Introduction

Abstract

The world of plants, the exclusive fundament of life of men and animals, produces not only wholesome material. Not every fruit from the great garden is conducive to health, since many of them contain poisonous substances, disturbing more or less seriuosly, physiological functions and leading eventually to death. Such poisons and drugs have attracted the interest of medical, pharmaceutical and chemical scientists ever since researchers began analyzing their environment experimentally. As early as 1806, Sertürner crystallized the alkaloid morphine from opium, the thickened sap of the poppy Papaver somniferum. Thereafter, more than 120 years had to elapse before its chemical structure had been elucidated. Research over the past 10 years, along with the pharmacological investigation of morphine’s effect on the brain, brought the surprising discovery of the opioide peptides, which react with the same receptors as the alkaloid. As a result of diligent work in numerous laboratories all over the world, the number of toxic substances isolated from plants has increased to many thousands. The work on alkaloids, through fundamental and advanced research, has furthered the scientific reputation and worldwide fame of generations of chemists, who have investigated this field. New methods of separation, analysis and synthesis have been designed and developed with alkaloids. Pharmacologists have gained deep insights into the mode of action of poisons and drugs; biochemists have acquired an arsenal of substances specifically influencing chemical or physical events in the cell; and doctors have been provided with a treasure of effective drugs.