Narcotic opiate alkaloid

Opiates are compounds extracted from the milky latex contained in the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Opium, morphine, and codeine are the most important opiate alkaloids found in the opium poppy. Opium was used as folk medicine for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. In the seventeenth century opium smoking led to major addiction problems. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, morphine was isolated from opium. About 20 years later, codeine, one-fifth as strong as morphine, was isolated from both opium and morphine. In 1898, heroin, an extremely potent and addictive derivative of morphine was isolated. The invention of the hypodermic needle during the mid-nineteenth century allowed opiates to be delivered directly into the blood stream, which increases the effects of these drugs. Synthetically produced drugs with morphine-like properties are called opioids. The terms narcotic, opiate, and opioid are frequently used interchangeably. Some common synthetically produced opioids include meperidine (its trade name is Demerol) and methadone, a drug often used to treat heroin addiction. 

Narcotics Narcotic drugs have analgesic effects and tend to depress the CNS and promote sleep. Opiate alkaloids (drugs derived from the opium plant) cue the best-known narcotics and include morphine, codeine, heroin, hydromor-phone, oxycodone, and hydrocodone. 

The Opiates. The International Narcotics Control Board—Vienna, tracks the tick production of narcotic dmgs and annually estimates world requkements for the United Nations. Thek most recent pubHcation (100) points out that more than 95% of the opium for Hcit medical and scientific purposes is produced by India and, in a declining trend, only about 600 t was utilized in 1988. This trend appears to be due to the fact that the United States, the largest user of opium for alkaloid extraction, reduced the amount of opium being imported from about 440 t in 1986 to 249 t in 1987 and 224 t in 1988. The United States used about 48 t of morphine (2, R = H) in 1988, most (about 90%) being converted to codeine (2, R = CH3) and the remainder being used for oral adrninistration to the terminally ill (about 2 t) and for conversion to other materials of minor commercial import which, while clearly alkaloid-derived, are not naturally occurring. 

The PE spectra of some other alkaloids like methadone and the opiate narcotics morphine, codeine and heroin have been investigated by Klasinc and coworkers95. Also in this study structure-activity relationships based on IPs were sought but not found. Since the interaction of the drug molecule with the receptor is highly specific, it is not unreasonable that the molecular rather than the electronic structure is more important for the physiological activity. 

Alkaloids such as boldine, codeine, narceine and morphine are active factors in their receptors. Boldine has morphine-like properties and is active on opioid receptors. It may be used to treat stomach disorders and as metabolic stimulant. As it is similar to morphine, boldine can also be considered in the possible development of treatments for narcotic dependence. Codeine also binds to opiate receptors, and specifically functions to reduce bronchial secretions. Codeine can also be used as a cough suppressant when acting on the centre of the medulla oblongata and as a sedative agent. 

The nepenthe (Gk "free from sorrow") mentioned in the Odyssey probably contained opium. Opium smoking was widely practiced in China and the Near East until recently. Isolation of active opium alkaloids and the introduction of the hypodermic needle, allowing parenteral use of morphine, increased opioid use in the West. The first of several "epidemics" of opioid use in the USA followed the Civil War. About 4% of adults in the USA used opiates regularly during the postbellum period. By the 1900s, the number had dropped to about 1 in 400 people in the USA, but the problem was still considered serious enough to justify passage of the Harrison Narcotic Act just before World War I. A new epidemic of opioid use started around 1964 and has continued unabated ever since. While fear of AIDS has reduced intravenous use of heroin, recent increases in its purity have led to markedly increased intranasal use. Present estimates are that the number of opioid-dependent people in the USA has stabilized at around 750,000. 

Opium poppy Papaver somniferum L., Papaveraceae) is one of the most important medicinal plants and has been cultivated since early centuries. Opium, the dried cytoplasm of a specialized internal secretory system called the laticifer, is normally collected from the unripe capsule. It is the source for the commercial production of medicinally important alkaloids, morphine, codeine, thebaine, noscapine and papaverine [130, 131], Fig. (61). Morphine, which has strong addictive property, is still the most effective analgesic for the treatment of mortal cancer patients in modem medicine. Codeine is commonly used as an antitussive. However, field cultivation of this plant has been limited since 1953 by the United Nations Opium Conference Protocol to prevent narcotic crimes. Therefore, establishing tissue culture technique for the production of morphinan alkaloids seems to be desirable not only for medicinal purpose but also for decreasing abuse of opiates. 

Morphine, C17H19NO3, is a complex phenolic compound whose pentacyclic structure is derived from tyrosine. It is analgesic, narcotic and a powerful respiratory depressant which was previously used iu cough elixirs. Morphine induces euphoria and dependency in some people, anxiety and nausea in others. The central nervous system effects occur through stimulation of specific receptors. Opiate receptors are widely distributed in animals they respond to both endogenous transmitters (peptides) and ingested plant alkaloids. The main receptor types are 8 emotional X. sedative x analgesic a psychotomimetic (Robinson 1986). 

Fig. 154). In the quantitative determination, the spots were scraped off the plate [silica gel G (Merck)], eluted with methanol, the eluate made up to 5 ml and the concentration of alkaloid determined from the light absorption (wave lengths used were narcotine 312 nm, morphine 286 nm, thebaine 285 nm, papaverine 279 nm and codeine 215 nm). Steele [230 b] has recently achieved good separations of opiates in narcotic seizures, using silica gel G layers. The i /-values of 26 compounds were evaluated in eight solvents the best solvents were found to be ethyl acetate-benzene-acetonitrile-ammonium hydroxide (50 + 30+ 15 + 5) and acetonitrile-benzene-ethyl acetate-ammonium hydroxide (40 + 30 +25 + 5).. ...

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