Conium alkaloids are

natural product A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical s ...

s of the piperidine alkaloid type.

Occurrence

Conium alkaloids are found in spotted hemlock. The mature fruits may contain up to 3.5% alkaloids.Eintrag zu Conium-Alkaloide. In: Römpp Online. Georg Thieme Verlag, retrieved 29 April 2020.

Representative

The main alkaloid is

coniine Coniine is a poisonous chemical compound, an alkaloid present in and isolable from poison hemlock ('' Conium maculatum''), where its presence has been a source of significant economic, medical, and historico-cultural interest; coniine is also pro ...

. Other representatives are γ-conicein, conhydrin, pseudoconhydrin, and ''N''-methylconiin. (S)-(+)-Coniine Structural Formula V2.svg, (+)-Coniine (2S,2'R)-(+)-Conhydrine Structural Formula V2.svg, (+)-Conhydrin (3S,6S)-(+)-Pseudoconhydrine Structural Formula V2.svg, (+)-Pseudoconhydrin Most Conium alkaloids are liquid at room temperature.''Brockhaus ABC Chemie'', VEB F. A. Brockhaus Verlag Leipzig 1965, p. 714.

Properties

500 mg of coniin is fatal to a human. Coniin is the poison of the spotted hemlock. Poisoning results in nausea, vomiting, salivation, and diarrhea. Within half an hour to an hour, paralysis of the chest muscles occurs, which is fatal.

History

In ancient times, aqueous extracts of this plant ('' hemlock cup'') were administered. In 399 BC,

Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...

was sentenced to death by the cup of hemlock as a "free thinker and seducer of youth."

References

{{Reflist Alkaloids