Morphine extraction from opium

Morphine is the major alkaloid in opium, the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. About 25% of the mass of opium is composed of alkaloids, with morphine constituting about 12-15%. Morphine is a powerful analgesic, and remains one of the most valuable for relief of severe pain. However, most of the morphine extracted from opium is processed further to give a range of semi-synthetic drugs, with enhanced or improved properties. A means of extracting morphine from the other alkaloids in opium is thus desirable. 

Both morphine and codeine are valuable analgesics. Morphine is extracted from opium, the dried latex of the opium poppy, and codeine is usually obtained from morphine by semi-synthesis (see Box 6.2), since the amounts in opium are rather small. Thebaine is a valuable raw material for semi-synthesis of a wide range of morphine-like drugs. 

Codeine is extracted from opium. Opium is a chemically complex drug derived from a flowering plant, the opium poppy. The scientific name for the opium poppy is Papaver somniferum, which translated from Greek means poppy that causes sleep. Opium is produced by drying the thick liquid harvested from the unripe seed capsule of the flower. It contains several different medically important chemicals known as alkaloids (non-acidic chemicals), the most important being morphine and codeine. 

Codeine was extracted from opium in 1832, and was the first partial success in the attempt to discover a safer and less addictive drug. However, with fewer side effects came a less potent analgesic. About 100 mg of codeine are needed to produce the same effect as 10 mg of morphine. It was believed at the time (and it is still debated) that codeine s milder effects on a per weight basis actually result in fewer side effects when equally effective dosages are given (i.e., 100 mg of codeine produces fewer side effects than 10 mg of morphine). For the most part, standard medical practice has been to prescribe codeine for moderate pain, and reserve morphine for more severe pain. 

The birth of drug discovery is closely connected to the study of plant natural products and was shaped by two seminal events, the isolation of morphine 1 from opium by the pharmacist Serturner in 18171 and the introduction in the clinics of Antipyrin 6 (phenazone) 70 years later, in 1887.2 The obtaining of a pure compound responsible for the medicinal properties of a crude drug marked the beginning of medicinal chemistry, triggering the transition from botanical extracts to pure molecules and eventually leading to the isolation of the active principle of most heroic drugs. 

Heroin The mixture of compounds produced when morphine is extracted from opium, purified and subsequently acetylated to diamorphine. 

MORPHINE EXTRACTION FROM POPPY STRAW The production of opium is, as is evident from the description above, a method that is very labour intensive. Therefore methods have been developed to extract morphine directly... 

Even today, codeine is occasionally obtained by extraction from opium, although mostly by methylation of (-)-morphine. This methylation can be carried out selectively in a phase- transfer reaction with trimethylphenylammonium... 

Morphine (5) and codeine (methylmorphine) (6), two major morphinan-type alkaloids with an isoqninoline skeleton, are extracted from opium, the dried milky sap released from the immature finits of poppies (Papaver somniferum). Morphine and codeine can interact with opioid receptors distribnted in brain tissnes and the periphery, and are most widely nsed as narcotic analgesics, with codeine also having an antitussive effect [4, 25, 32]. 

The processes used in the manufacture of morphine are believed to be still based on that described by the Scottish chemist Gregory,in 1833, with improvements devised by Anderson. A description has been published by Schwyzer, who also deals with the manufactme of codeine, narcotine, cotarnine, and the commercially important morphine derivatives, diamorphine (diacetylmorphine), and ethylmorphine (morphine ethyl ether). More recently Barbier has given an account of processes, based on long experience in the preparation of alkaloids from opium. Kanewskaja has described a process for morphine, narcotine, codeine, thebaine and papaverine, and the same bases are dealt with by Chemnitius, with the addition of narceine, by Busse and Busse, and by Dott. It is of interest to note that a number of processes for the extraction and separation of opium alkaloids have been protected by patent in Soviet Russia. ... 

Papaverine, C20H21O4N. This alkaloid, first obtained by Merck, occurs in the mixture precipitated by ammonia from the mother liquors of opium extract from which morphine and codeine have been separated in Gregory s process, and methods for its isolation from this mixture have been published by Hesse and others. The alkaloid may be purified by conversion into the acid oxalate, B. H2C2O4, m.p. 196° or 201-5-202°, which is nearly insoluble in alcohol. 

Caffeine occurs in tea leaves, coffee beans, and cola nuts. Morphine is obtained from unripe opium poppy seed pods. Coniine, extracted from hemlock, is the alkaloid that killed Socrates. Fie was sentenced to death because of unconventional teaching methods teacher evaluations had teeth in them in ancient Greece. 

Morphine, when extracted from raw opium and treated chemically, yields the semisynthetic narcotics hydromorphone, oxymorphone, oxycodone, and heroin. Heroin is an illegal narcotic in the United States and is not used in medicine. Synthetic narcotics are those man-made analgesics with properties and actions similar to the natural opioids. Examples of synthetic narcotic analgesics are methadone, levorphanol, remifen-tanil, and meperidine Additional narcotics are listed in the Summary Drug Table Narcotic Analgesics. 

Opium The extract from Papaver somniferum containing morphine and codeine. 

Morphine (10) and codeine (11), constituents of opium, are the most interesting alkaloids found in nature. Morphine is also the oldest alkaloid isolated, in 1805, by the German pharmacist Sertiimer from opium, the sun dried latex of Papaver somniferum. The structure of morphine with its so-called morphinan skeleton, once called the acrobat under the alkaloids, was finally elucidated in 1952 by the first total synthesis performed by Gates and Tschudi. Many syntheses would follow [26], but all morphine used today, whether legal or illicit, originates in the natural source P. somniferum or its extract, opium. The latex may contain up to 20% morphine. Most legal morphine is converted into the anticough medicine codeine (Table 5.1) by treatment with trimethylanilinium methoxide, whereas almost all illicit morphine is acetylated to the diacetate heroin. 

In the past, a number of discoveries have been made in the absence of any knowledge about the receptors or ligands. One of the earliest examples of this kind is morphine (65) which was used for many years as an analgesic agent (as a constituent of opium, extracted from the poppy plant, Papaver somniferum) without... 

Morphine and cocaine Morphine is medically the most important alkaloid present in opium. Opium itself consists of the dried milky exudate extracted from unripe capsules of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), which is grown mainly in Asia, but also in some parts of India and China. Morphine is a powerful analgesic and has been used to treat severe pain. However, its addictive properties complicate its long-term medical use and it is also a drug of abuse. In addition to morphine, opium also contains codeine, which has similar, but weaker, actions. 

Like morphine, codeine is extracted from natural opium, obtained from the poppy plant (Papaver somniferum). Only when it was first discovered and tested was codeine purified directly from opium (see Chapter 1). Today pharmaceutical-grade codeine is synthesized from morphine through the relatively simple chemical modification process of methylation, whereby CHj replaces a hydrogen atom on the morphine molecule. The chemical substitution reaction that takes place (H for CHj) does so at a specific location on the morphine molecule (Figure 3.1) if the substitution were to occur elsewhere on... 

Codeine, also known as methylmorpliine, C H2 NOt H20, is a colorless white crystalline substance, mp 154.9 C, slightly soluble in water, soluble in alcohol and chloroform, effloresces slowly in dry air. Codeine is derived from opium by extraction or by the methylation of morphine. For medical use, codeine is usually offered as the dichlotide, phosphate, or sulfate. Codeine is habit forming. Codeine is known to exacerbate urticaria (familiarly known as hives). Since codeine is incorporated in numerous prescription medicines for headache, heartburn, fatigue, coughing, and relief of aches and pains, persons with a history of urticaria should make this fact known to their physician. Codeine is sometimes used ill cases of acute pericarditis to relieve severe chest pains in early phases of disease. Codeine is sometimes used in drug therapy of renal (kidney) diseases. 

At the turn of the nineteenth century, opium was an important part of medical practice. By the time that Frederick Serturner, a young clerk in a small German pharmacy, extracted morphine from opium, the world was already experienced in both medicinal and recreational opium use. Serturner s extraction was the first alkaloid ever isolated, and he named it after the Greek god of dreams, Morpheus. 

Both raw and cooked opium contain alkaloids. These alkaloids can be extracted from the opium to produce opium derivatives for legal pharmaceuticals or for illegal consumption, such as morphine and heroin. The morphine alkaloid content, which ranges from 8% to 12%, determines the quality of the opium... 

Poppy cultivation and opium processing also have consequences for the environment. Waste from morphine extraction can cause environmental damage when dumped by processors. In addition to water pollution from this chemical dumping, other environmental concerns include the deforestation that may occur when clearing land for poppy cultivation, soil erosion, and dangers to wildlife in the area where these chemicals are dumped. 

Morphine has a strong analgesic effect and has been used for the alleviation of postoperative and cancer pain since antiquity, but its use is now restricted because of its drug dependency. Morphine and its homologues were called opiates after opium, which was extracted from poppy seeds. This class of drugs are now termed opioids. 

Opium was used as a painkiller in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, but by then it was hard to obtain. By the eighteenth century, the use of opium was debated and more research was done to study its effects. Scientists learned how to extract from it white crystals of morphine, a drug that is used medicinally to this day. —... 

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