The Biochemistry of Alkaloids

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. Introduction

   • Trevor Robinson

   Pages 1-11

3. General Theories of Alkaloid Biosynthesis

   • Trevor Robinson

   Pages 12-19

4. Simple Amino Acid Derivatives and Protoalkaloids

   • Trevor Robinson

   Pages 20-34

5. Pyrrolidine, Piperidine, and Pyridine Alkaloids

   • Trevor Robinson

   Pages 35-57

6. Tropane Alkaloids

   • Trevor Robinson

   Pages 58-66

7. Lupine Alkaloids

   • Trevor Robinson

   Pages 67-75

8. Isoquinoline Alkaloids

   • Trevor Robinson

   Pages 76-90

9. Aporphine and Morphinan Alkaloids

   • Trevor Robinson

   Pages 91-104

10. Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids and Colchicine

    • Trevor Robinson

    Pages 105-112

11. Indole Alkaloids

    • Trevor Robinson

    Pages 113-136

12. Quinolines and Other Alkaloids Related to Anthranilic Acid

    • Trevor Robinson

    Pages 137-143

13. Some Miscellaneous Alkaloids

    • Trevor Robinson

    Pages 144-153

14. Terpenoid and Steroid Alkaloids

    • Trevor Robinson

    Pages 154-165

15. Metabolism of Exogenous Alkaloids

    • Trevor Robinson

    Pages 166-181

16. Biochemical Effects of Alkaloids

    • Trevor Robinson

    Pages 182-210

17. Back Matter

    Pages 211-228

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The alkaloids were of great importance to mankind for centuries, long before they were recognized . as a chemical class. The influence they have had on literature is hinted at by some of the quotations I have used as chapter headings. Their influence on folklore and on medicine has been even greater. The scientific study of alkaloids may be said to have begun with the isolation of morphine by Sertiirner in 1804. Since that time they have remained of great interest to chemists, and now in any month there appear dozens of publications dealing with the isolation of new alkaloids or the determination of the structures of previously known ones. The area of alkaloid biochemistry, in comparison, has received little attention and today is much less developed. There is a certain amount of personal arbitrariness in defining "bio­ chemistry", as there is in defining "alkaloid", and this arbitrariness is doubtless compounded by the combination. Nevertheless, it seems to me that in any consideration of the biochemistry of a group of compounds three aspects are always worthy of attention-pathways of biosynthesis, function or activity, and pathways of degradation. For the alkaloids, treatment of these three aspects is necessarily lopsided. Much has been learned about routes of biosynthesis, but information on the other aspects is very scanty. It would be possible to enter into some speculation regarding the biosynthesis of all the more than 4,000 known alkaloids.

• Alkaloid
• Termination
• biochemistry
• biosynthesis
• chemistry
• synthesis

• Department of Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

  Trevor Robinson

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