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*the function of these substances in ‘living organisms’ which produce them is not known*
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*”alkaloids” are a group of ‘naturally-occurring chemical compounds’ that mostly contain ‘basic nitrogen atoms’*
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(this group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even ‘weakly acidic properties’)
(some ‘synthetic compounds’ of similar structure are also termed “alkaloids”)
(in addition to (‘carbon’ / ‘hydrogen’ / ‘nitrogen’), alkaloids may also contain ‘oxygen’, ‘sulfur’, and (more rarely) other elements such as (‘chlorine’ / ‘bromine’ / ‘phosphorus’))
(‘alkaloids’ are produced by a large variety of ‘organisms’ including (‘bacteria’ / ‘fungi’ / ‘plants’ / ‘animals’)
(they can be purified from crude extracts of these organisms by ‘acid-base extraction’)
(‘alkaloids’ have a wide range of ‘pharmacological activities’ including
antimalarial (e.g. ‘quinine’),
‘antiasthma (e.g. ephedrine),
anticancer (e.g. homoharringtonine),
cholinomimetic (e.g. galantamine),
vasodilatory (e.g. vincamine),
antiarrhythmic (e.g. quinidine),
analgesic (e.g. morphine),
antibacterial (e.g. chelerythrine),
and antihyperglycemic activities (e.g. ‘piperine’))
(many have found use in traditional or modern medicine, or as starting points for ‘drug discovery’)
(other ‘alkaloids’ possess ‘psychotropic’ (e.g. ‘psilocin’)
and stimulant activities
(e.g. cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, theobromine),
and have been used in entheogenic rituals or as recreational drugs)
(alkaloids can be toxic too (e.g. atropine, tubocurarine))
(although alkaloids act on a diversity of metabolic systems in humans and other animals, they almost uniformly evoke a bitter taste)
(the boundary between alkaloids and other nitrogen-containing natural compounds is not clear-cut)
(compounds like amino acid peptides, proteins, nucleotides, nucleic acid, amines, and antibiotics are usually not called “alkaloids”)
(natural compounds containing nitrogen in the exocyclic position (mescaline, serotonin, dopamine, etc.) are usually classified as “amines” rather than as “alkaloids”)
(some authors, however, consider ‘alkaloids’ a special case of “amines”)
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥