Alkaloids are one of the most important classes of plant bioactives. Among these isoquinoline alkaloids possess varied structures and exhibit numerous biological activities. Basically these are biosynthetically produced via phenylpropanoid pathway. However, occasionally some mixed pathways may also occur to provide structural divergence. Among the various biological activities anticancer, antidiabetic, antiinflammatory, and antimicrobial are important. A few notable bioactive isoquinoline alkaloids are antidiabetic berberine, anti-tussive codeine, analgesic morphine, and muscle relaxant papaverine etc. Berberine is one of the most discussed bioactives from this class possessing broad-spectrum pharmacological activities. Present review aims at recent updates of isoquinoline alkaloids with major emphasis on berberine, its detailed chemistry, important biological activities, structure activity relationship and implementation in future research.

生物碱是植物生物活性物质中最重要的一类。在这些异喹啉生物碱中，具有多种结构并表现出多种生物活性。基本上这些是通过生物合成产生的苯丙烷途径。然而，偶尔也会出现一些混合路径以提供结构分歧。在各种生物活性中，抗癌、抗糖尿病、抗炎和抗微生物是重要的。一些值得注意的生物活性异喹啉生物碱是抗糖尿病小檗碱、镇咳可待因、镇痛吗啡和肌肉松弛剂罂粟碱等。小檗碱是该类中讨论最多的生物活性物质之一，具有广谱药理活性。本综述旨在介绍异喹啉类生物碱的最新进展，重点介绍小檗碱、其详细的化学成分、重要的生物活性、构效关系以及在未来研究中的实施。