What is an alkaloid?

alkaloid is a type of organic compound derived from plants. Alkaloids usually consist of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. Some alkaloids are considered toxic, but others are often used healing. Alkaloids that one can encounter in everyday life include caffeine, drugopin atropine and chinin and a deadly night shadow plant.

alkaloids are relatively rare in plants. They have what is considered a complex chemical structure and always contain a nitrogen molecule. Alkaloid may also contain oxygen, carbon and hydrogen molecules. Some alkaloids, such as ergot alkaloid, can be toxic and even deadly. Cocaine and caffeine are two alkaloids based on plants that are expected to be toxic in their effects. Alkaloid Atroborovice belongs to this class. It is usually derived from the plant atopa Belladonn or deadly night shadows.

Many alkaloids can be used for medical purposes. Atropine that is assumed to have been historically usedAs a poison, it is now sometimes used to stimulate the central nervous system and expand pupils of eyes. Scopolamine, an alkaloid of the same class, is often used to treat the disease. Quinin, one of the 31 alkaloid chemical compounds found in the plant cinchon SucciRubra , has antimalarial properties. Chinin is still used as a treatment for malaria.

Some alkaloids, such as morphine alkaloids, may have narcotic effects. These alkaloids are usually derived from the poppy opium. Morphin alkaloids can be some of the oldest drugs in the world. Their use was first recorded in the Sumeria Circa 3500 B.C. Morphin alkaloids were often used to induce Drowsiness in Laudanum preparation since the age of 1930s, although they believed that they were addictive. Today, morphine alkaloids are ever used in medicine as analgesic or pain reliever.

vincristin, alkaloid, o kteIt is assumed that it was first isolated from Catharanthus roseus in the 1950s, is now used to treat lymphoma and child leukemia non-hodgkins. Vinblastine, also isolated from the same plant, is considered an effective treatment for Hodgkin's disease.