New Alkaloid De-Oxypalmitine from Coscinium fenestratum

Present study is aimed at to investigate phytochemically the stem bark of Coscinium fenestratum (family Menispermaceae) a plant popularly and commonly known as “tree turmeric” used globally in traditional medicine to treat variety of ailments, using a standard procedure. Fractionation of its methanol extract by ethyl acetate and chloroform and subsequent column chromatography over silica gel G (60-120) mesh size led to the isolation of Berberine, Palmitine and Jatrorrhizine. The structure of palmitine was elucidated using 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, FABMS and DEPT analysis and was confirmed. In addition, alkaloid Deoxypalmitine (1) was isolated from the methanol extract of the defatted stem of the Coscinium fenestratum. The structure of the new compound 1 was determined by means of spectral data analysis and also comparing that of reference sample of palmitine.