Morphine

Morphine is a drug refined from raw opium.^[1] It was first refined in 1805, by Friedrich Serturner. The invention of the hypodermic syringe, approximately fifty years later, made it practical to use.

Sir Robert Robinson won the 1947 Nobel Prize for medicine for his work on describing the chemistry of morphine.^[2]

As a raw product the exact strength of a batch of opium was unpredictable.^[2] The strength of morphine was predictable.

References

↑ Gillian R. Hamilton; Thomas F. BAskett (2000). "In the arms of morpheus: the development of morphine for postoperative pain relief". Canadian Journal of Anesthesia/Journal canadien d'anesthésie. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. 47 (4): 367–374. doi:10.1007/bf03020955. ISSN 0832-610X. Retrieved 2026-05-08. The first description of postoperative opium was by James Moore in 1784. Morphine was isolated from opium by Friedrich Serturner in 1805. However, it was not until the development of the hypodermic needle and syringe nearly 50 yr later that the use of morphine became widespread.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Karolina Brook; Jessica Bennett; Sukumar P. Desai (2017). "The Chemical History of Morphine: An 8000-year Journey, from Resin to de-novo Synthesis". Journal of Anesthesia History. Elsevier BV. 3 (2): 50–55. doi:10.1016/j.janh.2017.02.001. ISSN 2352-4529. Archived from the original on 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2026-05-08. The subsequent elucidation of morphine's chemical formula and Sir Robert Robinson's derivation of morphine's structural formula, which won him the 1947 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, round out 150 years of the incremental advances in our chemical understanding of morphine.

[nih-10764185-1] Gillian R. Hamilton; Thomas F. BAskett (2000). "In the arms of morpheus: the development of morphine for postoperative pain relief". Canadian Journal of Anesthesia/Journal canadien d'anesthésie. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. 47 (4): 367–374. doi:10.1007/bf03020955. ISSN 0832-610X. Retrieved 2026-05-08. The first description of postoperative opium was by James Moore in 1784. Morphine was isolated from opium by Friedrich Serturner in 1805. However, it was not until the development of the hypodermic needle and syringe nearly 50 yr later that the use of morphine became widespread.

[ChemicalHistoryMorphine-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Karolina Brook; Jessica Bennett; Sukumar P. Desai (2017). "The Chemical History of Morphine: An 8000-year Journey, from Resin to de-novo Synthesis". Journal of Anesthesia History. Elsevier BV. 3 (2): 50–55. doi:10.1016/j.janh.2017.02.001. ISSN 2352-4529. Archived from the original on 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2026-05-08. The subsequent elucidation of morphine's chemical formula and Sir Robert Robinson's derivation of morphine's structural formula, which won him the 1947 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, round out 150 years of the incremental advances in our chemical understanding of morphine.

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