Network for the Valorization of Plant Materials (VPMA)

Tabersonine (Cameroun)
(90-1025)

Principal investigators: 
Dr. Goghomu Tih: Université de Yaoundé,Yaoundé (Cameroun)
Dr. W. Ayer: Université d'Alberta, Edmonton (Canada) 

Like many countries in Central Africa, Cameroon has a very rich flora, with many plants showing good potential as sources of industrial chemicals. Several of these plants have been studied by researchers from the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Yaoundé. Following research done in the 1970's, Cameroon has been exporting for the past 15 years the seeds of  Voacanga africana, which are rich in tabersonine, an alkaloid used as the starting material for the production of vincamine and vinpocetin which in turn are used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy. The Cameroonian researchers are now proposing to develop, with researchers from the University of Alberta, a low cost technology for the extraction of tabersonine from the seeds of Voacanga africana at the small enterprise level.  The Voacanga tree is abundant in Cameroon and the export of tabersonine, rather than the seeds, could earn Cameroon additional foreign exchange. Likewise it could provide more income for the villagers who harvest the seeds and create jobs by small scale enterprises dedicated to tabersonine production. Markets for tabersonine, vincamine and vinpocetin appear to be very good. The potential to add value to the seeds, which are purchased in Europe for approximately $ 2.00 CAD/kg, even with a 1% yield conversion to tabersonine, is large.