“…1, 1) and analogous compounds (including, for example, m-and o-octopamine as well as the N-methylated derivatives referred to as synephrine, Fig. 1, 2) have since been subject of numerous animal and human studies concerning their natural presence in tissues and body fluids (Pisano et al, 1960;Williams et al, 1987), biosynthetic pathways (Axelrod and Saavedra, 1977;Boulton and Davis, 1987;Brandau and Axelrod, 1972;Breese et al, 1969;Williams et al, 1987), routes of elimination (Hengstmann et al, 1974(Hengstmann et al, , 1975, and potential roles as therapeutic agents (Kuske, 1969;Stucke, 1972;Stur, 1971). Particular attention was focused on the effects of octopamine and synephrine on aand b-adrenoceptors concerning lipolysis, glucose transport, and amine oxidation in mammalian fat cells (Brown et al, 1988;Carpene et al, 1999;Fontana et al, 2000;Visentin et al, 2001), and synephrine alkaloids have generally been investigated and discussed with regard to their possible application in obesity treatments (Fugh-Berman and Myers, 2004;Haaz et al, 2006;Kubo et al, 2005).…”