TCI | Product Information : Biochemistry / Glyco-Chemistry Alkaloids

Alkaloids

Some plant compounds contain nitrogen in their molecules and exhibit basic properties. They have been termed Alkaloid collectively, which literally means "something like an alkali". The nitrogen in alkaloids derives from amino acids or ammonia nitrogen. Animal alkaloids are also well known.
Since many alkaloids show significant bioactivity, they are included as major elements in pharmaceutical plants and used as pharmaceutical intermediates. In addition, many of them are optically-active compounds which have chiral carbon atoms, therefore they are utilized as optical resolving agents or asymmetric catalysts.