Action spectroscopy, environmental

Abstract Protoberberine alkaloids and related compounds represent an important class of molecules and have attracted recent attention for their various pharmacological activities. This chapter deals with the physicochemical properties of several isoquinoline alkaloids (berberine, palmatine and coralyne) and many of their derivatives under various environmental conditions. The interaction of these compounds with polymorphic DNA structures (B-form, Z-form, H -form, protonated form, triple helical form and quadruplex form) and polymorphic RNA structures (A-form, protonated form, triple helical form and quadruplex form) reported by several research groups, employing various analytical techniques such as spectrophotometry, spectrofluorimetry, circular dichro-ism, NMR spectroscopy, viscometry as well as molecular modelling and thermodynamic analysis to elucidate their mode and mechanism of action for structure-activity relationships, are also presented. 

The first task of the specialist in environmental pollution studies is identification of the chemical substances that cause deleterious effects. This is followed by an effort to identify the pathways by which these substances have reached their locus of action, to find their sources, and finally to eliminate or minimize those sources. The tools for identification and measnrement of the amounts of such substances are those of analytical chemistry, namely, spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, gas and liquid chromatography, differential thermal analysis, and neutron activation analysis. These snbjects are discussed fully elsewhere in this encyclopedia. 

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