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An opiate is an alkaloid substance derived from opium (or poppy straw). [1] It differs from the similar term opioid in that the latter is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain (including antagonists). [ 2 ]
Opiates are alkaloid compounds naturally found in the Papaver somniferum plant (opium poppy). The psychoactive compounds found in the opium plant include morphine, codeine, and thebaine. Opiates have long been used for a variety of medical conditions with evidence of opiate trade and use for pain relief as early as the eighth century AD.
This alkaloid is biosynthetically related to salutaridine, oripavine, morphine and reticuline. [6] In 2012 there was an amounted 146,000 kilograms of thebaine produced. [7] In 2013, Australia was the main producer of poppy straw rich in thebaine, followed by Spain and then France. By 2017, worldwide thebaine production dropped to 2,008 kg. [8]
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: Lachryma papaveris) is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. [4] Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade.
Some minor opium alkaloids and various substances with opioid action are also found elsewhere, including molecules present in kratom, Corydalis, and Salvia divinorum plants and some species of poppy aside from Papaver somniferum. There are also strains which produce copious amounts of thebaine, an important raw material for making many semi ...
Most alkaloids contain oxygen in their molecular structure; those compounds are usually colorless crystals at ambient conditions. Oxygen-free alkaloids, such as nicotine [160] or coniine, [36] are typically volatile, colorless, oily liquids. [161] Some alkaloids are colored, like berberine (yellow) and sanguinarine (orange). [161]
Opium poppy contains at least 50 different alkaloids, but most of them are of very low concentration. Morphine is the principal alkaloid in raw opium and constitutes roughly 8–19% of opium by dry weight (depending on growing conditions). [84] Some purpose-developed strains of poppy now produce opium that is up to 26% morphine by weight.
Carbonate derivatives of 14β-hydroxycodeine "viz., 14β-hydroxy-6-O-(methoxycarbonyl)codeine, 6-O-methoxycarbonyl-14β-(methoxycarbonyloxy)codeine, and 14β-acetoxy-6-O-methoxy-carbonylcodeine, potential substrates for ring C modification in morphinane (sic) alkaloids, were synthesized for the first time."