An Alkaloid from Scorpion Venom: Chemical Structure and Synthesis

While most scorpion venom components identified in the past are peptidic or proteinic in nature, we report here a new alkaloid isolated from the venom of the Mexican scorpion Megacormus gertschi. Nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometric investigations elucidate the structure of the alkaloid as (Z)-N-(2-(1H-imidazol-4-yl)ethyl)-3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-methoxyacrylamide (1). A chemical method of synthesizing this alkaloid is also described. Although abundant in venom, the above alkaloid was not found to have insecticidal activity. Structural analysis suggests that this venom alkaloid might be of potential interest for evaluating its medicinal effect.