Alkaloid contents of leaf and seed samples of eight species of Sophora native to New Zealand, plus Sophora cassioides from Chile are reported. Fifty-six leaf and forty-two seed samples were analysed for alkaloid content by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which showed major alkaloids as cytisine, N-methyl cytisine and matrine. GC analyses quantified these and identified further alkaloid components. The alkaloids identified were cytisine, sparteine, and matrine-types common to Sophora from other regions of the world. Cytisine, N-methyl cytisine, and matrine were generally the most abundant alkaloids across all species with seeds containing the highest concentrations of alkaloids. However, there was no clear taxonomic grouping based on alkaloid composition. A quantitative analysis of various parts of two Sophora microphylla trees showed that the seeds were the richest source of alkaloids (total 0.4-0.5% DM), followed by leaf and twig (0.1-0.3%) and then bark (0.04-0.06%), with only low amounts (<0.02%) found in the roots. This study represents the most comprehensive phytochemical investigation of New Zealand Sophora species to date and presents data for three species of Sophora for which no prior chemistry has been reported.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 April 2026.
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#9,502,729
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Outputs of similar age from Phytochemistry
#3
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Altmetric has tracked 32,463,143 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 70th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 8,418 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.6. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 37 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 91% of its contemporaries.
