Pyridinium alkaloid-coupled secoiridoids from the flower buds of Lonicera japonica

Three pyridinium inner salt alkaloids, lonijaposides A-C (1-3), based on an unprecedented skeleton of an N-substituted nicotinic acid nucleus coupled through C-5 with C-7 of a secoiridoid, together with seven known iridoids, have been isolated from the flower buds of Lonicera japonica. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic and chemical analyses. Lonijaposide C (3) showed activity against the release of glucuronidase in rat polymorphonuclear leukocytes induced by the platelet-activating factor.