The isolation of the cyanogenic glycoside prunasin from Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kühn

Phytochemical Variation, Colonization, and Insect Communities: the Case of Bracken Fern (Pteridium aquilinum)

“…3a; Moon and Raafat, 1951;Kofod and Eyjolfsson, 1966;Jones, 1977), in a manner similar to that known for other plants (Dement and Mooney, 1974). 3a; Moon and Raafat, 1951;Kofod and Eyjolfsson, 1966;Jones, 1977), in a manner similar to that known for other plants (Dement and Mooney, 1974).…”

Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum)—toxic effects and toxic constituents

“…Moreover the feeding of extracts rich in pterosins and pterosides was also without adverse consequences. Other compounds isolated from bracken, including 5-methoxy-2-pyrrolidone (pterolactam, XI; Takatori et a1 1972) and prunasin (XII; Kofod and Eyjolfsson 1966), were also noncarcinogenic (Hirono et a1 1975(Hirono et a1 , 1980. Intravascular implantation of a tannin obtained from bracken induced bladder cancers in mice (Wang et a1 1976a) but inclusion of the compound into the diet had no effect on the incidence of intestinal or bladder tumours (Pamukcu et a1 198Oa).…”

Chemotaxonomy and phytochemical ecology of bracken

“…The exact precursors of the poison in higher plants have generally been found to be glycosides of a-hydroxynitriles like prunasin and vicianin. Prunasin has been isolated from Pteridium aquilinum (Kofod & Eyjolfsson, 1966) and Cystopteris fragilis (Eyjolfsson, 1968) and vicianin from three Davallia species (Eyjolfsson, 1968).…”