Addicts in the UK use more cocaine each year than in any other European nation, but when did this addiction start? Obtained from the coca plant (Erythroxylum coca), cocaine was first isolated by a German chemist, Friedrich Gaedcke, in 1855. The coca plant is rich in a chemical family called alkaloids (see CHEMISTRY REVIEW, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 14–16) which are broadly described as basic nitrogenous organic compounds originating from plants (and to a limited extent, animals) that have pronounced pharmacological actions in humans. Alkaloids combine with acids to form crystalline salts that are usually water soluble (the alkaloids themselves generally being only sparingly soluble in water).
Cocaine (Figure 1) is one of a group of alkaloids called tropane alkaloids, as they are derived from tropane, a nitrogenous bicyclic organic compound (Figure 2). In addition to tropane, the cocaine molecule contains some familiar groups. It is a tertiary amine and it has a benzene ring and two ester groups (see CHEMISTRY REVIEW, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 11–12).
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
