hordenine

Hordenine, also known as '''N,N-dimethyltyramine or as 4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethylphenethylamine', is an alkaloid of the phenethylamine class that occurs naturally in a variety of plants, taking its name from one of the most common, barley (Hordeum species). Chemically, hordenine is the N-methyl derivative of N-methyltyramine, and the N,N-dimethyl derivative of the well-known biogenic amine tyramine, from which it is biosynthetically derived and with which it shares some pharmacological properties (see below). , hordenine is widely sold as an ingredient of nutritional supplements, with sellers claiming that it stimulates the central nervous system and promotes weight loss by enhancing metabolism. In experiments in which animals are given sufficiently large doses parenterally (by injection), hordenine produces an increase in blood pressure as well as other disturbances of the cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous systems. These effects are generally not reproduced by oral administration of the drug in test animals, and virtually no scientific reports of the effects of hordenine in human beings have been published.

==Natural occurrence== The first report of the isolation from a natural source of the compound now known as hordenine was made by Arthur Heffter in 1894, who extracted this alkaloid from the cactus Anhalonium fissuratus (now reclassified as Ariocarpus fissuratus), naming it "anhalin". Twelve years later, E. Léger independently isolated an alkaloid, which he named hordenine, from germinated barley (Hordeum vulgare) seeds. Ernst Späth subsequently showed that these alkaloids were identical and proposed the correct molecular structure for the substance, for which the name "hordenine" was ultimately retained.