Three new indole alkaloids, named naucleamide G (1), and nauclealomide B and C (5 and 6), were isolated from the n-BuOH-soluble fraction of an EtOH extract of the leaves of Nauclea officinalis, together with three known alkaloids, paratunamide C (2), paratunamide D (3) and paratunamide A (4). The structures with absolute configurations of the new compounds were identified on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR, HRESIMS, acid hydrolysis and quantum chemical circular dichroism (CD) calculation. According to the structures of isolated indole alkaloids, their plausible biosynthetic pathway was deduced.
Keywords: Nauclea officinalis; biosynthetic pathway; indole alkaloids.