Albert Niemann makes a detailed analysis of…
1860 CE
There is a great interest among European chemists in the effects of coca leaves discovered in Latin America
In 1855 the chemist Friedrich Gaedcke had published a treatise on an extract of the coca leaf he called erythroxylin.
However, little progress had been made in extracting coca's active ingredients.
Friedrich Wöhler, Ordinary Professor of Chemistry at Göttingen University, had had coca leaves imported to Germany by Karl von Scherzer, a member of the Austrian Novara expedition, and he gave those leaves to Niemann, his graduate student, to analyze.
In 1859, Niemann had isolated cocaine from coca leaves.
He extracted the primary alkaloid and named the ingredient "cocaine"–as with other alkaloids its name carried the “-ine” suffix (from Latin -ina).
He wrote of the alkaloid's “colorless transparent prisms” and said that, “Its solutions have an alkaline reaction, a bitter taste, promote the flow of saliva and leave a peculiar numbness, followed by a sense of cold when applied to the tongue.”
He publishes his finding in 1860 in his dissertation titled Über eine neue organische Base in den Cocablättern (On a New Organic Base in the Coca Leaves).
This dissertation earns him his Ph.D. and is published in 1860 in the journal Archiv der Pharmazie.
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