Opium substitute

Scopalia dulcis L. Tian Zhu Cao (whole plant) Amellin, dulciol, hexacosanol, mannitol, beta-sitosterol, mannitol, tannins, hexacosanol, salicylic acid, scopanol, dulcilone, tetulinic acid, ifflaionic acid.50-86 A cough remedy, induce labor, used as an opium substitute. Therapeutic action in diabetes in some reports. 

Effects Sedative similar to opium but less pronounced. Formerly used in medicine as opium substitute. 

Chemical studies on the analgesic indole alkaloids from the traditional medicine (Mitragyna speciosa) used for opium substitute 00YZ959. 

Wild lettuce Lactuca sativa Lactucarine Smoke as opium substitute Mild narcotic-analgesic... 

The idea of red cell substitutes is not new. In Ovid s Metamorphosis the witch Medea restored Jason s aged father, Aeson, by slitting his throat to let out old blood, replacing it with a magic brew she had concocted (1). Sir Christopher Wren was one of the first to apply the new knowledge about circulation to blood substitutes. In 1656 he infused ale, wine, scammony, and opium into dogs and from these efforts conceived the ideal of transfusing blood from one animal to another. Lower actually carried out the first transfusion experiments (2). 

Codeine, like morphine, is isolated from the opium poppy. However, the low yield of 0.7—2.5% does not provide sufficient material to meet commercial demands. The majority of marketed codeine is prepared by methylating the phenolic hydroxyl group of morphine. Morphine yields from opium poppy are 4—21%. When prescribed for cough, the usual oral dose is 10—20 mg, three to four times daily. At these doses, adverse side effects are very few. Although the abuse potential for codeine is relatively low, the compound can substitute for morphine in addicts (47). 

Coupling ortho to the phenol group in the tetrahydroisoquinoline and para to the phenol in the benzyl substituent then yields the dienone salutaridine, found as a minor alkaloid constituent in the opium poppy. Only the original benzyl aromatic ring can be restored to aromaticity, since the tetrahydroisoquinoline fragment becomes coupled para to the phenol function, a position that is already substituted. 

Reticuline (38), one of the most important intermediates in the biosynthesis of opium alkaloids, has been synthesized in racemic form (Scheme 7) (78). 6-Methoxy-7-benzyloxyisoquinoline (39), prepared from O-benzylisovanillin via a modified Pomeranz-Fritsch isoquinoline synthesis, was treated with benzoyl chloride and potassium cyanide to obtain Reissert compound 40. Alkylation of the anion generated from 40 with 3-benzyloxy-4-methoxybenzyl chloride gave the corresponding 1-substituted Reissert compound 41 which was hydrolyzed in alkaline medium to 1-benzylisoquinoline derivative 42. Quatemarization of 42 with methyl iodide followed by sodium borohydride reduction and debenzylation led to ( )-reticuline (38) in about 25% overall yield from 39. 

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... 

Diarrhea from almost any cause can be controlled with the opioid analgesics, but if diarrhea is associated with infection such use must not substitute for appropriate chemotherapy. Crude opium preparations (eg, paregoric) were used in the past to control diarrhea, but now synthetic surrogates with more selective gastrointestinal effects and few or no CNS effects, eg, diphenoxylate or loperamide, are used. Several preparations are available specifically for this purpose (see Chapter 62). 

In 2006, the cash income of households in villages that never grew opium poppy was higher than in villages that stopped cultivation, as these villages could not find adequate ways of substituting the lost income from opium. 

Linders, J.T.M., Briel, P., Fog, E., Lie, T.S. and Maat, L., Chemistry of opium alkaloids, Part XXVIII preparation of 6-demethoxy-N-formyl-N-northebaine and its Diels-Alder reactions with methyl vinyl ketone and nitroethene novel 8-nitro-substituted 6a,14a-ethenoisomorphinans and 6 3,14 3-ethenomorphinans, Rec. 

The isolation of the cDNAs encoding the enzymes involved in diverse isoquinoline alkaloid formation in plants and microorganisms allowed the first metabolic engineering routes to be developed and paved the way for new ways of future production of isoquinoline alkaloids. For instance, transgenic opium poppy plants were created in which codeinone reductase was suppressed by RNAi, resulting in the substitution of morphine synthesis with the non-narcotic precursor reticuline [110]. In a similar approach, RNAi suppression or overexpression of salutaridinol 1-0-acetyltransferase in opium poppy led to accumulation of salutaridine or increase of morphine, codeine and thebaine content [111], suppression of the BBE led to accumulation of berberine in California poppy cells [112],... 

Extensive work with the opium alkaloid thebaine (45) has shown that treatment with Grignard reagents produces dibenzazonines substituted at C-8 via a... 

Use of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) to ameliorate pain dates back thousands of years, and the active metabolite morphine (2) was isolated first from its extracts in 1806 followed by codeine (53) in 1832 (27, 28). Morphine and its derivatives are agonists of opiate receptors in the central nervous system and are some of the most effective pain relievers known and prescribed for postoperative pain. Morphine and codeine differ by substitution by methyl ether. Unfortunately, addictive properties of these compounds limit their use. Efforts have been made to reduce the addictive properties of morphine, which resulted in a semisynthetic derivative buprenorphine (54) (29). This compound is 25 to 50 times more potent than morphine with lower addictive potential and has been indicated for use by morphine addicts. 

All the familiar war-born influences—shortages, skyrocketing prices, substitutions, hasty improvisation to increase output—stimulated feverish activity. Opium poppies were grown... 

The plants just mentioned, the blackberry, chinquapin, (Casta-nea) and dogwood to be used as astringents, the gentians, pipsissewa, Sabbatia, etc., as bitter tonics, can easily be obtained by our soldiers while in camp, and they will be found to fulfill aU the indications required in most cases of fever, dysentery, diarrhea, catarrhs, etc. In the formation of demulcent drinks, as substitutes for flaxseed and gum-arabic, the roots and leaves of the sassafras, and the leaves of the Bene (Sesamum) will suffice. The Podophyllum (wild jalap [i.e., mayapple]) will supply the purgative therefore, with the possession of opium and calomel, the surgeon in the field can himself obtain almost everything desired, and with comparatively little aid from the Medical Purveyors. Our chief desiderata now are the preparations of potash, viz nitrate chlorate and bicarbonate, and sup. carb. of soda. We may procure soda from our Salsola kali [saltwort]." 9... 

The first series of compounds assayed directly by CD detection were the morphine alkaloids. They were supported in aqueous solutions, in a chiral cholesteric liquid crystal solvent, and mixed in pellet form with solid KBr. ° Contrary to expectations, the homogeneous aqueous solution medium gave the best selectivity among 10 related opiates and the most quantitative results. The pH-dependence of phenol substituted analogs, which in some instances caused the sign of the CD signal to invert, enhanced the selectivity. Heroin was assayed both directly and as the morphine hydroly-sate.f Direct multicomponent analyses were made for prepared mixtures of morphine, codeine, thebaine, noscapine, and opium extracts. ... 

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