Chemical Investigations of the Alkaloids from the Plants of the Family Elaeocarpaceae

Abstract

A phytochemical survey to detect alkaloids was performed on extracts of 339 discrete plants parts from a total of 77 species from five genera of Elaeocarpaceae, including 30 species from Queensland, 38 from PNG, and nine from China. An alkaloid detecting reagent, bismuth (III) tetraiodide (Dragendorff's reagent) was used in a preliminary test for alkaloids, with positive ESIMS used to confirm the presence of alkaloids. A total of 35 extracts of various plant parts produced positive results with Dragendorff's reagent. Positive ESIMS detected alkaloids in only 13 of these extracts. Bismuth (III) tetraiodide was demonstrated to produce false positive results with the new non-alkaloidal poly-oxygenated compounds 112 and 113, which were purified from the extract of Sloanea tieghemii. Two new alkaloid producing species, Elaeocarpus habbeniensis, and E. fuscoides were detected from the survey. These species were chemically investigated for the first time. Two other previously investigated species, E. grandis and Peripentadenia mearsii, were also studied. A total of 16 alkaloids, 11 of which are new, were purified from the extracts of these four species. The novel pyrrolidine alkaloids habbenine (114) and peripentonine (123), were isolated from the leaves of E. habbeniensis and Peripentadenia mearsii, respectively. Both of these compounds were purified as inseparable mixtures of diastereomers. The new pyrrolidine alkaloid mearsamine 1 (124), and the novel amino alkaloid mearsamine 2 (125), were also purified from the leaves of P. mearsii. The known pyrrolidine alkaloid peripentadenine (81), was purified from the bark of P. mearsii. Peripentonine (123) was reduced to peripentadenine (81) upon reaction with Pd/C. Four aromatic indolizidine alkaloids were isolated from the extract of the leaves of E. fuscoides. One new compound, elaeocarpenine (122), was isolated from this New Guinean plant. Three known Elaeocarpus alkaloids, isoelaeocarpicine (62), elaeocarpine (60) and isoelaeocarpine (61) were also purified from E. fuscoides. Elaeocarpenine (122) was demonstrated to produce the epimeric compounds elaeocarpine and isoelaeocarpine via reaction with ammonia. The chemical investigation of the Queensland plant E. grandis by two separate purification procedures was performed. An SCX/C18 isolation protocol was used to purify the new indolizidine alkaloids grandisine C (127), D (126), and E (128), in conjunction with the known tetracyclic indolizidine isoelaeocarpiline (63). The second purification of E. grandis was achieved with the use of ammonia in an acid/base partitioning protocol. Grandisine F (129) and G (130), and compounds 131a and b were purified by this procedure, as were 63, 126 and 127. Grandisine F and G were proposed to be ammonia adducts of grandisine D (126). Compound 131a and b were isolated as a mixture of diastereomers. The reduction of grandisine D (126) with Pd/C yielded a mixture of isoelaeocarpine (61) and elaeocarpine (60), whereas the reduction of isoelaeocarpiline (63) produced isoelaeocarpine (61). All of the alkaloids isolated from the Elaeocarpaceae, except grandisine E (128) and 131a and b, were evaluated for binding affinity against the human ? opioid receptor. Every compound except mearsamine 2 (125) possessed a binding affinity of less than 100 ?M. The most active compounds were grandisine F (129), D (126), C (127), elaeocarpenine (122), isoelaeocarpine (61), isoelaeocarpiline (63) and peripentadenine (81). The IC50 values for these compounds were 1.55, 1.65, 14.6, 2.74, 13.6, 9.86 and 11.4 ?M, respectively. The SAR of the active compounds was compared. These observations indicated that the indolizidine alkaloids were more active than the pyrrolidine alkaloids, and a phenol or ketone at position C-12 of the indolizidine alkaloids produced better binding affinity. All of these alkaloids, except 129, were proposed to interact with two of the three binding domains of the ? opioid receptor. Grandisine F (129) was proposed to have a different mode of action than the other alkaloids in the series. Synthetic modifications to isoelaeocarpine (61) and peripentadenine (81) were investigated in an attempt to incorporate an extra aromatic group into these molecules. An extra aromatic group was proposed to provide increased binding affinity to the ? opioid receptor by interaction with the third binding domain of the receptor. Two different aromatic amines were successfully attached to peripentadenine (81) by a reductive amination reaction using NaBH(OAc)3 and a titanium catalyst. The reductive amination of the ketone in isoelaecarpine (61) with various amines and NaBH(OAc)3 or NaBH4 proved unsuccessful.