Kratom and Other Mitragynines: The Chemistry and Pharmacology of Opioids from a Non-Opium Source

István Ujváry

Abstract

The biochemical machinery of plants generates a broad range of chemicals to aid survival in a competitiveenvironment. For mankind, these natural products have been, from time immemorial, sources of bioactivesubstances used not only to heal or provide support in daily work but also to escape from life’s harsh realities. Theisolation of the alkaloid morphine from opium by Sertrner (1805) laid the foundation of phytochemistry and modernpharmacy. Since then, research on opioids led to the discovery of endogenous opioid peptides and their receptors inthe 1970s.