Phenethylamines occurrence

Phenethylamine is found throughout nature, in both plants and animals. It is the end product of phenylalanine in the putrefaction of tissue. One of its most popularized occurrences has been as a major component of chocolate, and it has hit... 

Alkaloid isolations and structural elucidations are summarized in Table 1. The cactus Ariocarpus scapharostrus, which has not previously been investigated, afforded four phenethylamines including hordenine and iVJV-dimethyl-3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine. This is the first recorded occurrence of the latter in a... 

The simultaneous occurrence of substituted phenethylamines and isoquinoline derivatives in the same species Anhalonium lemnii Hennings) and the facility with which similar ring closures are performed in vitro, under conditions which can be considered as being comparable to physiological ones, make the above hypothesis seem reasonable. 

It would appear as though the natural phenethylamines were connected with some general biochemical mechanism, which is not even limited to plants alone. Even adrenaline, this typical animal hormone may be expected to occur in plants its chemical skeleton is already represented in halostachine (side chain) and in oxytyramine and coryneine (3 4 position of the hydroxyls). The occurrence of adrenaline (6%) in... 

It may be assumed that the biosynthesis of /3-phenethylamines in plant tissues follows a similar pattern. The general occurrence of decarboxylases, tyrosinases as well as melanization phenomena gives strong support to this hypothesis, although reliable experimental evidence, such as has been obtained in the case of animal metabohsm, is not yet available. 

Phenethylamine is found throughout nature, in both plants and animals. It is the end product of phenylalanine in the putrefaction of tissue. One of its most popularized occurrences has been as a major component of chocolate, and it has hit the Sunday Supplements as the lovesickness chemical. Those falling out of love are compulsive chocolate eaters, trying to replenish and repair the body s loss of this compound-or so the myth goes. But this amine is voraciously metabolized to the apparently inactive compound phenylacetic acid, and to some tyramine as well. Both of these products are also normal components in the body. And, as a wry side-comment, phenylacetic acid is a major precursor in the illicit synthesis of amphetamine and methamphetamine. 

There is considerable variation in structure between the groups of isoquinoline alkaloids, some being simple isoquinolines while others are complex dimers. About 50 simple isoquinolines occur in plants and they are characteristic of some families such as the Cactaceae. Interest in these compounds has stemmed from the well-known hallucinogenic phenethylamine, mescaline, and in one chapter, the occurrence of these simple isoquinolines is reviewed. 

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