The phenyl- and biphenyl-quinolizidines of in-vitro-grown Heimia salicifolia.

Under the conditions delineated in this paper, alkaloid synthesis was not detectable in heterotrophic callus and suspension cultures of Heimia salicifolia. However, in vitro-grown shoots are active in alkaloid biosynthesis, yielding the biphenylquinolizidine lactones vertine (1), lytrine (5), and lyfoline (7), the ester alkaloids demethoxyabresoline (14) and epidemethoxylabresoline (11), the phenylquinolizidinols demethyllasubine-I (10) and demethyllasubine-II (12), and several minor alkaloids that had not been previously shown to occur in H. salicifolia.