13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of some C19-diterpenoid alkaloids and their derivatives

The natural abundance carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of some C19-diterpenoid alkaloids and their alkamines (lappaconitine, lappaconine, lapaconidine, ranaconine, 14-dehydrobrowniine, aconine, pseudoaconine, deoxyaconine, and hypaconine) have been determined at 15.03 MHz. With the aid of proton decoupling techniques, additivity relationships, and comparison with spectra of related alkaloids, self-consistent and unambiguous assignments of nearly all carbon resonances for these alkaloids have been made. Some important chemical shift trends have been observed, which are useful for identifying the basic C19-diterpenoid alkaloid skeleton and the hydroxy and methoxy group substitution patterns in these alkaloids. On the basis of 13C nmr spectra of lappaconitine and lappaconine, the anthranoyl ester moiety is assigned to the C-4 position in lappaconitine. The 13C nmr spectra of lapaconidine, aconine, and pseudoaconine taken in pyridine and chloroform have been compared to determine the conformational changes of the ring A hydroxy groups in these alkaloids.