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Alchemica

Erythrina vespertilio seed bioassays and extracts

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Expanding on this thread. For a basic overview of Erythrina see here. I've ordered 250g of seed and have the following aims:

 

  • Bioassay raw seed cautiously
  • Bioassay 70:30:EtOH:H2O [?] extract that should retain all alkaloids (including indolic betaines and other tryptophan derivatives) and flavonoids. Hopefully TLC, confirm presence of hypaphorine/tryptophan derivatives with p-DMAB. Still working out if this is the optimal protocol.
  • Bioassay EtOH/H20 extract after solubilising in dilute AcOH and freebasing erythrina alkaloids, leaving betaines and tryptophan derivatives in solution? Confirm no indolic alkaloids with p-DMAB, hopefully TLC. Still working out if this is the optimal protocol.

 

Extraction and Isolation [1]. Fresh influorescences (3 kg) were macerated with EtOH/H2O (70:30) at 30-50 ° over a period of 10 days. The solvent was removed under reduced pressure to afford a humid crude extract (CE) (120 g) that was acidified with a 10% HOAc solution. This solution was extracted with CHCl3 and was then made alkaline (pH 9-10) with NH4OH and re-extracted with CHCl3 to afford a mixture of crude alkaloids (670 mg).
The alkaloidal fraction was separated by flash chromatography
 
[1]: Flausino OA, Santos LD, Verli H, Pereira AM, Bolzani VD, et al. (2007) Anxiolytic effects of erythrinian alkaloids from Erythrina mulungu. J Nat Prod 70: 48–53. doi: 10.1021/np060254j  Sci-Hub.
 

I'm open to suggestions on other protocols you'd recommend. Would love it if others wanted to do cautious bioassays. I want to give my brain some time to recover while I work on the literature aspects primarily, Cheapest seeds are available here

 

I'm out of TLC stuff, I really cleaned up my act too drastically, so I'll either have to grab some more or outsource that aspect if anyone wants to be involved? Have a tiny bit of p-DMAB. More specific analysis would be awesome, could chip in for costs if there's anyone who has access to such.

 

I'm going to spend a bit of time cruising through the literature and updating this thread as I do that.

Edited by Alchemica
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I've been informed by Torsten that lectins could be the actives. Anyone know procedures with regard to their isolation and identification?

 

Quote

I know very little about lectins other than they are interesting poisons and their effect is not reversible. proceed with caution!

 

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doesn't look safe... 

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Never mentioned safety hence any bioassays should be CAUTIOUS and will be particularly wary with extracts. My main focus is on learning more about the plant's chemistry at this stage. It could be the next Bicycle Day potent anxiolytic wise, or something less favourable...

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dont you think you should have first bioessayed tropanes, say, through smoking, to see what they're like??  

 

How will you know you dont have scopolamine or something tropane in your extract? 

 

Tropane plants in small doses have anxiolytic properties, Hyoscyamus has been used as a substitute for opiate addicts. 

 

 

 

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I got up to a dose of 3 seeds, starting with 70mg of a seed to start with, all with no discernible effect. Either I'm a hard-head or my brain is messed up, I'm siding with the latter. Or they might just not be that active? In light of those results, I'm not so interested in these seeds as anxiolytics but I may continue to do some experiments.

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