On caffeíne and cocaine
Several times during the Organic chemistry courses during my Bachelor degree in Colombia, I felt curious about the chemical properties of the coffee beans. Everything started with my grandfather. He used to work at "La Federación Nacional de Cafeteros " in Colombia, where his curiosity took him to collaborate with thousands of workers and researchers in the creation of Cenicafé one of the best biological research centers ever constructed in South America by that time. During this period he accumulated a wealth of journals, research reports, manuals, crop rotation strategies on the maintenance of coffee fields and a list of the affiliated farms.
Doing some research at his bookshelf I discovered some organic chemistry reports on coffee and some others on the chemical potential of the coffee beans. These amazing papers and books, reported many different molecules that the coffee grains contains. From oily compounds that could serve today as combustible, to alkaloids as caffeine. Yes; caffeine and yes, alkaloid.
This famous molecule is what is called a heterocyclic set of rings, conformed by more than one atom class, in this case Carbon and Nitrogen. The molecule in its pure state is a white crystalline powder, soluble in water, and in a supersaturated solution it forms beautiful long white crystals of almost two centimeters long decanted at the bottom of the flask.
Caffeine is in coffee, tea bags, yerba mate (South American kind of tea), Indian tea and many others. The concentration on each leaf varies, however a typical coffee drink, contains from 65 to 135 mg of cafeíne. "A milligram (mg) is the one in one thousand part of a gram, and a gram is one thousand part of a kilogram. In other words if you have a bag of Basmati rice of 1 Kilogram and you manage to split it in one million equal parts, you will have a milligram what broadly speaking could be the weight of one of the rice grains".
Caffeine affects the central nervous system as many drugs and psychotropics does. It accelerates cell metabolisms and produces a systemic increase in body's energy. Increasing attention and alertedness, facilitating conversation and socialization with a group of friends and accompanied by some biscuits causes a great pleasure and comfort. At high doses it accelerates the heart rate and produces nausea, jittering and cold hands symptoms that in essence are very similar of those caused by cocaine.
Cocaine is found in the coca plant, the function of the alkaloid is to give protection to the plant from parasites, specially insects. The amount of cocaine per leaf is 0.1 to 2 mg giving an average per tea bag roughly speaking of 4 mg. Natives use coca leaves as food during long journeys, the use it to work for long periods of time building houses and hunting. Routinely the amounts consumed are below caffeine in a cup of coffee.
Cocaine is not the only alkaloid that the leaf has. It also contains ecgnonine, a similar molecule as cocaine, methylecgonine cinnamate, truxilline, hydroxytropacocaine, tropacocaine, ecgonine, cuscohygrine, dihydrocuscohygrine, nicotine and hygrine. The leaf also contains a significan amount of proteins and vitamins and a high nitrogen yield, used by some natives by burning the leaves and pouring the ashes as fertilizant for other crops. Much of these alkaloids have shown to be of pharmacological and health interest including cocaine.
In Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia, is possible to find good coffee and good coca tea bags. Both increase significantly the attention, and are good beverages to think, meditate and focus in a intellectual problem.
Due the low amount of cocaine in a leaf, one of the biggest problems is contamination due all the chemicals used in the extraction of cocaine, and forest devastation to crop the fields. The water, poisoned by pollution, travels by the running off of water reaching close villages affecting the health of the inhabitants.
With coffee there is a similar history, the tasteful and fruity Colombian coffee has used a big portion of one of the most mega diverse parts in Colombia; the alto andean forest. Its Devastation replaced the endemic forest during the past years with a new landscape called: "el eje cafetero". Efforts has been done by foundations and the government to conserve this new land, and to protect it from erosion and excessive run off, however these initiatives are leaded by most of the political class, the same persons who now controls coca production, weapons traffic, and the laws. And who own massive extensions of land in a win to win game, taking advantage of their own cooperation through the government they govern.
What is left? A society that doesn't knows anything about their land. That only cares about short range policies in ex. Will I get food tomorrow through government? What I have to do to be alive? Will I get sick tomorrow? The land of failed football, failed politics, machism, coffee and cocaine.
Andrés
Doing some research at his bookshelf I discovered some organic chemistry reports on coffee and some others on the chemical potential of the coffee beans. These amazing papers and books, reported many different molecules that the coffee grains contains. From oily compounds that could serve today as combustible, to alkaloids as caffeine. Yes; caffeine and yes, alkaloid.
This famous molecule is what is called a heterocyclic set of rings, conformed by more than one atom class, in this case Carbon and Nitrogen. The molecule in its pure state is a white crystalline powder, soluble in water, and in a supersaturated solution it forms beautiful long white crystals of almost two centimeters long decanted at the bottom of the flask.
Caffeine is in coffee, tea bags, yerba mate (South American kind of tea), Indian tea and many others. The concentration on each leaf varies, however a typical coffee drink, contains from 65 to 135 mg of cafeíne. "A milligram (mg) is the one in one thousand part of a gram, and a gram is one thousand part of a kilogram. In other words if you have a bag of Basmati rice of 1 Kilogram and you manage to split it in one million equal parts, you will have a milligram what broadly speaking could be the weight of one of the rice grains".
Caffeine affects the central nervous system as many drugs and psychotropics does. It accelerates cell metabolisms and produces a systemic increase in body's energy. Increasing attention and alertedness, facilitating conversation and socialization with a group of friends and accompanied by some biscuits causes a great pleasure and comfort. At high doses it accelerates the heart rate and produces nausea, jittering and cold hands symptoms that in essence are very similar of those caused by cocaine.
Cocaine is found in the coca plant, the function of the alkaloid is to give protection to the plant from parasites, specially insects. The amount of cocaine per leaf is 0.1 to 2 mg giving an average per tea bag roughly speaking of 4 mg. Natives use coca leaves as food during long journeys, the use it to work for long periods of time building houses and hunting. Routinely the amounts consumed are below caffeine in a cup of coffee.
Cocaine is not the only alkaloid that the leaf has. It also contains ecgnonine, a similar molecule as cocaine, methylecgonine cinnamate, truxilline, hydroxytropacocaine, tropacocaine, ecgonine, cuscohygrine, dihydrocuscohygrine, nicotine and hygrine. The leaf also contains a significan amount of proteins and vitamins and a high nitrogen yield, used by some natives by burning the leaves and pouring the ashes as fertilizant for other crops. Much of these alkaloids have shown to be of pharmacological and health interest including cocaine.
In Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia, is possible to find good coffee and good coca tea bags. Both increase significantly the attention, and are good beverages to think, meditate and focus in a intellectual problem.
Due the low amount of cocaine in a leaf, one of the biggest problems is contamination due all the chemicals used in the extraction of cocaine, and forest devastation to crop the fields. The water, poisoned by pollution, travels by the running off of water reaching close villages affecting the health of the inhabitants.
With coffee there is a similar history, the tasteful and fruity Colombian coffee has used a big portion of one of the most mega diverse parts in Colombia; the alto andean forest. Its Devastation replaced the endemic forest during the past years with a new landscape called: "el eje cafetero". Efforts has been done by foundations and the government to conserve this new land, and to protect it from erosion and excessive run off, however these initiatives are leaded by most of the political class, the same persons who now controls coca production, weapons traffic, and the laws. And who own massive extensions of land in a win to win game, taking advantage of their own cooperation through the government they govern.
What is left? A society that doesn't knows anything about their land. That only cares about short range policies in ex. Will I get food tomorrow through government? What I have to do to be alive? Will I get sick tomorrow? The land of failed football, failed politics, machism, coffee and cocaine.
Andrés
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