CHEMISTRY SOCIAL ISSUE REPORT Nicotine, one of the most unusual psychoactive drugs known, and the primary pharmacological agent of addiction in cigarettes, triggers powerful physical and psychological reactions in species as diverse as cockroaches and humans. Nicotine has been proven to boost concentration, improve memory and control body weight, as well as alleviating the symptoms of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease sufferers. However, research has also established that nicotine adversely affects babies in utero and may explain the link between smoking and problems such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Attention Deficit Disorder.The hope for the future is that scientists will be able to separate nicotines positive properties from its adverse effects, and develop drugs for the treatment of everything from Alzheimers disease to weight control .The chemicals empirical formula, C10Hl4N2 was determined in the 1840s, and nicotine was synthesized in the 1890s. Nicotines systematic name is 3-(1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinyl) pyridine.*Together with caffeine and strychnine, nicotine belongs to a group of chemical compounds called pyrrolidine alkaloids. Theyre bitter-tasting, often poisonous substances that are made by plants to discourage animals from eating them. Nicotine is a liquid alkaloid which can be obtained from the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, primarily found in a combined form of malate or citrate.One cigarette contains approximately 1.2 milligrams of nicotine, which, if injected in pure form, is as toxic as hydrogen cyanide, and could kill seven adults. When you smoke, however, you get an extremely diluted dose, about 1 billionth of the nicotine content quoted on the cigarette packet. Nicotine has an extremely short half life in the body. Within forty minutes it loses about half its strength and the smoker feels the need for another cigarette. Nicotine has a powerful addicting effect because it is absorbed rapidly into the ...
