UV) detector at 230 nm, and with a fluorescence detector at 405 nm for cinchonine and cinchonidine and 450 nm for quinidine and quinine (excitation at 235 nm). The calibration curves for Cinchona alkaloids with the UV detector showed good linearity in the range of 2-400 microg/mL. The detection limit of each Cinchona alkaloid, taken to be the concentration at which the absorption spectrum could be identified, was 2 microg/mL. The recovery of Cinchona alkaloids added at a level of 100 microg/g to various kinds of beverages was 87.6-96.5%, and the coefficients of variation were less than 3.3%. A number of beverage samples, some labeled to contain bitter substances, were analyzed by the proposed method. Quinine was detected in 2 samples of carbonated beverage.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric assay of high-value compounds for pharmaceutical use from plant cell tissue culture: Cinchona alkaloids

The use of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) interfaced with thermospray (TSP) mass spectrometry is described for the separation and identification of various alkaloids from Cinchona ledgeriana extracts. The use of water-acetonitrile-acetic acid (71:25:4) with 0.01 M ammonium acetate (pH 3.0) as the mobile phase gave good HPLC separation and good TSP sensitivity. The specificity obtained by single-ion monitoring allowed the analysis of commercially important alkaloids such as quinine and quinidine in plant material, transformed roots and in cells from tissue culture, with relatively simple extraction and work-up procedures. TSP gave protonated species with few fragment ions but collision-induced dissociation offers the promise of increased analytically specificity from the fragment ion data. This work has important implications for the biotechnological production of pharmaceuticals normally obtained from plant sources.     

Stereoselective Dithiophosphorylation of Cinchona Alkaloids: Easy Approach to Prospective Chiral Ligands and Organocatalysts

Abstract

The 9-mesylates of Cinchona alkaloids reacted with HSP(S)(OEt)₂ in benzene at 50°C to give the corresponding O,O-diethyl-dithiophosphates of the alkaloids with complete inversion of configuration at the 9-C stereogenic centers (3 examples, 42–45% yields). Also O-ethyl-dithiophosphoric acid derivative of 9-epi-quinine was obtained. The configuration of the stereogenic centers were established using homo- and hetero-NOE NMR techniques and comparing the experimental and calculated (GIAO/DFT) spectra. The dithiophosphates of alkaloids were tested as chiral ligands in the Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of dimethyl malonate with rac-1,3-diphenylprop-2-enyl acetate and in the Cu-catalyzed asymmetric Henry reaction and gave the respective product with up to 51% ee. Quinine O,O-diethyl-phosphorodithioate was also tested as a novel potential chiral solvating agent for amino acids (N-Boc-phenylglycine) in ³¹P and ¹H NMR spectroscopy.

[Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements to view the free supplemental files: Additional figures]     

Phenotyping Reveals Targets of a Pseudo-Natural-Product Autophagy Inhibitor

Pseudo-natural-product (NP) design combines natural product fragments to provide unprecedented NP-inspired compounds not accessible by biosynthesis, but endowed with biological relevance. Since the bioactivity of pseudo-NPs may be unprecedented or unexpected, they are best evaluated in target agnostic cell-based assays monitoring entire cellular programs or complex phenotypes. Here, the Cinchona alkaloid scaffold was merged with the indole ring system to synthesize indocinchona alkaloids by Pd-catalyzed annulation. Exploration of indocinchona alkaloid bioactivities in phenotypic assays revealed a novel class of azaindole-containing autophagy inhibitors, the azaquindoles. Subsequent characterization of the most potent compound, azaquindole-1, in the morphological cell painting assay, guided target identification efforts. In contrast to the parent Cinchona alkaloids, azaquindoles selectively inhibit starvation- and rapamycin-induced autophagy by targeting the lipid kinase VPS34.     

Phenotyping Reveals Targets of a Pseudo‐Natural‐Product Autophagy Inhibitor

Pseudo‐natural‐product (NP) design combines natural product fragments to provide unprecedented NP‐inspired compounds not accessible by biosynthesis, but endowed with biological relevance. Since the bioactivity of pseudo‐NPs may be unprecedented or unexpected, they are best evaluated in target agnostic cell‐based assays monitoring entire cellular programs or complex phenotypes. Here, the Cinchona alkaloid scaffold was merged with the indole ring system to synthesize indocinchona alkaloids by Pd‐catalyzed annulation. Exploration of indocinchona alkaloid bioactivities in phenotypic assays revealed a novel class of azaindole‐containing autophagy inhibitors, the azaquindoles. Subsequent characterization of the most potent compound, azaquindole‐1, in the morphological cell painting assay, guided target identification efforts. In contrast to the parent Cinchona alkaloids, azaquindoles selectively inhibit starvation‐ and rapamycin‐induced autophagy by targeting the lipid kinase VPS34.     

Eine Rinde erobert die Welt

The quinine‐containing bark of Cinchona trees was probably the most valuable drug the Americas gave to the world. For centuries it was the only remedy against malaria and still is heavily used for that purpose. The isolation, structure determination and total synthesis of quinine are all chemical masterpieces. Today, Cinchona alkaloids are not only used for the treatment of various diseases but also are very powerful catalysts and auxiliary compounds in the synthesis of pure enantiomers in chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Last but not least, a pinch of quinine bestows tonic water and several classical cocktails that little extra that we enjoy. So Cheers to all drinks containing this wonderful alkaloid, no matter whether stirred or shaken.     

Theoretical investigation on mechanism of asymmetric Michael addition of malononitrile to chalcones catalyzed by Cinchona alkaloid aluminium(III) complex

The mechanism of Michael addition of malononitrile to chalcones catalyzed by Cinchona alkaloid aluminium(III) complex has been investigated by DFT and ONIOM methods. Calculations indicate that the reaction proceeds through a dual activation mechanism, in which Al(III) acts as a Lewis acid to activate the electrophile α,β-unsaturated carbonyl substrate while the tertiary amine in the Cinchona alkaloid works as a Lewis base to promote the activation of the malononitrile and deprotonation. A stepwise pathway involving C-C bond formation followed by proton transfer from the catalyst to the carbonyl substrate is adopted, and latter step is predicted to be the rate-determining-step in the reaction with an energy barrier of 12.4 kcal mol(-1). In the absence of the Al(III)-complex, a Cinchona alkaloid activates the carbonyl substrate by a hydrogen bonding of the hydroxyl group, involving a higher energy barrier of 30.4 kcal mol(-1). The steric repulsion between the phenyl group attached to the carbonyl group in the chalcone and isopropoxyl groups of the Al(III)-complex may play an important role in the control of stereoselectivity. The π-π stacking effect between the quinuclidine ring of the quinine and the phenyl group of the chalcones may also help the stabilization of the preferred molecular complex. These results are in agreement with experimental observations.     

Highly effective and enantioselective Phospho-Aldol reaction of diphenyl phosphite with N-alkylated isatins catalyzed by quinine

Cinchona alkaloids were first successfully reported to promote enantioselective Phospho-Aldol reaction of diphenyl phosphite to a variety of N-alkylated isatin derivatives in good to excellent yields (up to 99%) and moderate to good enantioselectivities (up to 73% ee) almost in no time.