title: New bioactive steroidal alkaloids from Buxus hyrcana.
abstract: Phytochemical studies on the crude methanolic extract of Buxus hyrcana, collected from Iran, resulted in the isolation of two new steroidal alkaloids, (+)-O6-buxafurandiene (1) and (+)-7-deoxy-O6-buxafurandiene (2) along with four known steroidal bases, (+)-benzoylbuxidienine (3), (+)-buxapapillinine (4), (+)-buxaquamarine (5) and (+)-irehine (6). The structures of these new and known compounds were established with the aid of extensive NMR spectroscopic studies. Compounds 1 and 2 belong to the rarely occurring class of Buxus alkaloids having a tetrahydrofuran ring incorporated in their structures. Compounds 1-6 exhibited acetylcholinesterase enzyme inhibitory activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 2E9.
authors.forename: Zaheer Uddin
authors.initials: ZU
authors.lastname: Babar
authors.forename: Athar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ata
authors.forename: Mohammad Hadi
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Meshkatalsadat
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D031235:Buxus / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D013256:Steroids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D013256:Steroids