Harmane (harman) is a
heterocyclic amine
Heterocyclic amines, also sometimes referred to as HCAs, are chemical compounds containing at least one heterocyclic ring, which by definition has atoms of at least two different elements, as well as at least one amine (nitrogen-containing) group. ...
found in a variety of foods including
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
,
sauces, and cooked meat.
It is also present in
tobacco smoke
Tobacco smoke is a sooty aerosol produced by the incomplete combustion of tobacco during the smoking of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Temperatures in burning cigarettes range from about 400 °C between puffs to about 900 °C d ...
.
Chemistry
Harmane is a
methyl
In organic chemistry, a methyl group is an alkyl derived from methane, containing one carbon atom bonded to three hydrogen atoms, having chemical formula . In formulas, the group is often abbreviated as Me. This hydrocarbon group occurs in many ...
ated
derivative
In mathematics, the derivative of a function of a real variable measures the sensitivity to change of the function value (output value) with respect to a change in its argument (input value). Derivatives are a fundamental tool of calculus. F ...
of
β-carboline
β-Carboline (9''H''-Pyridine, pyrido ,4-''b''ndole) represents the basic chemical structure for more than one hundred alkaloids and synthetic compounds. The effects of these substances depend on their respective substituent. Natural β-carbo ...
with the molecular formula C
12H
10N
2.
Sources
See also
*
Harmine
Harmine is a beta-carboline and a harmala alkaloid. It occurs in a number of different plants, most notably the Syrian rue and ''Banisteriopsis caapi''. Harmine reversibly inhibits monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), an enzyme which breaks down monoamin ...
References
{{Monoamine metabolism modulators
Beta-Carbolines
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors