Abstract

The piperidine alkaloid composition from young stems of Lobelia polyphylla Hook & Arn. was determined by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The tentative structures, without the stereochemistry, were obtained by the analysis of the fragmentation patterns of the mass spectra of each compound. The stems contained a mixture of lobeline (1), norlobelanidine (2), 1-(1-(2-hydroxy-2-phenylethyl)-1-methylpiperidin) butane-2-ol (3), 8-propyl-10-phenyl lobelionol (4), 1-(6-(2-hydroxy-2-phenylethyl)-1-methylpiperidin) butane-2-one (5), 1-(6-(2-hidroxypentyl)-1-ethylpiperidin) butane-2-one (6) and 1-methyl-2-piperidinemethanol (7). The role of these alkaloids in the toxic, narcotic and hallucinogenic effects, produced after smoking the aerial parts of this species is discussed.