The goal of this project was the development of a computer-based system using artificial intelligence to classify the limonoids, protolimonoids and triterpenoids isolated from the family Meliaceae by the Natural Products Research Group of the University of Natal, Durban. A database of samples was obtained between 1991 and 1996, part of which time the author was a member of the group and isolated compounds from Turraea obtusifolia and Turraea floribunda. Over and above the problem of complexity and similarity in structures of the above mentioned natural products, are other difficulties. These include very small amounts of sample being isolated producing very weak peak signals in the C-13 NMR spectra, extraneous peaks in the NMR spectra due to different impurities and instrument noise, non-reproducible spectra due to the pulsed Fourier transform intervals and the nuclear Overhauser effect, impure samples often isolated as stereoisomeric mixtures or as mixed esters and superposition of peak signals in the NMR spectra due to carbons in the same environment within the same compound. These factors make identification by traditional computational and expert systems impossible. As a result of these shortcomings, the author has developed a novel approach using artificial neural network techniques. The artificial neural network system developed used real data from the 300 MHz NMR spectrometer in the Department of Chemistry, Durban. The system was trained to discriminate between limonoids, triterpenoids and flavonoids/coumarins from the C-13 NMR spectra of pure, impure and unseen compounds with an accuracy of better than 90%. Further differentiation of the glabretals from the rest of the protolimonoids as well as from the rest of the triterpenoids showed similarly significant results. Finally, individual limonoid discrimination within the limonoid dataset was extremely successful. Apart from its application to the extractives from Meliaceae, the methodology and techniques developed by the author can be applied to other sets of extractives to provide a robust method for the spectral classification of pre-identified natural products. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1998.

o presente trabalho teve como objetivo realizar o estudo químico das sementes de Trichilia elegans ssp. Elegans A. Juss. (coletadas no município de Corumbá, MS), visando o isolamento e identificação ou elucidação estrutural dos seus metabólitos secundários, particularmente limonóides. Da fase diclorometânica, obtida de uma partição efetuada com o extrato etanólico das sementes, foram isoladas, através de técnicas cromatográficas de separação (cromatografia em colunas de sílica gel, de Sephadex LH 20 e CLAE em fase reversa), dezoito substâncias, compreendendo: dois protolimonóides, onze limonóides com esqueleto do tipo obacunol (abertura dos anéis A e D), quatro com esqueleto do tipo ivorensato de metila (abertura dos anéis A, B e D) e 3β-O-β-D-glicopiranosilsitosterol. Todas as substâncias são inéditas, com exceção do esteróide glicosilado e de dois limonóides com esqueleto do tipo obacunol (kihadaninas A e B). As determinações estruturais foram efetuadas com base em dados espectroscópicos de RMN 1H e 13C, incluindo experimentos bidimensionais (COSY 1H-1H, COSY 1H-13C, HMQC, NOESY e HMBC); a partir de informações obtidas dos espectros de massas e na região do IV e através de dados de difração de raios-X. Quatro dos limonóides obtidos foram submetidos a um ensaio biológico de atividade antitumoral, utilizando-se linhagens mutantes de Saccharomyces cerevisiae, porém, mostraram-se inativos. / The present work describes the isolation and identification or structural elucidation of the chemical constituents of the seeds of Trichilia elegans ssp. Elegans A. Juss., collected in Corumbá, MS. From the dichloromethane solubles, obtained from partition of the ethanolic extract from the seeds, eighteen substances have been isolated, after a combination of column and flash chromatography on silica gel, gel filtration and reversed phase HPLC separations. The isolated substances have been characterized as two new protolimonoids, nine new obacunol- and four new methyl ivorensate-type limonoids, in addition to two known limonoids belonging to the obacunol group (kihadanins A and B) and 3-O-&#946-D-glucopyranosyl-sitosterol. The structures of these compounds have been established on the basis of 1D (1H, 13C) and 2D (1H-1H and 1H-13C COSY, HMQC, HMBC and NOESY) NMR spectroscopic techniques, IR and mass spectral data and X-ray crystallographic analyses. Four of the isolated limonoids have been tested against DNA reparr deficient mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae but, nevertheless, shown to be inactive.