Alkaloids of Delphinium corumbosum
SummaryFromDelphinium corumbosum Rgl. have been isolated methyllycaconitine, a new base which has been called delcorine, and a base with mp 93–95°C. On the basis of its chemical and spectral characteristics, a lycoctonine skeleton has been established for delcorine with α-hydroxy groups at C1 and C10, a β-hydroxy group at C6, a methylenedioxy group at C7 and C8, a β-methoxy group at C15, and a methoxy group at C19.
Three New C19-Diterpenoid Alkaloids from Delphinium Bonvalotii
Three new lycoctonine-type C19-diterpenoid alkaloids, bonvalotidine A, bonvalotidine B, and bonvalotidine C, along with sixteen known alkaloids, were isolated from the roots of Delphinium bonvalotii Franch. Their structures were established by spectral analysis and chemical methods.
Testosterone levels, handedness and sex ratio at birth.
Geschwind has hypothesized that levels of androgens in utero affect postnatal laterality preferences, high levels being associated with left-handedness of offspring. I have hypothesized that high parental androgen levels at the time of conception are associated with subsequent male births. However, left-handed parents seem to produce an excess of female, not male, offspring. This finding could be reconciled with the two hypotheses if individuals who were exposed to high levels of androgens in utero had low circulating levels in adulthood. Some evidence for this loophole is reviewed here. Lyster & Lloyd (1987, J. theor. Biol. 126, 125) have reported that (consistent with the hypotheses) index left-handed men have an excess of brothers; but, contrary to the hypotheses, index left-handed women have an excess of sisters. Accordingly these authors proposed that left-handedness in females is associated not with high levels of androgen in utero, but with a "sensitivity" to it. If such sensitivity were associated with low androgen levels, it might explain an excess of sisters among the sibs of left-handed women. It is shown here that evidence in agreement with this hypothesis (though not discriminating between it and Geschwind's) suggests that the sex ratios of offspring of LH male x RH female and of RH male x LH female matings, are both low.