Senecipyrrolidine, an unusual pyrrolidine alkaloid isolated from (Desf.) Pelser (Asteraceae).

Alkaloids and phenolic compounds are among the most biologically active natural products from the / genera (Asteraceae). To isolate original natural products directly from crude polar extracts, centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) was used. Previously, we reported the phytochemical study of (syn. ) -butanol extract using various classical chromatographical techniques combined with CPC. Herein major constituents from the crude ethyl acetate extract and further compounds from the -butanol extract were purified in only one step using this technique. A new pyrrolidine alkaloid, named senecipyrrolidine was isolated along with thirteen known compounds - -inositol, three phenolic acids, six flavonoids, two quinones and emiline, another pyrrolidine alkaloid - from crude -butanol or ethyl acetate extracts. Pyrrolidine alkaloids were isolated for the first time in the genera and were probably biogenetically related to the two isolated quinones derivatives jacaranone and 3a-hydroxy-3,3a,7,7a-tetrahydrobenzofuran-2,6-dione, isolated in this species.