Cephalotaxus alkaloids

Japanese plum-yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonia)

The completely enclosed seeds of the Japanese plum-yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonii) are ripe.

Cephalotaxus alkaloids are natural products characterized by pentacyclic structure.

Occurrence

These alkaloids are commonly found in the plum yew species (Cephalotaxus), especially in the Japanese plum-yew.

Representative

The most important representative is cephalotaxin. Other notable representatives include harringtonine and homoharringtonine.

• 
  (-)-Cephalotaxin
• 
  (-)-Harringtonine
• 
  (-)-Homoharringtonine

Properties

Harringtonine and homoharringtonine exhibit antitumor activity and act against murine leukemia cells. They serve as protein and DNA biosynthesis inhibitors and are used against acute myelocytoxic leukemia.