Coca alkaloids

For centuries, inhabitants of Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina have chewed the leaves of the tree Erythroxylum coca to stimulate quick recovery from fatigue. 

This habit is reported to go back to as early as the era of the Inca Empire. It was in the leaves of this tree of the Erythroxylaceae family that cocaine was found. It is one of the major coca alkaloids (24, 45, 163). 

Erythroxylum coca is cultivated in a number of countries, including Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. A second species of commercial importance is Erythroxylum novogranatens. Although the content of cocaine is highest in the leaves and the extraction is almost always done by using the leaves as the source material, cocaine and other coca alkaloids are also found in the bark. Representative coca alkaloids (1, 2, 3, 4) are shown. All are derivatives of ecgonine (2-carboxytropanol). 

Cocaine has lasting local anesthetic activity and also functions as a central nervous system stimulant. At the same time it causes narcosis, and the abuse of cocaine leads to addiction. 

The bark of Erythroxylum ellipticum, a tall Australian tree that reaches a height of 35 feet, contains 0.32% crude alkaloids, from which tropine 3,4,5-trime-thoxycinnamate and tropine benzoate have been isolated (83). These alkaloids are derivatives of tropine (3a-hydroxytropane), thus differing from cocaine-type alkaloids in that the latter are pseudotropine (3)ff-hydroxytropane) derivatives. 

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Illegal production of cocaine is fairly unsophisticated, but can result in material of high quality. The alkaloids are extracted from crushed leaf using alkali (lime) and petrol. The petrol extract is then re-extracted with aqueous acid, and this alkaloid fraction is basified and allowed to stand, yielding the free alkaloid as a paste. Alternatively, the hydrochloride or sulphate salts may be prepared. The coca alkaloids are often diluted with carrier to give a... 

The coca-alkaloids, like cocaine, atropine, etc., contain perhaps a combination of a piperidine ring with a pyrrolidine ring. 

Tropane alkaloids Coca alkaloids Nicotiana alkaloids... 

Watson ES, Mui phy JC, El Sohly HN, El Sohly MA, Turner CE (1983) Effects of the administration of coca alkaloids on the primary immune responses of mice Literaction with delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol and ethanol. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 71 1—13. 

These alkaloids are from a structural point of view, esters between the alcohols such as tropine in e.g. hyoscyamine and scopine in e.g. scopolamine and different ahphatic and aromatic acids, mainly tropic acid. The tropane alkaloids within the family Solanaceae belong mainly to the tropine series, whereas the Coca-alkaloids from the family Erythroxylaceae mainly belong to the pseudo-tropine series. 

According to Aeir plant of origin T. a. can be classified as Belladonna (Datura) and Coca alkaloids The Belladonna or Datura type occur in Atropa belladonna, and other members of the SoUmaceae, e.g. thorn apple (Datura spp.) and henbane (Hyoscyamus spp.) their amino alcohol component is tropine. The Coca alkaloids (e.g. cocaine and tropacocaine) are esters of ecgonine and pseudotropine, which, together with other T.a., are found in the coca shrub, Erythroxylum coca, cultivated in Peru and Bolivia, also in Java, and to a limited extent in Sri-Lanka. In all cases the T.a. are accompanied by pyrrolidine bases, e.g. hygrine. 

Extracted from coca leaves Erythroxylon coca) Alkaloid base or salts... 

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