Кокаїн

Chemistry

Cocaine is an ester of benzoic acid and a nitrogen-containing base. As a tropane alkaloid, cocaine is a weak base and readily forms salts when combined with acids. The most commonly encountered form is the hydrochloride salt, although other salts such as the sulfate and nitrate are occasionally observed. The freebase is practically insoluble in water, whereas the hydrochloride salt is water-soluble.

Methyl benzoate

Cocaine hydrochloride hydrolyzes in moist air to give methyl benzoate. Methyl benzoate is the methyl ester of benzoic acid. It is a colorless liquid that is poorly soluble in water but miscible with organic solvents. It is formed by the condensation of methanol and benzoic acid. In nature it occurs in ylang-ylang, tuberose and Michelia. It can also be isolated from the freshwater fern Salvinia molesta. It is one of many compounds that attract males of various species of orchid bees.

The coca plant

The coca plant resembles a blackthorn bush and grows to a height of 2 to 3 m. Fresh samples of the dried leaves are deep green on the upper surface and grey-green on the lower surface. Erythroxylum coca is one of the two species of cultivated coca. The cocaine alkaloid content in dry leaves of Erythroxylum coca var. coca ranges from 0.23% to 0.96%. Coca alkaloids are predominantly of either the pyrrolidine or the tropane type. Among the tropane-type coca alkaloids are benzoylecgonine, cocaine, ecgonidine and ecgonine.

Legal status

Cocaine is listed as a Schedule I drug in the United Nations 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. The coca leaf is also placed in Schedule I of that Convention, together with cocaine and heroin. Cultivation, sale and possession of unprocessed coca leaf, but not of any processed form of cocaine, is generally legal in countries such as Bolivia, Peru, Chile and the Argentine Northwest, where traditional use is established.

Traditional and historical use

Chewing coca leaves dates back at least 8,000 years in South America, as evidenced by coca leaves and calcite found in house floors in Peru's Nanchoc Valley. The consumption of coca tea is common among all sectors of society in the Andean countries. Coca leaf is sold packaged into teabags in most grocery stores in the region. A cola maker used coca leaf extract in its products from 1885 until about 1903, when it switched to a decocainized leaf extract.

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