Formula C16H13N | Molar mass 219.2811 g/mol | |
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Biosynthesis of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids
1-Benzylisoquinoline is a chemical compound, and the structural backbone of many alkaloids with a wide variety of structures, including papaverine, noscapine, codeine, morphine, apomorphine, berberine, protopine, tubocurarine, and sanguinarine.
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Biosynthesis
Plants producing benzylisoquinoline alkaloids have a common biosynthetic pathway, making use of two units of L-tyrosine. One tyrosine molecule is metabolised to dopamine which constitutes the isoquinoline part, while the benzylic part is mostly formed from tyramine, itself the decarboxylation product of tyrosine.
Many benzylisoquinolines have a methylated nitrogen atom as well as functional groups containing oxygen (−OH, −OCH3, −OCH2O−) in positions 6, 7, 3′ and 4′. The latter come from the precursors mentioned above, namely tyrosine, dopamine and their derivatives.
