Morphine papaverine

A characteristic feature of the action of the opium alkaloids is their simultaneous depressing and exciting action on the central nervous system. In this respect there is no clear line of demarcation between the morphine group—morphine, codeine and thebaine—and the papaverine-narcotine group, and as the series is ascended in the order, morphine, papaverine, codeine, narcotine, thebaine, narcotic action diminishes and power of rellex stimulation increases until in thebaine a strychnine-like effect is exhibited. 

Capillary electrophoresis is suitable for use to separate a wide spectrum of both large and small biological molecules. This method was used for analysis of opium alkaloids such as thebanine, codeine, morphine, papaverine and narcotine. 

Codeine, berberine, morphine, papaverine, sanguinarine and thebaine... 

Considering the ability of directly analyzing such complex mixtures, crude extracts or even whole biological samples, DADI/MIKE spectrometry and analogous methods are obviously very suitable for screening tests. This has been utilized for the direct analysis not only of the coca leaves of cocaine but also of the constituents in mushrooms (Helvella esculenta ) of morphine, papaverine, coniine, and atropine in plant materials with a detection limit of about 1 to 10 ng of alkaloid , and for the identification of other alkaloids linke ubine, mescaline, hordenine, and uberine in crude cacti extracts . ... 

Opium is the dried, powdered sap of the unripe seed pod of Papaver somniferum, a poppy plant indigenous to Asia minor. Theophrastus described its medical properties in the third century BC, but the Sumerians, ca BC 4000, probably perceived its utility. Arab physicians knew of the dmg, and Arab traders carried it to the Orient where it was used as a treatment for dysentery. Paracelsus is credited with repopularizing the dmg in western Europe in the early sixteenth century by formulating opium into "laudanum", which is still in use. More than 20 different alkaloids (qv) of two different classes comprise 25% of the weight of dry opium. The benzylisoquinolines, characterized by papaverine [58-74-2] (1.0%), a smooth muscle relaxant, and noscapine [128-62-1] (6.0%), an antitussive agent, do not have any analgesic effects. The phenanthrenes, the second group, are the more common and include 10% morphine (1, = R = H), 0.5% codeine [76-57-3], C gH2 N03, (1, R = H, R = CH3), and 0.2 thebaine [115-37-7], C 2H2 N03, (2). 

Note The reagent can be employed on silica gel and cellulose layers. When derivatization is carried out from the vapor phase the detection limit for morphine is 10 ng and that for papaverine 1 ng per chromatogram zone [5]. In some cases it has been recommended that ammonium sulfate be added to the layer with subsequent heating to 150 —180 °C [1] after derivatization. It is also possible to spray afterwards with an aqueous solution of potassium iodide (1 %) and starch (1%) [2]. 

Experiments in the selection of poppies for morphine production have also been made in Germany by Kiissner. The yields from capsules of two selections, over two years, were morphine 0-257 to 0-544 per cent, and codeine 0-011 to 0-029 per cent. From seven commercial varieties grown in plots of 50 square metres, the yields in grammes per square metre were seeds 141 to 200, capsules 65 to 116, morphine 0-123 to 0-471 and non-phenolic bases (codeine, thebaine, papaverine, narcotine, etc.) 0-043 to 0-131. 

The first scheme for the separation of the six chief alkaloids of opium, VIZ., morphine, codeine, thebaine, papaverine, narcotine and narceine, is probably that of Plugge. Much later Kljatschkina investigated for each of these six bases the properties by means of which isolation and estimation could probably be effected and, on the basis of the results, devised a plan for such analyses. More recently Anneler has published a detailed account of a scheme with the same objective. l Attention had already been given to complex, systematic analyses of this kind, in connection with examination of the mixtures of opium alkaloids, which have long been in use in medicine in these at first only morphine and other alkaloids were determined, but in the more recent schemes provision is made for the estimation of each alkaloid. ... 

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. 

Although this isoquinoline at first bears little structural resemblance to morphine (108), careful rearrangement of the structure (A) shows the narcotic to possess the benzylisoquinoline fragment within its framework. Indeed, research on the biogenesis of morphine has shown that the molecule is formed by oxidative coupling of a phenol closely related to papaverine. 

Opium is an extract of the juice of the poppy Papaver somnifemm, which contains more than 20 distinct alkaloids, including morphine, codeine and papaverine. 

Narceine (h/ f 1-5) yielded red-brown, morphine (h/ f 5-10), codeine (h/Jf 15-20) and thebaine (h/ j 35-40) brown-violet, papaverine (h/ f 60-65) light brown and narcotine red chromatogram zones on a colorless background. Since the colors fade in the air it is recommended that the chromatogram be covered with a glass plate. 

Fig. 1 Reflectance scan of a chromatogram track with 1 pg of each substance per chromatogram zone (excqttion papaverine 5 pg). Chromatogram (A) before and (B) after reagent treatment (registration of B with double sensitivity) 1 = narceine, 2 = morphine, 3 = codeine, 4 = thebaine, 5 = papaverine, 6 = narcotine.

This procedure yielded a colorless background, on which the colors of the alkaloid zones became pale brown (narceine), blue (morphine) or violet (codeine, papaverine, narcotine) (Fig. 2B). 

In situ quantitation The absorption photometric evaluation in reflectance was carried out at the wavelength k = 540 nm (Fig. 3). The detection limits in substance per chromatogram zone were 20 ng for thebaine and papaverine, 200 ng for codeine, 300 ng for morphine and 500 ng for narceine. 

Fig 3 Reflectance scan of a chromatogram track with 1 ug each per chromatogram zone of narceine (1), morphine (2), codeine (3), thebaine (4), papaverine (5) and narcotine (6). 

More than 30 alkaloids have been identified in opium (Robbers et al. 1996). The most relevant are morphine (4-21%), codeine (0.8-2.5%), noscapine (4-8%), papaverine (0.5-2.5%), and thebaine (0.5-2%) (figure 8.4). Other opium alkaloids include narceine, protopine, laudanine, codamine, cytopine, lanthopine, and meconidine. Numerous other opioids have been synthesized from opium alkaloids. Among them is heroin, or diacetylmorphine. 

Soaking plants parts in alcohol (ethanol) creates a tincture. In this process, pharmacologically active constituents of the plant are extracted by the alcohol. Tinctures do not contain the complete spectrum of substances that exist in the plant or crude drug, only those that are soluble in alcohol. In the case of opium tincture, these ingredients are alkaloids (i.e., basic substances of plant origin) including morphine, codeine, narcotine = noscapine, papaverine, narceine, and others. 

Papaverine is an alkaloid of umipe poppies however, it is not related to compounds in the morphine class and does not possess analgesic properties. It is a peripheral vasodilator and has a direct effect on vessels. It causes dilation of coronary, cerebral, and pulmonary... 

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