Since the early 1800s, practitioners of organic chemistry have been fascinated with a group of plant-derived compounds called "alkaloids." Alkaloids contain at least one nitrogen atom among other ...

Cinchona alkaloids have a long and storied history in chemistry. Derived from Cinchona plants, members of the molecular family include the chiral catalyst cinchonidine and quinine, an early ...

Alkaloid-derived pharmaceuticals are commonly semisynthesized from plant-extracted starting materials, which often limits their availability and final price. Recent advances in synthetic biology have ...

Nightshade is a family of plants that includes tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, and peppers. Tobacco is also in the nightshade family. Nightshades are unique because they contain small amounts of ...

In the realm of organic chemistry, one class of compounds has captured the scientific community's attention for decades - alkaloids. These naturally occurring compounds are known for their diverse ...

A step forward in our understanding of how plants produce alkaloids could herald new pharmaceuticals. Biologists from the University of York (UK) have discovered enzymes that catalyze the biosynthesis ...

Scorpion venom packs more than a painful sting. It’s also chock full of novel bioactive compounds—most of them polypeptides—that intrigue scientists. For the first time, researchers have identified an ...

Alkaloids are a diverse and fascinating group of naturally occurring compounds, most commonly derived from plants, that have played a significant role in medicine and daily life for centuries. Whether ...

What does cannabis, coca leaf, and all coffee have in common? They all contain alkaloids, a powerful group of medicinal compounds found in plants around the world. While little is presently known ...

This video segment, adapted from NOVA uses reenactment footage to show how chemist Percy Julian completed the total synthesis of physostigmine, an alkaloid derived from the Calabar bean that could be ...