Opiumpoppy (Papaver somniferum L.) is one of the important and oldest cultivated medicinal plant used to extract morphine, papaverine, thebaine, codeine and other alkaloids. This study aimed to determine general and specific combining abilities of F1 hybrids obtained from various crosses and their parental lines for developing appropriate breeding material for future breeding programs. The resu...

Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) produces a diverse array of bioactive benzylisoquinoline alkaloids and has emerged as a versatile model system to study plant alkaloid metabolism. The plant is widely cultivated as the only commercial source of the narcotic analgesics morphine and codeine. Variations in plant secondary metabolism as a result of genetic diversity are often associated with perturb...

Recently, our laboratory demonstrated that human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) are capable of synthesizing morphine, the major active metabolite of opium poppy. Now our experiments are further substantiated by extending the biochemical studies to the entire morphine pathway in this human cell line. L-[1,2,3-13C3]- and [ring-2',5',6'-2H3]dopa showed high isotopic enrichment and incorporation in ...

Introduction Buprenorphine is a thebaine derivative that was developed in the 1970s for pain relief. It was approved for substitution therapy in France in 1996, and in the USA in 2002. In Singapore, sublingual buprenorphine (2 and 8 mg tablets) has been available since 2002 for the treatment of opioid addiction, under the brand name Subutex. It is registered as a prescription-only medicine, but...

A new TEMPO-mediated electrochemical method has been developed for N-demethylation of opiates using a home-made batch cell with low-cost porous glassy carbon electrodes. such as thebaine, codeine, morphine and oxycodone is key step in the semi-synthesis opioid medicines. The TEMPO mediator enables synthesis noropiates, which not possible conventional Shono oxidation. Electrolysis was performed ...