Methylecgonine cinnamate is a natural tropane alkaloid found within the coca plant. Its more common name, cinnamoylcocaine, reflects its close structural similarity to cocaine. It is pharmacologically inactive,Merck Chemical Index, 1985 but some studies funded by anti-drug agencies imply that it is active when smoked. Furthermore, the discovery of differing impurity products yielding methylecgonine cinnamate in confiscated cocaine have led enforcing agencies to postulate that illicit manufacturers have changed their oxidation procedures when refining cocaine from a crude form. Methylecgonine cinnamate can dimerize to the truxillic acid derivative truxilline. Methylecgonine cinnamate is mentioned in patents of active cocaine analogue structures. Patent inventor Frank Ivy Carroll, Assignee: Research Triangle InstituteU.S. patent US6479509 B1 structures given for submission, 5th compound down in image.
See also Coca alkaloids Cocaethylene Salicylmethylecgonine
References
External links Isolation of cis-Cinnamoylcocaine from Crude Illicit Cocaine via Alumina Column Chromatography D.E.A. Microgram Vol 4 Number 14.