Plant chemicals hope for 'alternative contraceptives' (BBC)
Last edited Tue May 16, 2017, 12:52 AM - Edit history (1)
By Philippa Roxby Health reporter, BBC News
16 May 2017
From the section Health
Two compounds normally found in wild plants could make good alternatives to emergency contraceptives - if scientists only knew where to get enough of them.
Chemicals from dandelion root and the "thunder god vine" plant have long been used in traditional medicines.
Now, Californian researchers have found they can also block fertilisation.
A UK sperm expert said the discovery could lead to a new and novel approach to male contraception.
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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-39923293
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupeol
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Pristimerin#section=Top
Lupeol could be prepared economically by a semisynthetic approach, in which a more readily available triterpenoid is converted to the desired compound, much as progesterone is obtained commercially from diosgenin isolated from the Mexican yam. Good candidates would be betulin or betulinic acid. (I believe there may be transition metal catalysts which could de-carbonylate the corresponding aldehyde directly to lupeol. Alternatively, the acid chloride from betulinic acid could be reduced with a tin or silicon hydride, if the intermediate carbonyl radical fragments readily enough.) This also raises the question: could betulin or betulinic acid also function as contraceptives ??
