Abstract
The plant genus Sceletium is made up of about 20 species that are found in the southern regions of Africa, principally in the South-West Cape Province. An interest in these plants stems from early reports of the use of certain species of these plants by the Hottentots and the Bushmen of Namaqualand in the preparation of a drug known as Channa . Bodendorf and Krieger described the isolation of mesembrine along with two other bases from S. tortuosum, and although the ketonic nature of the alkaloid was revealed by its IR spectrum, no significant progress was made in determining the structure of the alkaloid. The structure of mesembrine as N-methyl-3a-(3’, 4’-dimethoxyphenyl)-6-oxo-cisoctahydroindole was adduced by Popelak and co-workers. The elucidation of the structure of mesembrine has provided the foundation for the studies continued during the past 20 years on the chemistry and biosynthesis of the Sceletium alkaloids that is described in this chapter.
Published Version
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