Alkaloids of Haloxylon salicornicum (Moq.) Bunge ex boiss. (Chenopodiaceae)

Haloxylon salicornicum is a desert plant that contains several alkaloids. From the aerial parts a new piperidyl alkaloid, haloxynine, was isolated and characterized on the basis of mass spectrometry, H-1 and C-13 NMR. A GLC/MS analysis revealed the presence of 17 additional known alkaloids of which piperidine, halosaline, anabasine, hordenine, N-methyltyramine, haloxine and aldotripiperideine had been previously reported in this genus. Among the 18 identified alkaloids, ten alkaloids were recorded for the first time from this plant and the genus Haloxylon. Haloxynine, halosaline, haloxine, anabasine, and smipine figure as major alkaloids with a relative abundance of more than 5\% of total alkaloids. Some of these alkaloids are known be strong agonists at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and it is thus likely that they serve as chemical defence compounds against insects and mammalian herbivores.