Alkaloid from Plants, Terrestrial and Marine Organisms
A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (19 September 2022) | Viewed by 3747
Special Issue Editor
Interests: chemistry of natural substance; spectroscopy; biosynthesis; structure activity relationships
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Alkaloids are organic compounds containing at least one basic nitrogen atom and with a low molecular weight. They are mostly produced by plants but some are also synthesized by animals, microorganisms, and marine organisms. The nitrogen atom could be a primary, secondary, or tertiary amine group that results in the basic nature of the alkaloids. Thus, their name was derived from alkali. This property is frequently used for the selective extraction and/or purification of the alkaloids. However, when the amino group is converted in amides, they lose this main characteristic and cannot be considered alkaloids, but are named isocarbostyrils. The same occurs when the nitrogen group is converted in the corresponding ammonium salt, and this process is strongly linked with the biological activity of the alkaloids. Frequently, the nitrogen atom of the alkaloids originates from amino acids and they also retain the structure of the precursor. Thus, the alkaloids are grouped in subgroups referred to by the starting amino acids. The main ones are anthranilic and nicotinic acids, including histidine, lysine, tyrosine, and tryptophan. There are also alkaloids whose carbon skeleton comes from acetate, shikimate, and mevalonate biosynthetic pathways. The nitrogen atom was introduced by a trans-amination. The alkaloids have a very wide variety of important biological activities with potential practical applications in different fields. This Special Issue will include original research articles on the chemistry and biological aspects of alkaloids and reviews based on the literature published in the last 20 years.
Prof. Dr. Antonio Evidente
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- alkaloids
- structure
- biological activity
- structure-activity relationships
- synthesis
- bioformulation
