Journal of Natural Products
Article
and was used as internal mass reference. An HPLC system consisting
of an Accela photodiode array (PDA) Detector, Accela autosampler,
and Accela 1250 pump was coupled to an LTQ XL mass spectrometer
(from Thermo Scientific) for HPLC/HESI-MS analyses. Heated
electrospray ionization was used with an enhanced scan range of 120
to 2000 amu. Gradient HPLC solvent programs consisted of LCMS-
grade H2O, CH3CN, and 2% formic acid in H2O. An Agilent Zorbax
Eclipse Plus C18 (3.5 μm, 2.1 × 150 mm) column was used, which
was kept at 30 °C. The PDA detector was set to a scanning range
from 190 to 600 nm with 1 nm wavelength steps. Purification of
compounds was performed via semipreparative HPLC-DAD using a
Dionex Ultimate 3000 HPLC system consisting of a DAD,
autosampler, pump, and automated fraction collector (Thermo
Scientific). Gradient programs used HPLC-grade H2O, CH3CN,
and 2% formic acid in H2O with a flow rate of 4.73 mL·min−1. A
Nucleodur C18 HTec (5 μm, 10 × 250 mm) column was used.
Analyses via GC/EI-MS were performed with a 7890A GC system
coupled to a 5975 Series mass detector (Agilent Technologies)
equipped with an Agilent HP-5MS capillary column (0.25 μm film,
0.25 mm × 30 m) and helium as the carrier gas. Ionization was
performed via electron impact (EI) with 70 eV, and the following
temperature program was used: isothermal at 50 °C for 5 min,
followed by heating at 10 °C·min−1 up to 320 °C. Gas chromato-
graphic retention indices were calculated from a homologous series of
n-alkanes (C8−C38). Chiral-phase separations were performed with a
7890A GC-FID system (Agilent Technologies) using a Lipodex G
column (50 m × 0.25 mm) and hydrogen as the carrier gas with the
following temperature program: isothermal at 50 °C for 15 min,
followed by heating at 25 °C·min−1 up to 220 °C.
O-3-Hydroxybutanoylsamandarine (4): [α]20 +40 (c 0.4,
D
MeOH); GC-IR νmax 3335, 2969, 2935, 2856, 1730, 1452, 1379,
1303, 1179, 1115, 1086, 1039, 1022, 999, 952, 915, 858, 831 cm−1;
1H and 13C NMR data (CD3OD), Table 1; HR-ESI-MS m/z
392.27986 [M + H]+ (calcd for C23H38NO4, 392.28008); EI-MS
spectrum, Figure 3a.
Samanone (6): colorless semisolid; [α]20 −9.2 (c 0.1, MeOH);
D
GC-IR νmax 2960, 2931, 2875, 2860, 1726, 1601, 1582, 1465, 1381,
1283, 1263, 1126, 1076, 745 cm−1; 1H and 13C NMR data (CD3OD),
Table 2; HR-ESI-MS m/z 290.24826 [M + H]+ (calcd for C19H32NO,
290.24839); EI-MS spectrum, Figure 3b.
Transesterification of O-3-Hydroxybutanoylsamandarine
(4). The absolute configuration of the 3-hydroxybutanoyl side chain
was determined after transesterification of 4 with TMSH according to
Schomburg et al.28 A small amount of the compound was dissolved in
100 μL of CH2Cl2, and 100 μL of 0.25 M TMSH in MeOH was
added. After 1 h, the mixture was diluted with CH2Cl2 and analyzed
by GC/EI-MS.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
* Supporting Information
■
S
The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the
Overview of salamander alkaloids identified so far, GC/
EI-MS data for samandarine (1) samandarone (2), and
O-acetylsamandarine (3), NMR spectra of all com-
pounds, chromatograms of chiral-phase analysis, as well
as purification gradients for semipreparative HPLC
Extraction and Isolation. The glandular secretion (1 g) was
obtained by a noninvasive “milking” procedure applied to fire
salamanders from three sites in the Solling area (geographical
coordinates 51°53′25 N 9°36′17 E; 51°48′24 N 9°29′31 E; and
51°45′15 N 9°40′32 E). Each animal was taken into one hand with
the head directed toward the thumb. Then the thumb of the
controlling hand was placed on top of one of the parotoids and the
thumb of the other hand underneath. A glass container was placed
close to the parotoids, and by applying gentle pressure with both
thumbs the skin poison was collected. As an alternative, the
salamander’s tail may serve as another source of poison. By applying
gentle pressure on the root of the tail and then gliding up to the tail
tip, secretions can be released. This procedure however causes a wider
dispersion of poison droplets and therefore appears to be less
accurate. We refer to the herein described method as “milking” (as
suggested by Geßner and Craemer43) in analogy to the term often
used for venom sampling in snakes and other venomous animals.
This secretion was extracted with 15 mL of MeOH for 20 min with
regular mixing via soft shaking. The extract was filtered and diluted
1:10 in MeOH for method development and purification. Because
salamander alkaloids cannot be detected via PDA, development of the
method was performed via HPLC/HESI-MS, followed by scaling up
to semipreparative HPLC for purification. Pure fractions of
samandarine (1), O-acetylsamandarine (3), and O-3-hydroxybuta-
noylsamandarine (4) were obtained within the first purification step
and analyzed. The solvent system used is shown in the Supporting
separation of samanone (6). Solvent gradient information is shown in
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
■
ORCID
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
■
The research was funded by the German Ministry of Science
and Education in the framework of the program ANOBIN.
Fieldwork was performed in accordance with animal welfare
(33.19-42502-04-18/2792) and under the permission of the
administrative districts of Northeim (VI.3-NAT-1738/18) and
Holzminden (366 3245 30 44/2018). We are grateful to E.
Sanchez for valuable discussions on the subject and to S.
Gippner, M. Dinis, M. Wagler, F. Goudarzi, R. Schmidt, U.
Seidel, and S. Steinfartz for their much appreciated help during
the fieldwork.
REFERENCES
■
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Samandarine (1): [α]20 +36 (c 0.4, MeOH); GC-IR νmax 3431,
D
3321, 2938, 2853, 1480, 1451, 1379, 1339, 1279, 1162, 1114, 1042,
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306.24330); EI-MS spectrum, Figure S3 Supporting Information.
O-Acetylsamandarine (3): [α]20D +42 (c 0.2, MeOH); GC-IR νmax
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C21H34NO3, 348.25387); EI-MS spectrum, Figure S5 Supporting
Information.
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