New pyridine monoterpene alkaloids (PMTAs) have been synthesized from the iridoid glycosides 8-epi-loganin, cornin, and antirrinoside by treatment with beta-glucosidase and aqueous NH4-OAc. The PMTA from antirrinoside contained an 8-alpha-OAc group from the opened 7,8-epoxide moiety. Treatment of genipin, the aglycone of geniposide, with HCl(g) and NH3(g) yielded the PMTA racemigerine, a known plant isolate, in which the C=C-CH2OH side chain was converted to C=C-CH3. Reaction of geniposide with beta-glucosidase and aqueous NH4OAc led to oligomeric alkaloids, but at high dilution a dimer was obtained whose structure was formally that of a Diels-Alder adduct between racemigerine and a dihydropyridine. These biomimetic semisyntheses were analyzed in terms of reaction mechanisms and the relative paucity of known plant PMTAs in comparison with the multitudinous occurrence of their presumed iridoid glycoside precursors.