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Enantioselective Demethylation: The Key To The Nornicotine Enantiomeric Composition In Tobacco Leaf, Bin Cai
Enantioselective Demethylation: The Key To The Nornicotine Enantiomeric Composition In Tobacco Leaf, Bin Cai
Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences
Nicotine and nornicotine are the two main alkaloids that accumulate in Nicotiana tabacum L. (tobacco), and nornicotine is the N-demethylation metabolite of nicotine. Nicotine is synthesized in the root, and probably primarily in the root tip. Both nicotine and nornicotine exist as two isomers that differ from each other by the orientation of H atom at the C-2' position on the pyrrolidine ring. (S)-nicotine is the dominant form in tobacco leaf and the enantiomer fraction of nicotine (EFnic), the fraction of (R)-enantiomer over the total nicotine, is approximately 0.002. Despite considerable efforts to elucidate nicotine and nornicotine …