Isolation, synthesis and bioactivity of the cassiarins and related compounds: technological applications of polycyclic cassiarinoids

The cassiarins are alkaloids isolated since 2007 from different parts of the trees Cassia siamea, C. alataand C. fistula. They are characterized by a unique tricyclic pyrano[2,3,4-ij]isoquinoline skeleton. The isolation,bioactivity profile and synthetic efforts toward the total synthesis of the natural products and theiranalogs are discussed, along with the most relevant technological applications of compounds bearing thecassiarin framework, covering the literature of the last 20 years.