Biologists from the University of York (UK) have discovered enzymes that catalyze the biosynthesis of alkaloids in a number ...

Since the early 1800s, practitioners of organic chemistry have been fascinated with a group of plant-derived compounds called "alkaloids." Alkaloids contain at least one nitrogen atom among other ...

Ergot alkaloids are a diverse group of secondary metabolites produced predominantly by the parasitic fungus Claviceps purpurea. These compounds have long been a subject of scientific inquiry due to ...

The fungus Aspergillus fumigatus produces a group of previously unknown natural products. With reference to plant isoquinoline alkaloids, these substances have been named fumisoquins. Researchers have ...

Researchers report the first successful microbial biosynthesis of the tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, a class of neuromuscular blockers naturally found in plants in the nightshade ...

Stephacidin A and its congeners are a collection of secondary metabolites that possess intriguing structural motifs. They stem from unusual biosynthetic sequences that lead to the incorporation of a ...

This video segment, adapted from NOVA uses reenactment footage to show how chemist Percy Julian completed the total synthesis of physostigmine, an alkaloid derived from the Calabar bean that could be ...