caffeine – intro

Caffeine and related substances are collectively termed purine alkaloids (PuA; see chemical structures). Since in planta caffeine is always accompanied by other PuA which are still present in crude caffeine preparations used for Energy Drinks, analytics reveal the caffeine source.

Additionally, caffeine is surrounded by phenolic complexors, i.e. substances with the ability of capturing it. Most likely, complexation reduces autotoxicity in plants accumulating PuA.

The more hectic a civilization is, the less it can stand the caffeine effects. Therefore, we will throw a glance on the strategies how to get rid of caffeine: decaf, decaffito, and GMdecaf.

The occurrence and role of PuA in nature are presented under The Caffeine Plants and biochemical ecology, respectively.

Additionally, biosynthesis of PuA and the genes involved deserve our special attention, since these investigations may help to explain why our caffeine plants show up so erratically on the phylogenetic tree.

Moreover, the global consumption of caffeine and related substances will be analyzed, followed by an up-to-date compilation of PuA effects on humans and other organisms.

Finally, to get an idea of how the caffeine story developed from its infancy, we need a bit of history.

Here, a wooden tooth stick had been placed in a saturated caffeine solution. After a few days crystal growth started.

Caffeine is globally the most consumed psychoactive drug. One may wonder how this came: In many Ancient Civilizations caffeine was an ingredient of the daily diet, of course, taken with a plant matrix derived from coffee, cocoa, tea, mate, cola, or guaraná.

Even though in nature caffeine never occurs alone or may not be the principal PuA as e.g. in cocoa, we name all relevant plants The Caffeine Plants.