Quinine, a Cinchona Alkaloid

Part of the Rubiaceae

natural order of plants

quinine,

a medicinal compound,

was used to treat fevers

and malaria in the 1600’s.

But now quinine, in my lab, in Dasher’s lab,

is used in Michael reactions and

synthesis projects.

Once so valuable, the cost of bark powder

matched by its weight in gold,

quinine is kin to the Sierre Leone peach,

the gardenia,

and Thompson 215.

Named after the Countess of Chinchon,

isolated from the bark of the Cinchona tree,

quinine gives tonic water its bitterness and

is used as an anesthetic,

an antibacterial,

a muscle-relaxant.

Gin and tonic originated as an anti-malarial antidote.

An asymmetric catalyst in organic chemistry

I don’t associate quinine

with its cousins the coffee tree

or the quaker ladies

but with methylene chloride, round bottom flasks,

brown jars labeled with Aldrich

and the hum of the rotovap while waiting two years

for solvent to bubble off and

the solid from the bark of the Cinchona tree

to come through.

“Cinchoism” occurring by excessive doses of quinine

causes ringing in the ears,

temporary deafness,

a blurred vision and

in severe cases,

a coma. 

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