ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NATURAL PRODUCTS FROM PLANT TISSUE CULTURES OF MAYTENUS BUCHANANII

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0031-9422(81)85151-5

Key Word Index - Maytenus buchananii; Celastraceae; tissu culture; polpunonic acid; sitosterol; quinomethides; tingenone; 22β-hydroxytingenone. Explants of Maytenus buchananii were induced to form a callus and subsequently to form suspension cultures on a wide variety of media.Culture extracts showed cytotoxic activity, but examination by TLC did not indicate the presence of maytansine.Isolation of natural products from a large scale suspension culture led to the identification of polpunonic acid, sitosterol and the cytotoxic triterpene quinone-methides, tingenone and 22β-hydroxytingenone.Possible biosynthetic relationships of these and other triterpene quinone-methides are discussed.