| Benzylisoquinoline | |
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1-(Phenylmethyl)isoquinoline |
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| Identifiers | |
| CAS number | 6907-59-1 |
| PubChem | 23345 |
| ChemSpider | 21830 |
| Jmol-3D images | Image 1 |
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| Properties | |
| Molecular formula | C16H13N |
| Molar mass | 219.28112 g/mol |
| (verify) (what is: /?) Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa) |
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| Infobox references | |
1-Benzylisoquinoline is a chemical compound, and the structural backbone of many alkaloids with a wide variety of structures, including papaverine, noscapine, codeine, morphine, apomorphine, berberine, protopine and tubocurarine.
Plants producing benzylisoquinoline alkaloids have a common biosynthetic pathway, making use of two units of L-tyrosine. One tyrosine molecule is metabolised to dopamine which constitutes the isoquinoline part, while the benzylic part is mostly formed from tyramine, itself the decarboxylation product of tyrosine.
Many benzylisoquinolines have a methylated nitrogen atom as well as functional groups containing oxygen (-OH, -OCH3, -OCH2O-) in positions 6, 7, 3' and 4'. The latter come from the precursors mentioned above, namely tyrosine, dopamine and their derivatives.