Occurrence of Nicotine together with Hyoscine in Duboisia myoporoides R. Br.

Abstract

THE genus Duboisia comprises three species: D. hopwoodii F. Muell. is confined to the interior of the Australian continent, D. leichhardtii F. Muell. has a restricted occurrence in the highlands of southeastern Queensland, and D. myoporoides R. Br. occurs along the eastern coast of Australia and in New Caledonia. The leaves of all three species contain major quantities of alkaloids; but the genus is unique in that one species, D. hopwoodii, contains the pyridine alkaloids nicotine and nor-nicotine, whereas the other two contain various alkaloids of the tropane group. Efforts to detect tropane alkaloids among the minor alkaloids of D. hopwoodii have failed. Similarly, although the other two Australian species contain volatile bases, the occurrence of nicotine or nor-nicotine has not been demonstrated.