Isoquinoline Alkaloids and Antimalarial Properties of Popowia Perakensis Extract

Abstract

Further investigation on the alkaloidal composition on the bark of the Malaysian Popowia perakensis King collected from Mersing, Johore afforded four isoquinoline alkaloids, i.e atherospermidine 1, (-)-anonaine 2, (-)-norstephalagine 3 and (-)-asimilobine 4. These compounds were elucidated and identified via spectroscopic methods mainly 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, IR, UV, GCMS and by comparison with literature data. The crude alkaloid extract was screened for antimalarial activity towards Plasmodium falciparum in vitro using the lactate dehyrogenase (LDH) assay to give IC50 value of 6.85 μg/ml.