Yellow daffodils nod their trumpet-shaped blooms knowingly and whisper: "the equinox is here, spring is coming!" Not all daffodils are yellow; however, some are white, orange, red, or lime-green with nuanced shades in between. Daffodils are classified by the shape of their central corona and surrounding perianth. Fifty different species are identified with more than 26,000 cultivars recorded in the International Daffodil Register. Downward-drooping blooms inspired their botanic name Narcissus from the boy of Greek myth obsessed by his reflection in the water. The common name daffodil derives from another ancient Greek word - one symbolizing rebirth and renewed hope - asphodel, the fragrant flowers in the Elysian fields of the afterlife. Asphodel became d'aphrodille (French), de affodil (Dutch), and th'affodil (English). The Cymry (Welsh) wear daffodils on March 1st for Dewi Sant whose memory inspired them with hope in their struggles for independence. Today, Cancer Societies across the world have embraced the daffodil in their hope for a cancer-free future. Coincidently, anticarcinogenic properties have recently been identified from alkaloids of daffodil bulbs.
Related Record from CAplus
29: 56157 Natures paint box. Armstrong, H. E. Pharmaceutical Journal 1935, 134, 482. The relation of the yellow color of daffodils to carotenoids, the attempts to cultivate orange-tinted narcissus by increasing the carotene content, and the relation of carotene to vitamin A are discussed.
103: 120050 Investigation of the carotenoid composition in the petals of a garden hybrid Narcissus cvv Golden Harvest. Berset, Daniel; Pfander, Hanspeter. Inst. Org. Chem., Univ. Bern, Bern, Switz. Helvetica Chimica Acta 1985, 68(5), 1149-54 (Ger). The carotenoid compn. of the petals of a yellow garden hybrid daffodil is reported. (all-E)-Lutein was the major carotenoid isolated. Minor constituents included phytoene, phytofluene, (all-E)-.beta.-carotene, (9Z)-lutein, (91Z)-lutein, (13Z)-lutein, violaxanthin, and luteoxanthin. The position of the Z double bond of the different isomers of lutein could be proved by 1H NMR spectroscopy.
143: 23164 Effects of narciclasine on cells of callus of wheat and tobacco. Wan, Yi-qin; Bi, Yu-rong; Liu, Zhi-xue. School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, Peop. Rep. China. Shanghai Daxue Xuebao, Ziran Kexueban 2004, 10(5), 493-496, 502 (Chin). Narciclasine is a kind of Amaryllidaceae alkaloid, which is isolated from bulbs of Narcissus tazetta. The callus of tobacco and wheat were incubated in 10-6 g/L or 10-4 g/L for 1-3 days. Obvious changes in the nucleus were obsd. For example, vol. of vacuole was decreased, the nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio lessened, and nuclear matrix condensed. Sometimes amitosis was obsd. Such strong inhibitory effect cannot be obtained in the treatment with colchicines (10 g/L, wt./vol.). The results obtained in our expt. and reported by other researchers indicate that narciclasine may be used not only as a new plant growth regulator but also as a new anti-cancer medicine.
141: 76699 Narcistatin prodrugs. Pettit, George R.; Melody, Noeleen. (Arizona Board of Regents, A Body Corporate of the State of Arizona Acting for and On Behalf of Arizona State University, USA). PCT Int. Appl. WO 2004 52,298 (Cl. A61K), 24 Jun 2004, US Appl. PV432,219, 9 Dec 2002; 32 pp. (Eng). The present invention provides prodrugs derived from the sparingly sol. anticancer isocarbostyril narciclasine, a component of various Narcissus species, said prodrugs having potential for use against animal and human cancers. Also disclosed is an efficient procedure for the synthetic conversion of narciclasine to several more sol. cyclic phosphate compds., including 'narcistatin'.
Related Structure from CAS REGISTRY
|
Narciclasine
CAS Registry Number: 29477-83-6
|
Additional Information
Updated: 1/26/2009 2:38:25 PM
