N,N-Dimethyl-3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine has been isolated for the first time as a natural product from Echinocereus merkeri Hildm. N-Methyl-3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine, 3,4dimethoxyphenethylamine, 3-methoxytyramine, and hordenine were also identified in this species together with the tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloid salsoline.
Keyphrases 0 Cactaceae alkaloids-Echinocereus merkeri N,N-Dimethyl -3,4dimethoxyphenethylamine-isolation, identification 0 P-Phenethylamines, salsoline-isolation, identification 0 TLC-separation, identification 0 GLC-identity 0 Mass spectroscopy-identity A recent screening of the family Cactaceae for the presence of alkaloids indicated that the genus Echino- cereus is rich in alkaloids (1). Brown et al. (2) also reported the presence of several alkaloids in two Echino- cereus species. However, up to date, there has been no structural work reported on the Echinocereus alkaloids.
Echinocereus merkeri Hildm., growing exclusively in Northern Mexico, is one of the 73 species of the genus Echinocereus which is indigenous to the U.S.A. and Mexico. Due to the considerable amount of alkaloids encountered in the authors' preliminary screening of this plant (l), it was decided to investigate the structure of these alkaloids H O m N -R 2 ""'"WNH HO 2