News tagged with alkaloids
Mice (and possibly humans) make their own morphine
(PhysOrg.com) -- New research has confirmed that mice have the biochemical pathways required to manufacture morphine from intermediates. Morphine is a powerful drug usually derived from the opium poppy, but ...
Apr 28, 2010 |
4.5 / 5 (6) |
2
|
Chemists synthesize herbal alkaloid
The club moss Lycopodium serratum is a creeping, flowerless plant used in homeopathic medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments. It contains a potent brew of alkaloids that have attracted considerable scient ...
Apr 15, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
0
New way of synthesizing organic chemicals mimics nature
Organic chemists have found a new way of synthesizing multiple complex organic molecules that until now have needed to be synthesized using time-consuming methods. The new strategy, which mimics natural biosynthesis methods, ...
Jul 15, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
0
|
Chemists synthesize fungal compound with anti-cancer activity
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ten years ago, William Fenical of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography isolated from an ocean-living fungus a compound that has since shown the ability to kill cancer cells in the lab. ...
Apr 26, 2009 |
5 / 5 (4) |
0
Dot Products: Analytical Applications of Enzymatic Growth of Quantum Dots
(PhysOrg.com) -- The search for time and cost effective as well as sensitive methods for bioanalytical assays is currently of great interest. At the center of Biofunctional Nanomaterials in San Sebastian (Spain), ...
Jun 16, 2010 |
3.8 / 5 (4) |
0
|
Compounds from periwinkle plant could become more effective cancer drugs
Humans have long taken advantage of the huge variety of medicinal compounds produced by plants. Now MIT chemists have found a new way to expand plants' pharmaceutical repertoire by genetically engineering ...
Nov 03, 2010 |
5 / 5 (3) |
0
|
A newly discovered chemical weapon in poison frogs' arsenal
New research documents a surprising chemical weapon used by some Amazonian poison frogs. The study identified for the first time a family of poisons never before known to exist in these brightly colored creatures ...
Jun 04, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Plant researchers locate transporter used for nicotine metabolism
The next time you take aspirin for a headache, thank a willow tree. Salicylic acid, a compound chemically similar to aspirin, is found in willow tree bark and is made by the plant as a chemical defense against pathogens. ...
Nov 01, 2011 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
|
Micro-frog springs toxic surprise
A "robber frog" whose body is just 10 millimetres (three-eighths of an inch) long eats toxic mites and exudes their poison on its skin to deter predators, scientists reported on Wednesday.
Nov 03, 2010 |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
Gene-altering compounds released from forest fires
Scientists in Washington State are reporting the first discovery of potent mutagenic substances in smoke from forest fires that often sweep through huge stands of Ponderosa pine in the western United States ...
Apr 29, 2009 |
3 / 5 (1) |
0
Doppler Ultrasound Helps Scientists Understand Fescue Toxicosis
(PhysOrg.com) -- Doppler technology -- the very same technology used by meteorologists to track thunderstorms -- is being used by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists to better understand the rate ...
Oct 21, 2009 |
3 / 5 (1) |
0
Alkaloid
Alkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds containing basic nitrogen atoms. The name derives from the word alkaline and was used to describe any nitrogen-containing base. Alkaloids are produced by a large variety of organisms, including bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals and are part of the group of natural products (also called secondary metabolites). Many alkaloids can be purified from crude extracts by acid-base extraction. Many alkaloids are toxic to other organisms. They often have pharmacological effects and are used as medications, as recreational drugs, or in entheogenic rituals. Examples are the local anesthetic and stimulant cocaine, the stimulant caffeine, nicotine, the analgesic morphine, or the antimalarial drug quinine. Some alkaloids have a bitter taste.
For more information about Alkaloid, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
