The very long chemistry history of this famous bitter substance and natural poison from first isolation in 1818 to total synthesis in 1954 to now biosynthesis!
"Strychnine, an alkaloid found in the seeds of the poison nut tree, Strychos nux-vomica, and related species, is one of the most bitter and poisonous substances. It was once used as an ingredient in health tonics, but it was for its poisonous, spasm-inducing effects that it became renowned for, often featuring in murder mysteries and thrillers, including Agatha Christie’s first novel and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. ..."
From the abstract:
"Strychnine is a natural product that, through isolation, structural elucidation and synthetic efforts, shaped the field of organic chemistry. Currently, strychnine is used as a pesticide to control rodents because of its potent neurotoxicity. The polycyclic architecture of strychnine has inspired chemists to develop new synthetic transformations and strategies to access this molecular scaffold, yet it is still unknown how plants create this complex structure. Here we report the biosynthetic pathway of strychnine, along with the related molecules brucine and diaboline. Moreover, we successfully recapitulate strychnine, brucine and diaboline biosynthesis in Nicotiana benthamiana from an upstream intermediate, thus demonstrating that this complex, pharmacologically active class of compounds can now be harnessed through metabolic engineering approaches."
Fig. 1: The proposed biosynthesis pathway for strychnine and brucine.
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