The isolation from the epigeal part and roots ofArundo donax L. (fam. Gramineae) gathered in the environs of the village of K'umkishlak, Kashkadar'inskaya oblast, and in the botanical gardens of Tashkent and Samarkand of 10 alkaloids of the pyrrolidine and indolylalkylamine series has been reported previously. The structures of six of them have been established on the basis of chemical transformations, spectral characteristics, and XSA [1].The plant A. donax is widely used in folk medicine as a sudorific and diuretic agent and also for the treatment of feminine diseases. The valuable biological properties of the main alkaloid of A. donax --donaxine --have served as a stimulus to a search for new raw material sources of this plant in Uzbekistan. With this aim, we have studied for the first time the epigeal part and roots ofA. donax in two vegetation periods from a new growth site --the Fergana valley of Uzbekistan. As a result of these investigations we have isolated eight alkaloids of known structure (donaxine, donaxarine, donaxaridine, donaxanine, donine, deoxyvasicinone, phenyl-13-naphthylamine, and arundine) [4] and a white crystalline base with nap 148---150~ composition C23H~N40 , r~dily soluble in acetone, chloroform, and methanol and moderately soluble in benzene and ethyl acetate, which we have called arundinine (1).The UV spectrtml of (1) showed absorption maxima at 206, 226, and 288 nm (log e 4.49, 4.02, 3.48). The IR spectrum contained absorption bands of active hydrogen (3397 era-l), of ----CH 3 and ---CH 2 groups (3040---2826 eral), and of the asymmetric stretching vibrations ofa C---O--C bond, and also those of an aromatic ring (1609, 820, and 748 era-l). The mass spectrum included the peak of the molecular ion with m/z 376, while the peak of maximum intensity had m/z 173. It is important to note that the presence of peaks of ions with m/z 130 and 173 in the mass spectrum of (1) is typical for indolyl alkaloids. A comparative study of the general mass spectra of arundinine and donaxine [5], isolated from the same plant, and also the results of a determination of the elementary composition of (1) gave grounds for assuming the presence in the (1) molecule of the elements of the structure of donaxine.The spectral characteristics of (1) and its molecular mass show that the structure of the alkaloid is of dimeric nature, one half of the dimer having the structure of donaxine substituted in the aromatic ring. The peak of an ion with m/z 204 having the elementary composition CI2HIrN20 shows that the link of the donaxine monomer to the other half of the structure of (1) is made through an oxygen function. The presence in the mass spectrum of the peak of an ion with m/z 190 having the elementary composition CnHI4N20 shows the structure of the second half of the molecule as consisting of three rings and Institute of the Chemistry of Plant Substances, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, fax (371) 120 64 75.
