Benzylisoquinoline

Benzylisoquinoline
Names
	Preferred IUPAC name 1-Benzylisoquinoline
	Systematic IUPAC name 1-(Phenylmethyl)isoquinoline
Identifiers
CAS Number	6907-59-1 ;
3D model (JSmol)	Interactive image;
ChemSpider	21830 ;
PubChem CID	23345;
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)	DTXSID90219124 ;
	InChI InChI=1S/C16H13N/c1-2-6-13(7-3-1)12-16-15-9-5-4-8-14(15)10-11-17-16/h1-11H,12H2 Key: IZTUINVRJSCOIR-UHFFFAOYSA-N ;
	SMILES c13ccccc3ccnc1Cc2ccccc2;
Properties
Chemical formula	C16H13N
Molar mass	219.28112 g/mol
	Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa). verify (what is ?) 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, tubocurarine, and sanguinarine.

Biosynthesis

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.