Quinoline alkaloids from Acronychia laurifolia

Bioassay-directed fractionation of a root extract of Acronychia laurifolia (Rutaceae) using the KB-V1(+) human tumor cell line led to the isolation of six quinoline alkaloids. One of these alkaloids is novel, namely, 2,3-methylenedioxy-4,7-dimethoxyquinoline and the other five were identified as the known compounds, evolitrine, gamma-fagarine, skimmianine, kokusaginine and maculosidine. Two known bis-tetrahydrofuran lignans, sesamolin and yangambin, were also identified. The structure of the new alkaloid was determined by spectroscopic methods. All of the isolates were evaluated against a panel of human cancer cell lines; four of the alkaloids showed weak cytotoxic activity. (C) 1999. Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.