THE OCCURRENCE OF SOME IMPORTANT TROPANE ALKALOIDS IN CHINESE SOLANACEOUS PLANTS

Hyoscyamine, scopolamine, anisodamine, anisodine are important tropane alkaloids because of their therapeutic value and pharmacological actions. In recent years, the latter two new tropane alkaloids have also been proved to affect the central or peri- pheral nerve system. This discovery has prompted further investigation into solana- ceous plants with the hope of finding additional sources with higher content of these alkaloids. The present paper studied the general pattern of distribution in the Chinese solanaceous plants, of the above mentioned four tropane alkaloids and a non-tropane alkaloid, bellaradine, which may be biogenetically related to the tropane alkaloids. The variation of these alkaloids within a certain population belonging to Scopolia tangutica was studied as well.