• Question: what is the chemical formula for opium

    Asked by anon-227008 to William, Thibaut "Tibo", Harry, Georgia, Emily, Aimee on 15 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: William Wiseman

      William Wiseman answered on 15 Nov 2019:

      Its a very complicated molecule but it has 13 carbons, 19 hydrogens, 1 nitrogen and 3 oxygens

    • Photo: Aimee Egglestone

      Aimee Egglestone answered on 15 Nov 2019: last edited 15 Nov 2019 10:50 am

      The molecular formula is C17H19NO3 and it looks like this:
      https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/image/imgsrv.fcgi?cid=5288826&t=l

      As William said it’s a pretty complicated molecule!

    • Photo: Thibaut Deviese

      Thibaut Deviese answered on 16 Nov 2019:

      Hi!
      William and Aimee already gave you the formula but do you know where it comes from?
      Opium is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. It has been actively collected since prehistoric times. The upper Asian belt of Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India, and Burma still account for the world’s largest supply of opium.

    • Photo: Emily Sparkes

      Emily Sparkes answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      Some more fun facts about opium! The drug morphine was isolated from opium, and is the active narcotic (addictive) ingredient. In its pure form it is ten times stronger than opium.
      Morphine (and therefore opium) is where the group of painkillers called ‘opioids’ all come from, such as codeine and methadone.
      Interestingly, heroin was invented to be a safer alternative to morphine and was used in cough medicine for children. This was all before they realised how addictive it was!

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