RESEARCH ARTICLE


Bioactive Alkaloids from South American Psychotria and Related Species



Diogo D. Porto1, Amélia T. Henriques2, Arthur G. Fett-Neto1, 3, *
1 Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
2 Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
3 Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil


© Porto et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Center for Biotechnology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, P.O Box 15005, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, Postal Code: 91501-970, Brazil; Tel: 55 51 3308 7642; Fax: 55 51 3308 7309; E-mail: fettneto@cbiot.ufrgs.br


Abstract

Many important molecules have been discovered from tropical and sub-tropical plant biodiversity. However, the largest part of the chemical profile of such biodiversity remains unknown. Combining ethnopharmacological and chemotaxonomical investigation can be a good strategy in bioactive compound discovery. South American Psychotria species studied by this approach proved to be a rich source of new bioactive alkaloids, some of which bear unique chemical skeletons.

Key Words: Alkaloids, South America, Psychotria, Ethnopharmacology, Analgesic.