THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF OPIUM ALKALOIDS. I. THE INTERRELATIONSHIP AMONG MORPHINE, CODEINE AND THEBAINE
BS>Plants of Papaver somniferum L. were grown In the presence of C/sup 14/O/sub 2/ for two-hour. six-hour, and eight-day periods, after which morphine, codeine, and thebaine were isolated. The Incorporation of radioactivity Into each of these alkaloids was determined for the Intact compounds, the various 0- and N-methyl groups, and the ring skeleton. Differences found in the ring skeleton labeling are best accommodated by a scheme In which thebaine Is the precursor of the other morphine alkalolds. Morphine appears to be a storage product formed from codeine by demethylation. In addition, these shont periods of biosynthesis allowed the development of a simplified blosynthesis chamber adaptable for research purposes and yet capable of producing appreciable quantlties of alkaloids of hlgh specific activity. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of California, Berkeley
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- NSA Number:
- NSA-14-016519
- OSTI ID:
- 4164058
- Journal Information:
- Journal of the American Chemical Society (U.S.), Journal Name: Journal of the American Chemical Society (U.S.) Vol. Vol: 82; ISSN JACSA
- Country of Publication:
- Country unknown/Code not available
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
BIOSYNTHESIS OF MORPHINE (thesis)
Biosynthetic conversion of thebaine to codeinone. Mechanism of ketone formation from enol ether in vivo