ORIGIN IN THE PLANT 271 



THE ORIGIN OF ALKALOIDS IN THE PLANT. 



Gadamer* expresses the view that the primary products 

 of assimilation are the same for proteins and for alkaloids. 

 When assimilation is intense alkaloids are produced, but dur- 

 ing periods of diminished assimilation the enzyme which syn- 

 thesized proteins may break down the alkaloids, the disintegra- 

 tion products of which may be used in the formation of pro- 

 teins. 



According to Pictet,t alkaloids are produced in the plant 

 in two successive stages, involving (i) the breakdown of 

 complex nitrogenous substances, such as protein or chlorophyll, 

 with the production of relatively simple basic substances ; (2) 

 the condensation of these relatively simple substances with 

 other compounds present in the plant, with the formation of 

 the complex molecules possessed by the alkaloids. 



The processes of metabolism within the plant would there- 

 fore be strictly analogous to those taking place in the animal 

 body, in which waste products, such as phenol, glycine, etc., 

 are coupled up with other substances, such as sulphuric or 

 benzoic acid, before being eliminated. 



Pictet is further of opinion that among the commonest 

 changes within the plant are the methylation of hydroxyl or 

 amino groups by formaldehyde, according to the equations 



ROH + CH 2 O = ROCH 3 + O 

 and RNH + CH 2 O = RNCH 3 + O 



the resulting methylated compounds being then able to 

 undergo intramolecular transformation, by which the methyl 

 group can enter the ring, and so produce, for example, a 

 pyridine ring from methyl pyrrole, a reaction which he has 

 been able to effect in the laboratory by heat. 



CH 

 CH - CH CH - CH 



II _> || -> CH CH 

 CH CH CH CH 



\ / \ / CH CH 



NH NCH 3 \ / 



Pyrrole Pyridine 



Similar changes would also explain the formation of quin- 



* Gadamer: " Ber. deut. Pharm. Gesells.," 1914, 24, 35. 

 t Pictet: "Arch. Sci. Phys, Nat,," 1905, [iv], 19, 329; "Ber. deut. chem. 

 Gesells.," 1907, 40, 377*- 



