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Theobromine

Theobromine
Theobromine.svg
Theobromine 3D ball.png
Clinical data
Routes of
administration
Oral
ATC code
Legal status
Legal status
  • Uncontrolled substance
Pharmacokinetic data
Metabolism Hepatic demethylation and oxidation
Biological half-life 7.1±0.7 hours
Excretion Renal (10% unchanged, rest as metabolites)
Identifiers
Synonyms xantheose
diurobromine
3,7-dimethylxanthine
CAS Number
PubChem CID
DrugBank
ChemSpider
UNII
KEGG
ChEBI
ChEMBL
ECHA InfoCard 100.001.359
Chemical and physical data
Formula C7H8N4O2
Molar mass 180.164 g/mol
3D model (Jmol)
  

Theobromine, formerly known as xantheose, is a bitter alkaloid of the cacao plant, with the chemical formula C7H8N4O2. It is found in chocolate, as well as in a number of other foods, including the leaves of the tea plant, and the kola (or cola) nut. It is classified as a xanthine alkaloid, which also include the similar compounds theophylline and caffeine. The compounds differ in that caffeine has an extra methyl group (see under #Pharmacology).

Despite its name, the compound contains no brominetheobromine is derived from Theobroma, the name of the genus of the cacao tree, (which itself is made up of the Greek roots theo ("god") and broma ("food"), meaning "food of the gods" with the suffix -ine given to alkaloids and other basic nitrogen-containing compounds.

Theobromine is a slightly water-soluble (330 mg/L), crystalline, bitter powder. Theobromine is white or colourless, but commercial samples can be yellowish. It has an effect similar to, but lesser than, that of caffeine in the human nervous system, making it a lesser homologue. Theobromine is an isomer of theophylline, as well as paraxanthine. Theobromine is categorized as a dimethyl xanthine.


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Wikipedia

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