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Higenamine (norcoclaurine) is a chemical compound found in a variety of plants including Nandina domestica (fruit), Aconitum carmichaelii (root), Asarum heterotropioides, Galium divaricatum (stem and vine), Annona squamosa, and Nelumbo nucifera (lotus seeds).

Legality

Higenamine, also known as norcoclaurine HCl, is legal to use within food supplements in the UK, EU, the USA and Canada. but banned use in The NCAA. Its main is within food supplements developed for weight management, also known as ‘fat burners’. However, products containing (or claiming to contain) pharmacological relevant quantities still require registration as a medicine. The regulatory boundaries for higenamine are unclear as modern formulations have not been clinically evaluated. Traditional formulations with higenamine have been used for thousands of years within Chinese medicine and come from a variety of sources including fruit and orchids. There are no studies comparing the safety of modern formulations (based on synthetic higenamine) with traditional formulations. Nevertheless, it will not be added to the EU ‘novel foods’ catalogue, which details all food supplements that require a safety assessment certificate before use.^[1]

Pharmacology

Since higenamine is present in plants which have a history of use in traditional medicine, the pharmacology of this compound has attracted scientific interest. A variety of effects have been observed in in vitro studies and in animal models, but its effects in humans are unknown.

The results of a 2009 study exposed the compound as a β₂ adrenergic receptor agonist.^[2]

In animal models, higenamine has been demonstrated to be a β₂ adrenoreceptor agonist.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Adrenergic receptors, or adrenoceptors, belong to the class of G protein–coupled receptors, and are the most prominent receptors in the adipose membrane, besides also being expressed in skeletal muscle tissue. These adipose membrane receptors are classified as either α or β adrenoceptors. Although these adrenoceptors share the same messenger, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), the specific transduction pathway depends on the receptor type (α or β). Higenamine partly exerts its actions by the activation of an enzyme,adenylate cyclase, responsible for boosting the cellular concentrations of the adrenergic second messenger, cAMP.^[7]

In a rodent model, it was found that higenamine produced cardiotonic, vascular relaxation, and bronchodilator effects.^[8][9] In particular, higenamine, via a beta-adrenoceptor mechanism, induced relaxation in rat corpus cavernosum, leading to improved vasodilation and erectile function.

Related to improved vasodilatory signals, higenamine has been shown in animal models to possess antiplatelet and antithrombotic activity via a cAMP-dependent pathway, suggesting higenamine may contribute to enhanced vasodilation and arterial integrity.^{[2][7][9][10]}

Toxicity

Regarding toxicity, researchers have suggested that the levels of higenamine reported in food consumption (estimated 47.5 mg in a 9-ounce serving of Lotus) would be comparable to the amount used in food supplements.^{[citation needed]} Higenamine is a beta-adrenergic agonist which has effects on the function of trachea and heart muscles.^[11][12]During a study of acute toxicity, mice were orally administered the compound at a dose of 2 g per kg of bodyweight. No mice died during the study.^[13] higenamine is one of the main chemicals in a plant called aconite. Aconite has been shown to cause serious heart-related side effects including arrhythmias and even death. in some sources of HIGENAMINE from certain plants that have Aconite

PAPER

Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulletin (1978), 26(7), 2284-5

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/cpb1958/26/7/26_7_2284/_pdf

PATENT

CN 103554022

http://google.com/patents/CN103554022B?cl=en

Example 1:

[0024] to the S-necked flask 200mL of anhydrous ammonia clever four furans, lOg instrument crumbs, olive mix was added 0. 5g ship, continue to embrace the mix was added 10 minutes after which 2 drops of 1,2-B burning desert, Continue mixing until the reaction mixture embrace color disappeared, the reaction was cooled to square ° C, and slowly mixed solution thereto 31. 6g4- methoxy Desert Festival and 50mL tetraammine clever furans dropped, about 60min addition was complete, the reaction fluid continues to cool to -65 ° C, to which was slowly dropping 20 percent, 7-dimethoxy-3,4-diamine different wow beep and a mixed solution of ammonia lOOmL four clever furans, the addition was complete continue to maintain – 65 ° C for 2 hours after the embrace slowly warmed 0 ° C, maintaining the internal temperature of 100 ° C 〇 blood slowly added to the reaction mixture, the addition was completed adding 200 blood continues to embrace mixed with ethyl acetate after 0.5 hours, allowed to stand liquid separation, organic phase was separated, dried over anhydrous sulfate steel, concentrated to afford 6, 7-dimethoxy -l- (4- methoxy section yl) -1,2, 3, 4-isopropyl tetraammine wow toot 24. 9g, a yield of 76.1%.

[00 Qiao] to the reaction flask prepared above 6, 7-dimethoxy -l- (4- methoxybenzyl) -1,2, 3, 4 tetraammine different wow beep 24. 9g , 47% aqueous ammonia desert 200 blood acid heated to 130 ° C reflux of cooled to room temperature, precipitation of large amount of solid, filtered higenamine ammonia salt desert, the solid was added 1. of water and continue to add 50 Blood mixed with ammonia football ground, filtered higenamine to higenamine was added lL4mol / L aqueous hydrochloric acid, 80 ° C heat to embrace mixed, cooled to 25 ° C filtration and drying to obtain a final product hydrochloric acid higenamine 11. 7g, a yield of 73.3%.

References

banned in ncaa https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2015-16%20NCAA%20Banned%20Drugs.pdf

Higenamine

Names
IUPAC name 1-[(4-Hydroxyphenyl)methyl]-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-6,7-diol
Other names norcoclaurine, demethylcoclaurine
Identifiers
CAS Number	5843-65-2  106032-53-5 (R)  22672-77-1 (S)
ChEBI	CHEBI:18418
ChEMBL	ChEMBL19344
ChemSpider	102800
Jmol 3D model	Interactive image
KEGG	C06346
MeSH	higenamine
PubChem	114840
InChI[show]
SMILES[show]
Properties
Chemical formula	C16H17NO3
Molar mass	271.32 g·mol−1

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