Evolution of Quinolones and Coumarins in Rutaceae

Abstract

An examination of the systematic distribution of alkaloids in Rutaceae led Waterman (1975) to propose that those genera producing 1-benzyltetra-hydroisoquinoline alkaloids should be regarded as the most primitive taxa. Since the evolutionary trend was for direct replacement of this alkaloid type by the apparently more modern anthranilate derived alkaloids, those parts of the family where alkaloids are rare or absent must be still more advanced. In a similar work on coumarins in Rutaceae, it appeared to Gray and Waterman (1978) that there is no significant variation in the overall distribution of coumarin types between the three major subfamilies.