Desomorphine

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Desomorphine
Clinical data
Trade namesPermonid
Other namesDesomorphine, krokodil, dihydrodesoxymorphine, Permonid
ATC code
  • none
Legal status
Legal status
Identifiers
  • 4,5α-Epoxy-17-methylmorphinan-3-ol
JSmol)
  • OC1=C2O[C@@H]3[C@@]45C2=C(C[C@H]([C@@H]5CCC3)N(C)CC4)C=C1
  • InChI=1S/C17H21NO2/c1-18-8-7-17-11-3-2-4-14(17)20-16-13(19)6-5-10(15(16)17)9-12(11)18/h5-6,11-12,14,19H,2-4,7-9H2,1H3/t11-,12+,14-,17+/m0/s1 checkY
  • Key:LNNWVNGFPYWNQE-GMIGKAJZSA-N checkY
 ☒NcheckY (what is this?)  (verify)

Desomorphine

analgesia.[3][4][5][6] It was first discovered and patented by a German team working for Knoll in 1920[7] but was not generally recognized. It was later synthesized in 1932 by Lyndon Frederick Small. Small also successfully patented it in 1934 in the United States.[8] Desomorphine was used in Switzerland under the brand name Permonid[9] and was described as having a fast onset and a short duration of action, with relatively little nausea compared to equivalent doses of morphine. Dose for dose it is eight to ten times more potent than morphine.[10]

Desomorphine is a

dihydrodesoxycodeine, which yields desomorphine on demethylation.[11][12]

A desomorphine product, usually based on codeine, has been developed as a recreational drug.[13] This is typically highly impure. The scaly sores and necrosis that develop around the injection site has prompted the name krokodil (Russian for crocodile).

Uses

Medical

Desomorphine was previously used in Switzerland for the treatment of severe pain. While medical usage of desomorphine was terminated in 1981, during the final years leading up to that it was being used to treat a single patient in

Bern, Switzerland with a rare illness.[14]: 408–409  While desomorphine was found to be faster acting and more effective than morphine for the rapid relief of severe pain, its shorter duration of action and the relatively more severe respiratory depression produced at equianalgesic doses, as well as a high incidence of other side effects such as hypotension and urinary retention, were felt to outweigh any potential advantages.[15][16]

Recreational

Desomorphine abuse in

over the counter. Abuse of homemade desomorphine was first reported in Siberia in 2003 when Russia started a major crackdown on heroin production and trafficking, but has since spread throughout Russia and the neighboring former Soviet republics.[14]

The drug can be made from

α-chlorocodide, or the resemblance of the skin damage caused by the drug to a crocodile's leather.[14] Due to difficulties in procuring heroin, combined with easy and cheap access to over-the-counter pharmacy products containing codeine in Russia, use of krokodil increased until 2012.[18] In 2012 the Russian federal government introduced new restrictions for the sale of codeine-containing medications. This policy change diminished, but did not extinguish krokodil use in Russia.[19] It has been estimated that around 100,000 people use krokodil in Russia and around 20,000 in Ukraine.[18][needs update] One death in Poland in December 2011 was also believed to have been caused by krokodil use, and its use has been confirmed among Russian expatriate communities in other European countries.[20] In 2013 two cases of Krokodil use were reported in the United States.[21] A single case of desomorphine use was reported in Spain in 2014, with the drug consumed orally rather than by injection.[22] There are reports of krokodil use in the United Kingdom.[23][24]

Adverse effects

Toxicity

Toxicity of desomorphine

Animal studies comparing pure desomorphine to morphine showed it to have increased toxicity, more potent relief of pain, higher levels of sedation, decreased respiration, and increased digestive activity.[25]

Toxicity of krokodil

Illicitly produced desomorphine is typically far from pure and often contains large amounts of

muscles, sometimes requiring limb amputation in long-term users.[10]
This highly impure product may have received the name of krokodil due to the dire effects of the body which can readily be noticed.

Causes of this damage are associated with

battery acid, gasoline or paint thinner during the reaction scheme, without adequately removing them afterwards before distribution. Strong acids and bases such as hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide are also employed without measuring the pH of the final solution, and analysis of leftover solutions of "krokodil" in used syringes showed the pH was typically less than 3 (i.e. as acidic as lemon juice).[citation needed] Failure to remove insoluble fillers and binding aids from the codeine tablets used as starting material, as well as co-administration with pharmaceuticals such as tropicamide and tianeptine
, are also cited as possible contributors to the high toxicity observed in users.

The frequent occurrence of tissue damage and infection among illicit users are what gained the drug its nickname of the

flesh-eating
drug, or the zombie drug, as homemade versions made under inadequate conditions contain multiple impurities and toxic substances that lead to severe tissue damage and subsequent infection as a direct consequence of use.
septicaemia (blood infection), osteomyelitis (bone infection), liver and kidney damage, brain damage, and HIV/AIDS are common serious adverse health effects observed among users of krokodil.[18] Sometimes, the user will miss the vein when injecting the desomorphine, creating an abscess and causing death of the flesh surrounding the entry-point.[10]

Reinforcement disorders

Abuse potential studies of desomorphine in animals had shown that it exhibited limited addiction liability. In monkeys, desomorphine had 10 times the depressant effect of morphine, developed tolerance less rapidly and less completely, and did not lead to the appearance of abstinence symptoms during withdrawal. Studies in rats receiving a daily injection of desomorphine at a constant dose showed that the animals developed tolerance slowly to the depressant effect of desomorphine. [25]

Chemistry

One synthesis of desomorphine from codeine

Desomorphine has a molecular weight of 271.35 g/mol and three salts are known: hydrobromide (as in the original Permonid brand; free-base conversion ratio 0.770), hydrochloride (0.881) and sulfate (0.802).[26] Its freebase form is slightly soluble in water (1.425 g/L at 25 °C), although its salts are very water-soluble; its freebase form is also very soluble in most polar organic solvents (like acetone, ethanol and ethyl acetate).[10] Its melting point is 189 °C.[10] It has a pKa of 9.69.[10] Desomorphine comes in four isoforms, A, B, C, and D[27] and the latter two appear to be the more researched and used.

Krokodil is made from codeine mixed with other substances. The codeine is retrieved from over-the-counter medicine and is then mixed with ethanol, gasoline, red phosphorus, iodine, hydrochloric acid and paint thinner.[10][28] Toxic nitrogen oxide fumes emerge from the drug when heated.[29]

History

It was first discovered and patented by a German team working for Knoll in 1920.[7] Desomorphine was later synthesised in the U.S. in 1932 and patented on 13 November 1934.[14] In Russia, desomorphine was declared an illegal narcotic analgesic in 1998. However, while codeine-containing drugs generally have been prescription products in Europe, in Russia they were sold freely over the counter until June 2012.[30] The number of users in Russia was estimated to have reached around one million at the peak of the drug's popularity.[31]

Society and culture

Legal status

In the US, desomorphine is a Schedule 1 controlled substance, indicating that the United States

ACSCN) 9055. It is therefore subject to annual aggregate manufacturing quotas in the United States, and in 2014 the quota for desomorphine was 5 grams.[32] It is produced as a hydrochloride (free base conversion ratio 0.85) and sulphate (0.80).[33]

North American media

Media in the U.S. and Canada have brought awareness to desomorphine. There have been incidents reported where desomorphine had supposedly been present within either country,[34] but no incidents have been confirmed by any drug testing or analytical results, and desomorphine use in North America is still considered unconfirmed.[35][36]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Also known by: dihydrodesoxymorphine and its former brand name Permonid. It is the active ingredient of a codeine-based drug known as krokodil, crocodil, or the zombie drug[1][2]

References

  1. ^ Shuster S (5 December 2013). "The World's Deadliest Drug: Inside a Krokodil Cookhouse". Time.
  2. ^ Christensen J (18 October 2013). "Flesh-eating 'zombie' drug 'kills you from the inside out'". CNN.
  3. ISBN 978-0-306-42130-3
    .
  4. PMID 13546093
    .
  5. PMID 14451235
    .
  6. PMID 4098039
    .
  7. ^ a b DE Patent 414598C 'Verfahren zur Herstellung von Dihydrodesoxymorphin und Dihydrodesoxycodein'
  8. ^ a b US patent 1980972, Lyndon Frederick Small, "Morphine Derivative and Processes", published 1934-19-07, issued 1934-13-11 
  9. ^ "Krokodil". New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. Archived from the original on 13 February 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  10. ^
    PMID 24650492
    .
  11. doi:10.1021/ja01341a051
    .
  12. ^ Eddy NB, Howes HA (1935). "Studies of Morphine, Codeine and their Derivatives X. Desoxymorphine-C, Desoxycodeine-C and their Hydrogenated Derivatives". Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 55 (3): 257–67.
  13. S2CID 221476977
    .
  14. ^
    S2CID 45615505
    .
  15. PMID 13511135
    .
  16. ^ Matiuk DM. Krokodil: A Monstrous Drug with Deadly Consequences. Journal of Addictive Disorders 2014; 1-14. Retrieved 17 April 2017 from Breining Institute at http://www.breining.edu
  17. S2CID 54546428
    .
  18. ^
    PMID 23726898
    .
  19. PMID 25236385
    .
  20. PMID 22385107
    .
  21. ^ "Flesh-rotting 'krokodil' drug emerges in USA". USA Today.
  22. PMID 27391849
    .
  23. ^ Gogarty C (5 February 2019). "'Horrific' health problems of 'flesh-eating zombie drug' user". gloucestershirelive. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  24. PMID 24173629
    .
  25. ^ a b c "DESOMORPHINE (Dihydrodesoxymorphine; dihydrodesoxymorphine-D; Street Name: Krokodil, Crocodil" (PDF). Drug Enforcement Administration. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  26. ^ "Permonid". PubChem Compound. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  27. ISBN 9780412466304
    .
  28. PMID 25710781
    .
  29. ^ "Desomorphine". Specialized Information Services. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  30. Gazeta.ru
    (in Russian). Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  31. ^ "Krokodil". New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. Archived from the original on 13 February 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  32. ^ "DEA Diversion Control Division". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  33. ^ "DEA Diversion Control Division". Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  34. PMID 27222881
    .
  35. ISBN 978-1-77178-052-0
    .
  36. PMID 24970607
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Desomorphine&oldid=1213152913"