Isolation, synthesis and bioactivity of the cassiarins and related compounds: technological applications of polycyclic cassiarinoids

Abstract

The cassiarins are alkaloids isolated since 2007 from different parts of the trees Cassia siamea, C. alata and C. fistula. They are characterized by a unique tricyclic pyrano[2,3,4-ij]isoquinoline skeleton. The isolation, bioactivity profile and synthetic efforts toward the total synthesis of the natural products and their analogs are discussed, along with the most relevant technological applications of compounds bearing the cassiarin framework, covering the literature of the last 20 years.