2.7-dihydroxyapogeissoschizine from root bark of strychnos gossweileri

In this paper, we describe the isolation and structural determination of 2,7-dihydroxyapogeissoschizine, a new alkaloid from the root bark of Strychnos gossweileri. Elucidation of its structure is based mainly on 1D and 2D NMR studies; its conformation was optimized by energy minimization. This type of skeleton is related to geissoschizine but with the notable diffrence that the 1 and 17 positions are joined giving an additional fused ring. Such a seven-membered ring has ,to our knowledge, only been observed in apogeissoschizine, obtained after chemical tratment of two alkaloids ( geissospermine and geissoschizine). 2,7-dihydroxyapogeissoschizine is therefore, the first natural product possessing this skeleton. According to a preliminary test, this new alkaloid shows low toxicity to B16 melanoma cells, but not for non-cancer 3T3 fibroblasts cultured in vitro.THese results have to be confirmed by further tests.