Alkaloids

Abstract

Alkaloids encompass a range of crystalline solid or liquid organic substances primarily of vegetable origin and usually derived from cyclic nitrogen compounds. Many exhibit physiological activity including some well-known and sometimes extremely toxic medicinal and recreational drugs:

• Atrophine, used in medicines, pesticides, and nerve gas.

• Caffeine, extracted from coffee beans, tea leaves, and the kola nut and used in medicine and beverages.

• Cocaine, extracted from Erythroxylon coca and used as a nerve stimulant and anaesthetic.

• Codeine and morphine, narcotics derived from opium.

• Mescaline, a hallucinogen derived from peyote, a small cactus.

• Nicotine (54-11-5), a thick oil derived from tobacco and used as an insecticide and fumigant.

• Quinine, an antimalarial drug and flavouring extracted from cinchona bark.

• Strychnine, a poison extracted from the seeds of Nux vomica.