title: Geographic distribution of three alkaloid chemotypes of Croton lechleri.
abstract: Three known alkaloids, isoboldine (2), norisoboldine (1), and magnoflorine (8), have been isolated for the first time from Croton lechleri, a source of the wound healing latex "sangre de grado". An HPLC system was developed, and a large number of latex and leaf samples of C. lechleri from 22 sites in northern Peru and Ecuador were analyzed to gain an understanding of the natural variation in alkaloid content for the species. Up to six alkaloids were found to occur in the leaves including, in addition to those listed above, thaliporphine (3), glaucine (4), and taspine (9), whereas the latex contained only 9. Taspine (9) is the component that has been previously found to be responsible for the wound healing activity of C. lechleri latex, and its mean concentration throughout the range examined was found to be 9% of the latex by dry weight. In addition, three chemotypes are defined based on the alkaloid content of the leaves, and the geographic distribution of these chemotypes is discussed along with a quantitative analysis of the alkaloid content as a function of chemotype.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Washington University, Campus Box 1137, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA. dmilanowski@ncifcrf.gov
authors.forename: Dennis J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Milanowski
authors.forename: Rudolph E K
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: Memory P F
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Elvin-Lewis
authors.forename: Walter H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001060:Aporphines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003105:Colombia; D029802:Croton / Q000737:chemistry*; D004484:Ecuador; D007840:Latex / Q000737:chemistry; D015394:Molecular Structure; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D010568:Peru; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D001060:Aporphines; D007840:Latex; C464745:norisoboldine; C464744:isoboldine; C001670:magnoflorine