Worldwide, there are plants known as psychoactive plants that naturally contain psychedelic active components. They have a high concentration of neuroprotective substances that can interact with the nervous system to produce psychedelic effects. Despite these plants' hazardous potential, recreational use of them is on the rise because of their psychoactive properties. Early neuroscience studies relied heavily on psychoactive plants and plant natural products (NPs), and both recreational and hazardous NPs have contributed significantly to the understanding of almost all neurotransmitter systems. Worldwide, there are many plants that contain psychoactive properties, and people have been using them for ages. Psychoactive plant compounds may significantly alter how people perceive the world.
1. Org Lett. 2019 Aug 16;21(16):6295-6299. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.9b02172. Epub 2019 Aug 5. Direct and Metal-Catalyzed Photochemical Dimerization of the Phthalide (Z)-Ligustilide Leading to Both [2 + 2] and [4 + 2] Cycloadducts: Application to Total Syntheses of Tokinolides A-C and Riligustilide. Sheng B(1), Vo Y(2), Lan P(1), Gardiner MG(2), Banwell MG(1)(2), Sun P(1). Author information: (1)Institute for Advanced and Applied Chemical Synthesis , Jinan University , Zhuhai , 519070 , China. (2)Research School of Chemistry, Institute of Advanced Studies , The Australian National University , Canberra , ACT 2601 , Australia. Synthetically derived (Z)-ligustilide (1) has been subjected to photochemically-promoted dimerization processes under a range of conditions. By such means, varying distributions of the dimeric natural products tokinolides A-C (4, 3, and 6, respectively) and riligustilide (5) as well certain related (isomeric) compounds have been obtained. The structures of three of them have been confirmed by single-crystal X-ray analysis. The biosynthetic implications of the outcomes of this study are discussed. DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.9b02172 PMID: 31381356 [Indexed for MEDLINE] 2. Molecules. 2016 Apr 26;21(5):549. doi: 10.3390/molecules21050549. Neuroprotective and Cytotoxic Phthalides from Angelicae Sinensis Radix. Gong W(1), Zhou Y(2), Li X(3), Gao X(4), Tian J(5), Qin X(6), Du G(7)(8). Author information: (1)Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, No.92, Wucheng Road, Taiyuan 030006, China. 18835126271@163.com. (2)Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, No.92, Wucheng Road, Taiyuan 030006, China. zhouyuzhi@sxu.edu.cn. (3)Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, No.92, Wucheng Road, Taiyuan 030006, China. lixiaoedu@126.com. (4)Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, No.92, Wucheng Road, Taiyuan 030006, China. gaoxiaoxia@sxu.edu.cn. (5)Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, No.92, Wucheng Road, Taiyuan 030006, China. jstian@sxu.edu.cn. (6)Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, No.92, Wucheng Road, Taiyuan 030006, China. qinxm@sxu.edu.cn. (7)Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, No.92, Wucheng Road, Taiyuan 030006, China. dugh@imm.ac.cn. (8)Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China. dugh@imm.ac.cn. Erratum in Molecules. 2023 Nov 28;28(23):7814. doi: 10.3390/molecules28237814. Seven phthalides, including a new dimeric one named tokinolide C (7), were isolated from Angelicae Sinensis Radix and characterized. The structures of these compounds were elucidated on the basis of comprehensive analysis of spectroscopic data and comparison with literature data. All of the compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against the A549, HCT-8, and HepG2 cancer cell lines. Riligustilide (4) showed cytotoxicity against three cancer cell lines, with IC50 values of 13.82, 6.79, and 7.92 μM, respectively. Tokinolide A (6) and tokinolide C (6) exerted low cytotoxicity in these cancer cell lines, while the remaining compounds were inactive. Flow cytometry analysis was employed to evaluate the possible mechanism of cytotoxic action of riligustilide (4). We observed that compound 4 was able to arrest the cell cycle in the G1, S phases and induce apoptosis in a time-dependent manner in HCT-8 cell lines. In addition, these compounds were evaluated for neuroprotective effect against SH-SY5Y cells injured by glutamate. The result showed that ligustilide (1), Z-butylidenephthalide (3) and tokinolide A (6) exhibited significant neuroprotective effects. DOI: 10.3390/molecules21050549 PMCID: PMC6273808 PMID: 27128890 [Indexed for MEDLINE] Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.