Alkaloids opiates poppy

Opium poppy produces benzyUsoquinoline alkaloids (opiates) that are important medicinal compounds, including the analgesics morphine, codeine, and thebaine, which are used in the synthesis of various sanisynthetic opioid analgesics... 

But the question remains if OxyContin is such a great drug, why the concern It stems from the fact that OxyContin comes from the poppy plant, in the form of the alkaloid thebaine. While less powerful than raw opium, and certainly much less powerful than heroin, thebaine is still an opiate... 

Opiates are compounds extracted from the milky latex contained in the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Opium, morphine, and codeine are the most important opiate alkaloids found in the opium poppy. Opium was used as folk medicine for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. In the seventeenth century opium smoking led to major addiction problems. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, morphine was isolated from opium. About 20 years later, codeine, one-fifth as strong as morphine, was isolated from both opium and morphine. In 1898, heroin, an extremely potent and addictive derivative of morphine was isolated. The invention of the hypodermic needle during the mid-nineteenth century allowed opiates to be delivered directly into the blood stream, which increases the effects of these drugs. Synthetically produced drugs with morphine-like properties are called opioids. The terms narcotic, opiate, and opioid are frequently used interchangeably. Some common synthetically produced opioids include meperidine (its trade name is Demerol) and methadone, a drug often used to treat heroin addiction. 

Opium poppy Papaver somniferum L., Papaveraceae) is one of the most important medicinal plants and has been cultivated since early centuries. Opium, the dried cytoplasm of a specialized internal secretory system called the laticifer, is normally collected from the unripe capsule. It is the source for the commercial production of medicinally important alkaloids, morphine, codeine, thebaine, noscapine and papaverine [130, 131], Fig. (61). Morphine, which has strong addictive property, is still the most effective analgesic for the treatment of mortal cancer patients in modem medicine. Codeine is commonly used as an antitussive. However, field cultivation of this plant has been limited since 1953 by the United Nations Opium Conference Protocol to prevent narcotic crimes. Therefore, establishing tissue culture technique for the production of morphinan alkaloids seems to be desirable not only for medicinal purpose but also for decreasing abuse of opiates. 

Opium is prepared from the juice of the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy, which grows only in certain areas of the world, such as Southeast Asia, to name the most predominant producing area today. Alkaloids contained in opium include codeine, morphine and papaverine. Medicinally, all opiates have been used to releive pain, as far back as 5(X)0... 

Opiate A drug derived from alkaloids of the opium poppy... 

Opioids are those substances that can activate localized opioid receptors in the pain-controlling system of the body. Their action can therefore be antagonized by naloxone. From a clinical point of view, morphine is the most important substance of this group. It is obtained from opium, which is the brownish latex obtained from cuts made in the unripe but fully grown fruits of Papaver somniferum, the opium poppy. Opium contains not only morphine but also over thirty other alkaloids (Fig. 8-13) including the isoquinoline alkaloids codeine, papaverine, noscapine, thebaine and others, which make up ca. 25% of the opium. The alkaloids in opium are sometimes present as salts of meconic acid. The opiates form a separate subgroup within the opioids whose member... 

The commercial preparation of morphine takes place from opium and from poppy straw at approximately equal proportions. [72] Since 1960, the production of thebeine has gained growing significance, due to an increased demand for semi-synthetic opiates. This is generated from opium like morphine, codeine and papaverine. The key step is removal of the crude morphine with tartaric acid. The various alkaloids are subsequently separated by fractional crystallisation and extraction (Fig. 5.53). 

Codein phosphate and hydrochloride caused contact dermatitis in a worker in the production of opium alkaloids. Codeine bitartrate caused contact dermatitis in a worker in the production of concentrated poppy straw. Codeine was a sensitizer in a laboratory worker at an opiate-manufacturing pharmaceutical company, also sensitive to thebaine. 

Narcotoline is an opiate alkaloid chemically related to noscapine. It binds to the same receptors in the brain as noscapine to act as an antitussive and has also been used in tissue culture media. It can be obtained from the opium poppy, Papaver somnifemm. It is present at much higher levels in culinary strains (cultivars) of P. somnifemm used for poppy seed production than in high-morphine pharmaceutical strains used for opium production. 

Opiates are medications derived from the poppy plant that attach to opioid receptors in the brain. The extraction of morphine from opium marked the beginning of organic alkaloid chemistry and has led to the synthesis of a variety of semisynthetic and synthetic analgesics. Opium and its derivatives have been used for thousands of years not only for pain relief but also for the euphoria that they produce. It is this dual effect that allows them to be so useful but also addictive and therefore dangerous. Understanding their stmcture, action, use, and abuse reflects the close connection that we have with the plant world. 

The primary modem use of the papaver alkaloids is for analgesia. Morphine is considered the classic example of a high-potency opioid. Opiates are medications derived from the poppy opioids, the more general term, refer to medications that work at the opioid receptors. All opiates are therefore opioids, but not all opioids are opiates. 

The opiate alkaloids are a mix of semisynthetic and synthetic compounds derived from or related to the extract of the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. Specifically, the alkaloids are obtained from the latex, or milky, exudates of the seed pod that appear when it is cut or sliced. The liquid contains about 10% morphine and about 1.5% codeine, with various amoimts ( 0.2-8%) of papaverine, thebaine, and noscapine (Table 8.3). The... 

Kalvoda J, Buchschacher P, Jeger O (1955) Uber die absolute Konfiguration des Morphins und verwandter Alkaloide. Helv Chim Acta 38 1847-1856 Klee WA, Simonds WF, Sweat FW, Burke TR, Jacobson AE, Rice KC (1982) Identification of a Mj. 58000 glycoprotein subunit of the opiate receptor. FEBS Lett 150 125-128 Kritikos PG, Papadaki SP (1967) The history of the poppy and of opium and their expansion in antiquity in the eastern Mediterranean area. Bull Naxcot 19(3) 17-38 Laurent A (1847) Sur la composition des alcalis organiques et de quelques combinaisons azo-tees. Ann Chim Phys 19 359-377... 

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