ABSTRACT

The species Papaver bracteatum is considered to be a potential alternative to opium poppy for codeine production due to its high content of thebaine and complete absence of morphine (Böhm, 1981). Thebaine is a precursor of codeine and can be easily converted to codeine by the pharmaceutical industry; thebaine is also a starring material for a number of narcotic antagonist drugs, such as naloxone and naltrexone, and of Bentley compounds (McNicholas and Martin, 1984). In some populations of this species, the capsules and roots contain almost exclusively thebaine; thus the extraction and purification of the raw material is relatively easy.