Baikiain is an

organic compound Some chemical authorities define an organic compound as a chemical compound that contains a carbon–hydrogen or carbon–carbon bond; others consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. For example, carbon-co ...

with the molecular formula . Chemically, it is classified as a

tetrahydropyridine Tetrahydropyridines (or piperideines) are heterocycles with the formula . Three isomers exist, which differ by the location of the double bond. None of the parent species occur widely, so they are mainly of theoretical interest. Although the pa ...

substituted with a

carboxylic acid In organic chemistry, a carboxylic acid is an organic acid that contains a carboxyl group () attached to an Substituent, R-group. The general formula of a carboxylic acid is often written as or , sometimes as with R referring to an organyl ...

. Because it contains both this carboxylic acid and an adjacent

amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are organic compounds that contain carbon-nitrogen bonds. Amines are formed when one or more hydrogen atoms in ammonia are replaced by alkyl or aryl groups. The nitrogen atom in an amine possesses a lone pair of elec ...

group, it is also an

alpha-amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

. Baikiain is one of the two

enantiomer In chemistry, an enantiomer (Help:IPA/English, /ɪˈnænti.əmər, ɛ-, -oʊ-/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''ih-NAN-tee-ə-mər''), also known as an optical isomer, antipode, or optical antipode, is one of a pair of molecular entities whi ...

s of the

chiral Chirality () is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek language, Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is dist ...

compound 4,5-didehydro

pipecolic acid Pipecolic acid (piperidine-2-carboxylic acid) is an organic compound with the formula HNC5H9CO2H. It is a carboxylic acid derivative of piperidine and, as such, an amino acid, although not one encoded genetically. Like many other α-amino acids, p ...

Sources

Baikiain has been found in diverse natural sources including

dates Date or dates may refer to: * Date, the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') * Jujube, also known as red date or Chinese date, the fruit of ''Ziziphus jujuba'' Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activit ...

African teak African teak is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *'' Baikiaea plurijuga'', native to the northern Kalahari *'' Milicia excelsa'', also known as iroko, native to Africa from the Ivory Coast to Ethiopia and south to Angola and Moz ...

(''Baikiaea plurijuga'') wood, and the red algae '' Serraticardia maxima''. Several laboratory syntheses of baikiain and its racemic form have been reported.

Effects

Baikiain is hypothesized to be the causative agent of illnesses resulting from consumption of food products containing tara flour.

References

{{reflist Alpha-Amino acids Secondary amino acids Tetrahydropyridines