brucine

**Brucine** is a natural **alkaloid** closely related to strychnine, primarily found in the seeds of *Strychnos nux-vomica* and *Strychnos ignatii*. It is recognized for its **high toxicity**, acting as a poison through paralysis of peripheral nerve endings and inducing convulsions, although it is less potent than strychnine. Brucine has historically been used as a tool in stereospecific syntheses and chiral resolution processes in chemistry because it is a large chiral molecule. In industry, it has served as an alcohol denaturant, reagent for analytical chemistry, and, less commonly today, as a rodenticide. Brucine has limited documented use in medicine due to its toxicity, but it is sometimes mentioned in traditional Chinese medicine and homeopathic preparations, mainly as an anti-inflammatory and analgesic. Its therapeutic window is very narrow, restricting its direct application as a pharmaceutical agent. Brucine is a white, odorless crystalline solid with a very bitter taste and is highly toxic by ingestion and inhalation. Its mechanism of toxicity overlaps with strychnine, exhibiting neurotoxic effects by antagonizing inhibitory neurotransmission, leading to convulsions and central nervous system stimulation[1][3][7][4].

Other names

10,11-dimethoxystrychnine2,3-dimethoxystrychnidin-10-onebrucinumbrucine dihydratebrucine tetrahydrate