Re: morphine ; resistance of ? to putrefaction

From: Muhammar (muhammar_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 08/28/04 

Date: 28 Aug 2004 15:29:01 -0700

This looks like forensic analytical chemistry. Morphine is quite
useful poison for suicide or otherwise. People doing exhumations may
be interested in study how well morphine keeps in the corpses and how
to isolate/detect morfine in such a rich sample.

Have you ever heard of the Body Farm, the FBI outdoor "Decay Reserch
Facility"? Do you wanna make a donation? - some people actualy do it,
voluntarily, probably in order to upset their families.

"donald j haarmann" <donald-haarmann@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message news:<uaYXc.525424$Gx4.246957@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
> Once again ? the WHAT ? but not the why!!
>
>
> Resistance of Morphine to putrefaction.
> F. Doepmann.
> Chem.-Zeit., 1915, 39,69-71.
>
> In ? The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry.
> 34 [6] 300. March 31, 1915.
>
> Separate quantities of 1 kilo. of chopped, lean horseflesh were mixed with 200,
> 100, 50, and 20 mgrms. respectively of morphine hydrochloride and 200 grms. of
> the mixture investigated after 1, 2 ½, 5 ½, and 11 months. The putrefying mass
> was thoroughly extracted with very dilute acetic acid, first cold, then warm, and
> finally on the water-bath. The acid extract was concentrated, precipitated with
> alcohol, the alcohol-free filtrate precipitated with lead acetate, excess of lead
> removed by hydrogen sulphide, and the solution concentrated, made alkaline
> with ammonia, and extracted repeatedly with warm chloroform. The residue form
> the chloroform extract was dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid and extracted with
> pure amyl alcohol to remove colouring matters, then made alkaline with caustic
> soda, and extracted with a small amount of chloroform to remove ptomaine
> bases, and finally made alkaline with ammonia and repeatedly extracted with
> warm chloroform. The pale yellow varnish left on evaporating the chloroform
> gave in every case the characteristic reactions of morphine.
>
>
>
> --
> donlad j haarmann
> ------------------------------
> Eventually we eliminated all flaws, using the method of proof by
> exhaustion ? anyone, including us, who tired to analyse the model
> would get exhausted before they understood it well enough to find
> the flaws.
>
> Frank Wilczek
> Nature 428, 261 (2004)
> On Savas Dimopoulos and his work on supersymmetry.