Aporphines and Their Oxidized Derivatives: Synthesis and Pharmacological Behavior

Dear Colleagues,

Since the beginnings of the studies about the natural products, the aporphine derivatives are the most important group of isoquinoline alkaloids in the nature, with a variety of examples of chemical structure and pharmacological application. Thus, for instance, (S)-(+)-Boldine(2,9-dihydroxy-1,10-dimethoxy-N-methyl-4H-dibenzo[de,g]quinoline) from boldo tree (Peumus boldus Molina. Monimiaceae), native to the central region of Chile, it has shown wide pharmacological activities unknown for many people. Thus, it has been characterized in the past few years as an antioxidant that effectively protects different systems against free-radical-induced lipid peroxidation or enzyme inactivation.

On the other hand, the oxidated derivatives of the aporphine called “oxoaporphine” are the compounds with major number of bibliographic citations about the pharmacology in different diseases such as antiparasitic, cancer, depression, etc. However, at the present, other groups of isoquinoline alkaloid isolated from Chinese roots called “Oxoisoaporphine” have been described with innumerable chemical and pharmacological reactivities, which to allow us to assure that these compounds have a wide applicability in the treatment either of disease or conductual disorders and oncological disease. The importance of this group of alkaloids increases constantly due to the diversity of chemical structure and the sources to isolate them.

Dr. Eduardo Sobarzo-Sánchez
Guest Editor