Quassinoids
Quassinoids form a group of substances in organic chemistry and are natural substances . Some of the representatives of this group of substances have very complex structural formulas. They are degraded triterpenes that have various tetra- and pentacyclic basic structures with 18, 19, 20, 22 or even 25 carbon atoms. The C 20 picrasan basic structure is very well known .
The most important representative of the quassinoids is the eponymous compound quassin . The structure of this compound was elucidated by Zdenek Valente in the early 1960s.
Occurrence
The quassinoids occur exclusively in the plant family of the bitter ash family (Simaroubaceae), z. B. in the wood of Quassia amara , in Picrasma excelsa , in the tree of the gods , which also grows in Germany as a park tree or overgrown in some cities, and in Eurycoma longifolia , which is offered as an aphrodisiac under the name Tongkat Ali. About 450 different natural quassinoids are known.
Properties and effects
In addition to the very bitter taste, they have a feeding-inhibiting effect on insects. An antileukemic effect has also been reported. Furthermore, antiviral, antiparasitic (especially against malaria), insecticidal, amebicidal and anti-inflammatory properties could be ascribed to many quassinoids in various studies.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Jürgen Falbe, Manfred Regitz (ed.): Römpp Chemie Lexikon, 9th edition, Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-13-735009-3 , pp. 3735-3736.
- ↑ Judith Polonsky: Quassinoid Bitter Principles , Advances in the chemistry of organic natural substances , No. 30, 1973, pp. 101-150, doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-7091-7102-8_3 .
- ↑ [1] ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Dictionary of Natural Products 26.2 , CRC Press, search for (Type of Compound = "quassinoid nortriterpenoids" and Type of Organism = plant family) , accessed January 10, 2018.
- ↑ Judith Polonsky: Quassinoid Bitter Principles II , Advances in Chemistry of Organic Natural Products , No. 47, 1985, pp. 221-264, doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-7091-8790-6_4 .
- ↑ G. Fiaschetti, MA Grotzer, T. Shalaby, D. Castelletti, A. Arcaro: Quassinoids: From traditional drugs to new cancer therapeutics . In: Current Medicinal Chemistry . tape 18 , no. 3 , 2011, p. 316-328 , PMID 21143123 .
- ^ Ilias Muhammad, Volodymyr Samoylenko: Antimalarial quassinoids: past, present and future . In: Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery . tape 2 , no. 8 , August 1, 2007, p. 1065-1084 , doi : 10.1517 / 17460441.2.8.1065 , PMID 23484873 .
