Norspermidine is a polyamine of similar structure to the more common spermidine. Norspermidine has been found to occur naturally in some species of plants, bacteria, and algae.
Norspermidine is being researched for use as a cancer medication.
Norspermidine is an aliphatic polyamine. In õ-proteobacteria, which are found in human gut microbiota, a combination of two enzymes is used to produce norspermidine from 1,3-diaminopropane. First, carboxynorspermidine synthase catalyses a reductive amination using nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) as the reducing agent.
The intermediate, carboxynorspermidine, is then decarboxylated by carboxynorspermidine decarboxylase: