Cacti

Mescaline a hallucinogenic amine obtained from the peyote cactus has been synthesized in two steps from 3 4 5 trimethoxybenzyl bromide The first step is nucleophilic substitution by sodium cyanide The second step is a lithium aluminum hydnde reduction What is the structure of mescaline" ... 

There is a relatively large number of alkaloids which maybe considered as simple phenethyl amine [64-04-0] (59, R = H), CgH N, or tyramine [51-67-2] (59, R = OH), CgH NO, derivatives. These iaclude mescaline (61) from the small wooly peyotyl cactus l ophophora mlliamsii (L emaire) Coult. anhalamine (62) and lophocerine (63) from other Cactaceae, and the important antamebic alkaloids (—)-protoemetiae (64), (—)-ipecoside (65), and (—)-emetine (66) from the South American straggling bush Cephaelis ipecacuanha (Brotero) Rich. AH of these bases appear to be derived from tyrosiae (25,... 

The early stmctural evideace, physical properties, and aromaticity of isoquiaoline have been discussed at the beginning of this article. Two additional trivial names are encountered occasionally 2-benzaziae and leucoline. The widespread occurrence of this stmcture ia such important alkaloids as those found ia cactus, opium, and curare has created a long-standing iaterest ia its syathesis and properties (4). 

The total cost of the 100 losses is 7.52 billion in 1997 dollars, The largest loss was 252,500,000, from a vapor cloud explosion at a gas processing plant at Cactus, Mexico. The average loss was 75,800,000. 

The following alkaloids are included in this section as simple woquinoline bases only one of them, carnegine, has been obtained from a cactus species (Cereus). 

Alkaloids of Salsola Richtsri. This member of the botanical family Chenopodiaceie has been shown by Orekhov and Proskurnina to contain three alkaloids of which two are closely related to the typical cactus alkaloids. 

Anthozoa. Anthozoans are plant-shaped polyps, either solitary or colonial, completely lacking the medusoid stage. They are found along coastal waters and include the luminescent genera Renilla (the sea pansies), Cavernularia (the sea cactuses), and Ptilosarcus and Pennatula (the sea pens). Bioluminescent anthozoans emit light by a luciferin-luciferase reaction that involves coelenterazine as the... 

Soon after the hypothetical structure was published, coelenterazine was isolated as an actual substance from the liver of the luminous squid Watasenia scintillans, and it was chemically synthesized (Inoue et al., 1975). The availability of synthetic coelenterazine led to the important discovery that the treatment of the luminescence product of aequorin with coelenterazine results in the regeneration of active aequorin (Shimomura and Johnson, 1975c), which consequently confirmed the presence of a coelenterazine moiety in the aequorin molecule. During the same period, it became increasingly evident that coelenterazine is involved as a luciferin in various bioluminescent organisms, such as the sea cactus Cavernularia, the sea pen Ptilosarcus, and the sea pansy Renilla (Shimomura and Johnson, 1975b). 

Shimomura, O., Inoue, S., and Goto, T. (1975). The light-emitter in bioluminescence of the sea cactus Cavernularia obesa. Chem. Lett., 247-248. 

Carmine is a colored pigment extracted from the female insect Coccus cacti or Dactylopius coccus, or its eggs. These insects live on prickly pear cactus in Mexico. The Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes brought the dye to Europe after seeing the Aztecs use it. 

The pulp of this cactus contains an arabinogalactan type I polymer with the ability to stimulate phagosytosis. The galactose units are 1,4-linked with... 

Peyote/ mescaline Button(s), cactus, mesc, mescal, mescal buttons, moon, peyote... 

Only when the cactus buttons are found with the patient can there be certainty that the drug in question is peyote (mescahne) (Giannini et. al. 1986). 

Lyvers M, Hashing P Have Halpern et al. (2004) detected residual neuropsychological effects of MDMA not likely. Drug Alcohol Depend 75 149-152, 2004 Mack RB Marching to a different cactus peyote (mescaline) intoxication. N Engl J Med 47 137-138, 1986... 

Gibson, A. C. and Nobel, P. S. 1986. The Cactus Primer, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. 

Nyffeler, R. 2002. Phylogenetic relationships in the cactus family (Cactaceae) based on evidence from tmK/matK and trnL-trnF sequences. Amer. J. Bot. 89 312-326. 

A number of mushrooms, liberty cap (psilocybe), psilocybin, fly agaric, Amantia muscaria and the peyote cactus contain hallucinogenic agents. They are usually eaten raw but can be dried out and stored or cooked into food or made into a tea and drunk. The effects are highly variable and whereas 20-30 liberty caps would be required to give a full dose, just one fly agaric mushroom would produce similar actions. Some recent local surveys in the UK have found between 12% and 15% of 16-year-olds claiming to have used these at least once. 

Stintzing, F.C., Schieber, A., and Carle, R., Identification of betalains from yellow beet (Beta vulgaris L.) and cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.) by high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, J. Agric. Food Chem., 50, 2302, 2002. 

Stintzing, F.C., Sebieber, A., Carle, R., Pbytocbemical and nutritional significance of cactus pear, Eur. Food Res. TechnoL, 212, 396, 2001. 

Mosshammer, M.R., Stintzing, F.C., and Carle, R., Evaluation of different methods for the production of juice concentrates and fruit powders from cactus pear, Innov. Food Sci. Emerg. TechnoL, 7, 275, 2006. 

Rodrfguez-Hernandez, G.R. et al.. Spray-drying of cactus pear juice (Opuntia strep-tacantha) effect on the physicochemical properties of powder and reconstituted product, Drying TechnoL, 23, 955, 2005. 

As for anthocyanins, betalains are found in vacuoles and cytosols of plant cells. From the various natural sources of betalains, beetroot (Beta vulgaris) and prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus indica) are the only edible sources of these compounds. In the food industry, betalains are less commonly used as natural colorants from plant sources than anthocyanins and carotenoids, probably related to their more restricted distribution in nature. To date, red beetroot is the only betalain source exploited for use as a natural food coloring agent. The major betalain in red beetroot is betanin (or betanidin 5-0-P-glucoside). Prickly pear fruits contain mainly (purple-red) betanin and (yellow-orange) indicaxanthin and the color of these fruits is directly related to the betanin-to-indicaxanthin ratio (99 to 1, 1 to 8, and 2 to 1, respectively in white, yellow, and red fruits)." ... 

After ingestion of cactus pear fruit pulp, both betanin and indicaxanthin were found in human plasma (with AUCo i2 h values of 0.46 and 29.2 lunol/hr/mL, respectively), partly associated with LDL, and in urine (3 and 76%, respectively, of the ingested compounds)," indicating that indicaxanthin was better absorbed than betanin. The bioavailability of indicaxanthin from prickly pear fruit pulp was 20 times that of betanin, suggesting differences in the fates of the two classes of betalains (betacyanin and betaxanthins) in the human body. In rats, betanin appeared to be... 

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