Alkaloids are a large group of structurally complex natural products displaying a wide range of biological activities. The purpose of Alkaloids: A Treasury of Poisons and Medicines is to classify, for the first time, the alkaloids isolated from the natural sources until now. The book classifies all of the alkaloids by their biosynthetic origins. Of interest to the organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry communities involved in drug discovery and development, this book describes many alkaloids isolated from the medicinal plants, including those used in Japanese Kampo medicine. - Classifies and lists alkaloids from natural sources - Occurrence and biosynthetic pathways of alkaloids - Indicates key uses and bioactivity of alkaloids

Alkaloids - Secrets of Life: Alkaloid Chemistry, Biological Significance, Applications and Ecological Role, Second Edition provides knowledge on structural typology, biosynthesis and metabolism in relation to recent research work on alkaloids, considering an organic chemistry approach to alkaloids using biological and ecological explanation. The book approaches several questions and unresearched areas that persist in this field of research. It provides a beneficial text for academics, professionals or anyone who is interested in the fascinating subject of alkaloids. Each chapter features an abstract. Appendices, a listing of alkaloids, and plants containing alkaloids are all included, as are basic protocols of alkaloid analysis. - Presents the ecological role of alkaloids in nature and ecosystems interdisciplinary - Examines alkaloids from chemistry, biology and ecology viewpoints - A single handy reference volume comprehensively reviews the origin of alkaloids and their biological uses - Over 80% new information, including new chapters on the ecological role of alkaloids in nature and ecosystems and extraction of alkaloids

Contiene: Introduction; Classification of alkaloids; Structure elucidation of alkaloids; Artifacts; Chiroptical properties of alkaloids; Alkaloid synthesis; Alkaloids and chemotaxonomy; Aspects of alkaloid biogenesis; Biological significance of alkaloids; Historical aspects of alkaloids chemistri; Active principles from selected alkaloid sources and their cultural and historical significance.

The Alkaloids: Chemistry and Physiology, Volume V: Pharmacology deals with the chemistry and pharmacology of the alkaloids. This book discusses the general pharmacology of morphine, cryptopine-like compounds, toad poisons, and respiratory stimulants. The appraisal of the utility of alkaloids as antimalarials, uterine stimulants, metabolism of cocaine, and optical isomerism-activity relationship are also elaborated. This publication likewise covers the parasympathetic blocking agents as mydriatics, methods of measuring mydriatic activity, alkaloids exhibiting curariform activity, and minor alkaloids of unknown structure. Other topics include the fate of morphine, tropane group, factors affecting cocaine anesthesia, and sympathomimetic mydriatics. This volume is intended for chemists and pharmacologists concerned with alkaloids.

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 in fluence 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 SERTURNER 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 "biochemistry", 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 bio chemistry 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 biosyn thesis of all the more than 1,000 known alkaloids.

This book presents all important aspects of modern alkaloid chemistry, making it the only work of its kind to offer up-to-date and comprehensive coverage. While the first part concentrates on the structure and biology of bioactive alkaloids, the second one analyzes new trends in alkaloid isolation and structure elucidation, as well as in alkaloid synthesis and biosynthesis. A must for biochemists, organic, natural products, and medicinal chemists, as well as pharmacologists, pharmaceutists, and those working in the pharmaceutical industry.

This book presents the Proceedings from the First International Conference on Ibogaines, held in November of 1999 at New York University's School of Medicine. In essence, it presents significant new data on neurobiological, clinical, sociocultural, and policy aspects of ibogaine. Ibogaine is a natural product derived from the bark of the root of the African shrub Tabernathe iboga. It has a history of use as a medicinal and ceremonial agent in West Central Africa, and has been alleged to be effective as a treatment for substance dependence. The study of Ibogaine may shed light on the neurobiology of addiction and lead to the development of new medication for the treatment of addiction. Currently, there is lack of formal approval for the use of ibogaine, and the demand of the addicts themselves has led to a distinctive unofficial network which has provided ibogaine treatment in non-medical settings. If critical safety concerns can be adequately addressed, ibogaine may provide an inexpensive and practical treatment approach, well adapted to environments where resources are severely limited and there is pressing need for clinical services for heroin addicts, such as Eastern Europe. This is a paperback edition of Volume 56 of The Alkaloids (ISBN: 0-12-469556-6) edited by Geoffrey A. Cordell, University of Illinois at Chicago, U.S.A.