Venecurine, an Indole Alkaloid from Curare

A new quaternary indole alkaloid, venecurine, has been isolated by chromatographic techniques from a curare obtained from the Hoti tribe of Venezuela. Elucidation of its structure is based mainly on 2D-NMR studies. Concurrently with the structural work, frog bioassays were carried out. The curare and venecurine exhibit the same type of activity that is relatively low as compared with the dimeric curarizing alkaloids.These results may be an indication that the sample of curare investigated was a weak one intended to be used for capturing rather than killing animals.