Atrop-diastereomer separation by racemate resolution techniques: N-methyl-dioncophylline A and its 7-epimer from Ancistrocladus abbreviatus

Abstract The isolation of N -methyl-dioncophylline A and N -methyl-7- epi -dioncophylline A from Ancistrocladus abbreviatus is described. Atrop-diastereomer resolution was achieved analytically on a chiral chromatographic phase, and preparatively after esterification with a chiral carboxylic acid. Structural elucidation assisted by partial synthesis is reported and chemotaxonomic implications of this first isolation of Dioncophyllaceae alkaloids from an Ancistrocladus species are discussed.