Plant derived natural products have many useful biological and pharmaceutical properties. In particular the natural products containing one or more basic nitrogen atoms, called alkaloids, have potential as anti-viral, anti-cancer and anti-diabetes therapeutics. Others have potential for agricultural applications and have pesticide and anti-feedant activities. This project aims to prepare sufficient quantities of two classes of bioactive alkaloids to allow more extensive biological testing to be undertaken and to understand how the chemical structures of alkaloids affect their biological activities. This information will be used to design more biologically active therapeutics and agricultural chemicals.
Plant derived natural products have many useful biological and pharmaceutical properties. In particular the natural products containing one or more basic nitrogen atoms, called alkaloids, have potential as anti-viral, anti-cancer and anti-diabetes therapeutics. Others have potential for agricultural applications and have pesticide and anti-feedant activities. This project aims to prepare sufficient quantities of two classes of bioactive alkaloids to allow more extensive biological testing to be undertaken and to understand how the chemical structures of alkaloids affect their biological activities. This information will be used to design more biologically active therapeutics and agricultural chemicals.