Bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids, tiliacorinine (1), 20
-nortiliacorinine (2), and tiliacorine (3), isolated from
the edible plant, Tiliacora triandra, as well as a synthetic derivative, 130
-bromo-tiliacorinine (4), were
tested against 59 clinical isolates of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-MTB). The
alkaloids 1–4 showed MIC values ranging from 0.7 to 6.2 lg/ml, but they exhibited the MIC value at
3.1 lg/ml against most MDR-MTB isolates. The present work suggests that bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids
are potential new chemical scaffolds for antimycobacterial activity