A General Electro-Synthesis Approach to Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids

Amaryllidaceae alkaloids appeal to organic chemists with their attractive structures and their impressive antitumor and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory properties. We demonstrate a highly versatile access to this family of natural products. A general protocol with high yields in a sustainable electro-organic key transformation on a metal-free anode to spirodienones facilitates functionalization to the alkaloids. The biomimetic syntheses start with the readily available, inexpensive biogenic starting materials methyl gallate, O-methyl tyramine, and vanillin derivatives. Through known dynamic resolutions, this technology provides access to both enantiomeric series of (epi-)martidine, (epi-)crinine, siculine, and galantamine, clinically prescribed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.     

Determination of Rutin in Amaryllis belladonna L. Flowers by HPTLC and Spectrophotometry

The work presented in this paper demonstrates the use of HPTLC-UV to quantify rutin in the alcoholic extract of Amaryllis belladonna L. (Family Amaryllidaceaea) flowers which was detected, isolated and identified in previous work. The results obtained by HPTLC showed excellent accuracy and precision when compared to the spectrophotometric method.     

Crystal and molecular structure of augustamine

The crystal and molecular structure of augustamine (1), C₁₇H₁₉NO₄ an amaryllidaceae alkaloid of the tazettine group has been determined by direct methods from single crystal x-ray diffractometer data and refined by full-matrix least squares. The alkaloid (1) crystallizes in the space group P2₁2₁2₁, with cell parameters: a = 7.833(8) b = 11.08(2) å, c = 16.69(6) Å, Z = 4, D_c = 1.381 g/cm^–3, R = 7.6% for 1115 observed reflections. The molecule, having a hexacyclic ring system, is very rigid with the ring B in a chair conformation. Molecular mechanics calculations have been made using MM3(2000) force field.     

Amaryllidaceae-Type Alkaloids from Pancratium maritimum: Apoptosis-Inducing Effect and Cell Cycle Arrest on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

Aiming to find Amaryllidaceae alkaloids against breast cancer, including the highly aggressive triple-negative breast cancer, the phytochemical study of Pancratium maritimum was carried out. Several Amaryllidaceae-type alkaloids, bearing scaffolds of the haemanthamine-, homolycorine-, lycorine-, galanthamine-, and tazettine-type were isolated (3–11), along with one alkamide (2) and a phenolic compound (1). The antiproliferative effect of compounds (1–11) was evaluated by the sulforhodamine B assay against triple-negative breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468, breast cancer cells MCF-7, and the non-malignant fibroblast (HFF-1) and breast (MCF12A) cell lines. The alkaloids 3, 5, 7, and 11 showed significant growth inhibitory effects against all breast cancer cell lines, with IC₅₀ (half-maximal inhibitory concentration) values ranging from 0.73 to 16.3 µM. The homolycorine-type alkaloid 7 was selected for further investigation in MDA-MB-231 cells. In the annexin-V assay, compound 7 increased cell death by apoptosis, which was substantiated, in western blot analyses, by the increased expression of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax, and the decreased expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-xL. Consistently, it further stimulated mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. The antiproliferative effect of compound 7 was also associated with G2/M cell cycle arrest, which was supported by an increase in the p21 protein expression levels. In MDA-MB-231 cells, compound 7 also exhibited synergistic effects with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs such as etoposide.