Anisodine (AT3)

Anisodine is an antispasmodic and anticholinergic drug used in the treatment of acute circulatory shock in China. It is a tropane alkaloid and is found naturally in species of the Solanaceae family of plants. Anisodine acts as a muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist and α1-adrenergic receptor agonist. Anisodine (l-6,7-epoxy-3-tropyl-alpha-hydroxytropate), which was isolated from the medicinal plant Scopolia tanguticus Maxim, was the first efficiently prepared using 6-beta-acetyltropine as the starting material via a key step of the Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation (AD). The intermediate compounds 10 and 11 showed promising cholinergic activity. There is significant difference in the action of (-)clausenamide and (+)clausenamide. The protective action of (-)clausenamide against anisodine-induced amnesia is due to its ability to reverse the ACh reduction.