Nouveaux alcaloïdes des racines du Strychnos icaja

Strychnos icaja roots are used in Central Africa for the preparation of arrow and ordeal poisons. Amongst the very numerous bases present in these roots, we have isolated and identified six alkaloids. Apart from strychnine, we have obtained three alkaloids previously detected in the leaves:icajine, 19,20-alpha-epoxynovacine and 19,20-alpha-epoxy-15-hydroxynovacine. Moreover we have extracted dimeric alkaloids: symmetrical (bisnordihydrotoxiferine) as well as a new unsymmetrical one (sungucine). Finally it has been shown that the plant contained also various quaternary alkaloids and particularly Nb-methylstrychninium base which has been found for the first time. Phytochemical and pharmacological experiments are still under study.