Ophthalmic alkaloids

Cocaine Alkaloid Ophthalmic anaesthetic Erythoxylum coca (coca leaves)... 

The kinetics of the hydroxide ion-catalyzed epimerization of pilocarpine to isopilocarpine and of its hydrolysis to pilocarpic acid have been studied (56). Both forms of degradation lead to loss of pharmacological activity. The importance of possible inactivation by epimerization during thermal sterilization of ophthalmic preparations of pilocarpine was pointed out. It was also considered that some epimerization would always occur during the extraction of pilocarpine from Jaborandi leaves, and that isopilocarpine might, therefore, be an artifact and not a genuine plant alkaloid (55). 

The most important pharmaceutical alkaloids in this group are the so-called Pilocarpus alkaloids, mainly pilocarpine, which is used as an ophthalmic... 

Hyoscyamine, known as atropine, is a tropane alkaloid with long tradition in medicinal use, for example, in ophthalmic solutions, as an antispasmodic and other. It is found in several plant species of the following genera Atropa, Datura, Hyoscyamus, Duboisia, Mandragora. (-)-Hysocyamine is much more active than (-l-)-hyoscyamine. 

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