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SCIENCE PROGRESS 



and is incompatible with the existence of a hydroxymethyl- 

 morphimethine in which the hydroxyl, possessing alcoholic 

 functions, is attached to either position 9 or 10. 



Quite recently, Bucherer has proposed an entirely novel 

 formula which has not yet been thoroughly discussed ; Knorr 

 thinks that, with certain modifications, this may be worth 

 considering : 



H 



H,C. N 



HOH 



Morphine (Bucherer) 



Morphine (Bucherer, modified by Knorr) 



Thebaine 



Attention must now be directed to thebaine, the third 

 member of the morphine group. It has been shown that 

 morphine and codeine stand in close relationship to one 

 another, codeine being the monomethyl ether of morphine, 

 and it will now be proved that there is a connection betwen 

 thebaine and codeine, albeit not quite so simple as that 

 between the latter and morphine. 



An inspection of the empirical formulae of the three 

 members of the group shows that each contains three atoms 

 of oxygen and one atom of nitrogen : 



C 17 H 19 3 N 



Morphine 



C„H H 3 N 



Codeine 



C 19 H 21 3 N 



Thebaine 



By treatment with concentrated hydriodic acid according to 

 Zeisel's method, Roser and Howard have proved that thebaine 

 contains two methoxyl groups, and have also shown it to be 

 a tertiary base since it combines with one molecule of methyl 



