Opium
Source, diagnostic characters,
constituents, tests and uses
Objectives
At the
end of this lecture, student will be able to
• Discuss
the source, diagnostic characters, constituents, tests and uses of Opium
Opium
Source
• Dried latex from the unripe capsules of opium
poppy, Papaver somniferum
Family
• Papaveraceae
Geographical source
• Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Persia and India
• In India - Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and
Rajasthan
Plant description:
• Narcotics and Pshycotropic substances act, 1985
• Genus Papaver - 50 species
• 6 species are found in India (P. somniferum, P.nudicaule,
P. rhoeas, P. orientale, P. argemone, P.
dubium)
P. somniferum Var. glabrum (bluish
white)
P. somniferum Var. album (purple) - cultivated
in India
P. somniferum Var. nigrum (violet)
Macroscopy
• Odour – strong, characteristic
• Taste – bitter
Natural opium:
• Round, conical, irregular, flattnened, 50 g to kilograms,
may or may not be covered with poppy leaves
Manipulated opium:
• Natural opium is mixed, milled and then made up into cakes
of definite shape containing fairly uniform content of morphine
Indian opium:
• Dark brown, cubical piece of 900 gm, enclosed in tissue
paper, brittle, homogenous
Persian opium:
• Dark brown, brick shaped mass, 450 gm, brittle, granular
or nearly smooth
Natural Turkish or Europena opium:
• Brown or dark brown, Conical or rounded, 250-100 gm, hard
and brittle, covered with poppy leaves
Manipulated Turkish opium:
• Chocolate brown or dark brown, covered with broken poppy
leaves, oval with flat upper and lower surface, 2000 gm, brittle
Manipulated European opium:
• Dark brown, covered with broken leaves, elongated mass
with rounded ends, 150-500 gm, firm and brittle
Manchurian opium:
• Imported in 1947in large cakes weighing 3-5kgs, measuring
30/20/6 cm, each enclosed in white canvas cover or bag.
Chemical constituents:
• Contains 25 different alkaloids which occur in
combination with meconic acid, of which about 5 % is present and with
sulphuric acid
• Type - benzyl iso quinoline and phenanthrene
• Morphine, codeine (methyl morphine), narcotine,
thebaine
• Narceine, papaverine and the remaining alkaloids occur in
very small quantities
• Starch, tannin, oxalic acid and fat are absent
Tests
General test- presence of Meconic acid
• Opium in water, filtrate added with ferric chloride gives
deep reddish purple colour, which persists even on addition of HCl
• Morphine sprinkled on nitric acid gives orange
red colour, codeine negative
• Morphine solution with potassium ferricyanide
and ferric chloride gives bluish green colour (codeine negative)
• Papaverine solution in HCl gives lemon
yellow colour with potassium ferricyanide solution
Uses:
• Hypnotic and sedative
• Administerd to relieve pain and to calm excitement
• As astringent in diarrhea and dysentery
• Order of narcotic action: morphine,papaverine, codeine,
narcotine, thebaine (decreasing order)
• Morphine - potent analgesic, central narcotic effect –
causes addiction, Codeine- antitussive
Summary
• Dried latex from the unripe capsules of opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, Type - benzyl iso quinoline and phenanthrene - Morphine, codeine (methyl morphine), narcotine, thebaine - Hypnotic and sedative
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