THE ACTIVE PRINCIPLES OF THE SEEDS 
OF RIVEA CORY MBOSA AND 
IPOMOEA VIOLACEA 
BY 
ALBERT HormMann* 
Background of the present investigations 
Trt preceding article by R. Gordon Wasson described 
the history and ethnobotanical aspect of ololiuhqui and 
emphasized the significant position that this drug occu- 
ples in relation to the other Mexican divinatory agents. 
The following account will consider the chemical inves- 
tigations that led to the isolation of the active principles 
of this old Aztec magic drug and to the elucidation of 
its chemical structure. 
The road that led to the discovery of the active prin- 
ciples of ololiuhqui is both remarkable and significant. 
It is, therefore, excusable to pretace the chemical report 
with a short account of the background and results of 
these investigations. 
It all started exactly 20 years ago, when I was engaged 
in the synthesis of lysergic acid derivatives in the phar- 
maceutical-chemical research laboratory of Sandoz Ltd. 
in Basle, Switzerland. 
Lysergic acid is the foundation stone of the ergot alka- 
loids, the active principles of the fungus-product ergot. 
Botanically speaking, ergot is the sclerotia of the filamen- 
tous fungus Claviceps purpurea which grows on grasses, 
* Sandoz Ltd., Basle 13, Switzerland. This article is dedicated to 
Robert J. Weitlaner on the occasion of his 80th birthday. 
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