American Civil War era tea yields modern day medicine

Ceanothus americanus. Common names include New Jersy tea, red root,  mountain sweet, and wild snowball

Source: © Svetlana Mahovskaya / Shutterstock

Macrocyclisation strategy key to obtaining long known alkaloid with untapped potential

US-based chemists have reported the total synthesis and structure of ceanothine D, a structurally complex 14-membered cyclopeptide alkaloid found in red root (Ceanothus americanus), also known as the “New Jersey tea plant”.