Coca plant from Peru

One of the most common psychostimulants, cocaine, is derived from the coca plant (Erythroxylon coca) and has a long history as a stimulant. It has been used for centuries in Bolivia and Peru as a tonic and other preparations to alleviate fatigue (Siegel 1985 Hill et al. 1977). 

The coca plant is an evergreen, native to South America, particularly the countries of Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Columbia, and should not be confused with the cocoa plant, from which chocolate is made. Although the coca plant is natural to South America, it has been successfully cultivated in Java, West Indies, India and Australia. 

Which of the two is the cis form and which the trans form has not been determined. A third cinnamic acid, viz., iso-cinnamic acid, is also known, but the constitution of it has not been established. Cinnamic acid is found in nature in the resin storax both as the free acid and as the cinnamic alcohol ester, styrin. It is also found in Peru and Tolu balsams as the free acid and as the benzyl alcohol ester, the benzoic acid ester of benzyl alcohol being present also. Thus benzyl alcohol, benzoic acid, cinnamic alcohol and cinnamic acid are all constituents of esters present in these plant resins. Allo-cinnamic acid, the geometric isomer, is obtained from coca leaves from which the alkaloid cocaine is also obtained (p. 896). When cinnamic acid is heated with lime it loses carbon dioxide and yields the unsaturated side-chain hydrocarbon st3rrene, or phenyl ethylene, CeHs—CH = CH2. On reduction it yields first cinnamic aldehyde, found in oil of cinnamon (p. 842) and then cinnamic alcohol. Both cinnamic acid and allo-cinnamic acid yield anhydrides. 

Belonging to the same chemical group as atropine is the important alkaloid cocaine, C17H21O4N. It is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant, Erythroxylon coca, which grows in South America (Bolivia and Peru) and in Java and Ceylon. Distinction should be made between the coca plant and the cacao bean from which cocoa and chocolate are made. 

It was known for some time that the natives of Bolivia and Peru chewed coca leaves with lime as a stimulant. The action is due to the alkaloids present in the leaves of which cocaine is the most important. At present both the coca leaves and the crude extract of cocaine are articles of commerce from those countries where the coca plant grows. The alkaloid is extracted with sodium carbonate and petroleum ether. It is a crystalline Compound, m.p. 98°, soluble in alcohol, ether, benzene or petroleum ether and slightly soluble in water. It forms well crystallized soluble salts, the hydrochloride being the one mostly used. 

Coca-Cola was originally flavored with extracts from the leaves of the coca plant and the kola nut. Coca is grown in northern South America the Indians of Peru and Bolivia have for centuries chewed the leaves to relieve the pangs of hunger and high mountain cold. The cocaine from the leaves causes local anesthesia of the stomach. It has limited use as a local anesthetic for surgery on the eye, nose, and throat. Unfortunately it is now a widely abused illicit drug. Kola nuts contciin about 3% caffeine as well as a number of other alkaloids. The kola tree is in the same family as the cacao tree from which cocoa cmd chocolate cu-e obtained. Modem cola drinks do not contain cocaine however, Coca-Cola contains 43 mg of caffeine per... 

The use of cocaine by humans dates back to prehistoric times. The Incas of the Andes regions of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru developed the practice of chewing the coca leaf more than 3,000 years ago. Archeological sites in Peru that date back to 1300 B.C. contain mummified bodies with shell vessels for coca and the powdered lime used even today to enhance absorption of cocaine from the leaf (Streatfeild, 2001). Coca was a sacred drug to the Incas. Mama Coca" was viewed as possessing a goddess-like essence. One myth had it that coca had been a beautiful woman who was executed for adultery. From her remains the divine coca plant grew, to be consumed only by royalty in her memory (Petersen, 1977). 

Spaniards carried the plant back to Europe, where it failed to generate much inters , most likely because the coca leaves had lost their potency during the long voyage from Peru. Centuries later, a German chemist named Albert Niemann from the University of Gottingen experimented with attempts to isolate the drug from the plant s leaf. In 1858, he succeeded. 

In Bolivia, cocaine production began to grow in the final quarter of the twentieth century, when landowners who had previously focused on farming soybeans and sugar or grazing cattle on their land instead turned their attention to the harvesting of coca plants. Control soon concentrated in the hands of a few powerful families, who used coca produced locally, as well as paste imported from Peru, and transformed it into the 90 percent pure cocaine base that is then exported, principally to Colombia. 

Probably the best known alkaloid of this group is cocaine (16), derived from the coca plant Erythroxylum coca, Eryth-roxylaceae) (White, 1989). This polymorphic species is a native of the Andes of northwestern South America. The leaves of the plant, which contain 0.5-2% cocaine, are chewed by many Andean Indians who are said to derive a feeling of well-being and alleviation of hunger pangs thereby. There is no concomitant hallucinogenic effect. Most commercially cultivated coca for the pharmaceutical industry comes from Peru and Bolivia (Boucher, 1991 Tyler et al., 1981 White, 1989). 

Many alkaloids have pronounced biological properties, and a substantial number of the pharmaceutical agents used today are derived from naturally occurring amines. As a few examples, morphine, an analgesic agent, is obtained from the opium poppy Papaver somnifemm. Cocaine, both an anesthetic and a central nervous system stimulant, is obtained front the coca bush Erythroxylon coca, endemic to upland rain forest areas of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and western Brazil. Reserpine, a tranquilizer and antihypertensive, comes from powdered roots of the semitropical plant Rauwolfia serpentina. Ephedrine, a bronchodilator and decongestant, is obtained front the Chinese plant Ephedra sinica. 

Coca leaves are obtained from species of Erythroxylum (Erythroxylaceae), small shrubs native to the Andes region of South America, namely Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Plants are cultivated there, and in Indonesia. Two main species provide drug materials, Erythroxylum coca (Bolivian or Huanaco coca) and E trvxillense (Peruvian or Truxillo coca). Cultivated plants are kept small by pruning and a quantity of leaves is harvested from each plant three or more times per year. 

The plants are shrubs or small trees that attain a height of about 2 m they are indigenous to Peru (E. truxillense) and Bolivia (E. coca) and are cultivated not only in these countries but also in Indonesia (E. truxillense), and to some extent in Sri Lankan. Erythroxylon is from two Greek words meaning red and wood, alluding to the color of the plants coca is the Spanish name for the tree and truxillense is from Truxillo, a coastal city in northern Peru. 

W. Golden Mortimer s History of Coca Divine Plant of the Incas (Berkeley, California And/Or Press, 1974) was first published in 1901. It is a long description of Incan civilization, Peru, and coca and tains valuable information. A good excerpt from... 

The prototype, and historically first, substance utilized to prevent or treat local pain was a South American folk medicine an infusion made from the leaves of the coca bush (cocaine plant), Erythoxylum coca and several other species. Coca is native to the uplands of South America, particularly in what is today Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Large-scale cultivation and production is now mainly in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia at elevations up to 6,000 feet. The alkaloidal content of coca leaves is 0.7-2.5%, the main... 

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