Physicochemical studies on drug interactions with human serum albumin (HSA) are relevant for elucidation, at the molecular level, of the processes occurring in vivo. In this work using optical spectroscopic methods (fluorescence, absorption, circular dichroism) we have investigated aqueous HSA solutions containing pharmaceutically important isoquinoline alkaloids, berberine and palmatine. The primary objective was to verify whether the two compounds are located in the subdomain IIA of the secondary HSA structure, as reported in literature. We prove that the excited state of Trp214 residue is not quenched by the alkaloids; all observed changes in fluorescence spectra are due to inner filter effects. Furthermore, differential absorption spectra indicate that the ligands remain in a water-like microenvironment. We infer that bound alkaloid molecules are located at the protein/water interface. Yet, such binding mode can induce some unfolding of the HSA molecule, detectable in the far-UV CD spectra. We have also performed, for the first time, pulse radiolysis studies of hydrated electron scavenging in the HSA/alkaloid systems and measured steady state absorption spectra of irradiated samples. The results reveal that neither berberine nor palmatine are effectively protected by the protein against one-electron reduction, what is consistent with the aforementioned conclusion.