Cerasoidine, a Bis-aporphine Alkaloid Isolated from Polyalthia cerasoides during Screening for Wnt Signal Inhibitors

A new bis-aporphine alkaloid, cerasoidine (1), was isolated from the root extract of Polyalthia cerasoides together with the known bis-aporphine bidebiline E (2) during screening for compounds with Wnt signal inhibitory activities. The structure of cerasoidine (1) was established by X-ray analysis and shown by chiral HPLC analyses and electronic circular dichroism to be a 57:43 mixture of R(−)- and S(+)-atropisomers. Bidebiline E (2) exhibited inhibition of transcriptional activity of TCF/β-catenin with an IC₅₀ value of 20.2 μM and was also found to inhibit Wnt signaling by decreasing nuclear β-catenin.