Harmine

Common card · No. 320694

Harmine, also known as banisterine or telepathine, as well as 7-methoxyharman or 7-methoxy-1-methyl-β-carboline, is a β-carboline and a harmala alkaloid which has hallucinogenic effects and monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) activity. It occurs in a number of different plants, most notably Peganum harmala and Banisteriopsis caapi. Harmine reversibly inhibits monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), an enzyme which breaks down monoamines, making it a reversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase A (RIMA). Harmine does not inhibit MAO-B. Harmine is found in various plants—including tobacco, Passiflora species, lemon balm, and several Banisteriopsis species—as well as in some butterflies of the Nymphalidae family. It was first isolated and named by German chemist Julius Fritzsche in 1847 from Peganum harmala seeds, later identified in Banisteriopsis caapi under various names, with its structure determined in 1927. The biosynthesis of harmine likely begins with L-tryptophan, which is decarboxylated to tryptamine...

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