from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A poisonous colorless liquid alkaloid, C5H10NC3H7, found in the poison hemlock.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A poisonous alkaloid found in poison hemlock and the yellow pitcher plant; it is a neurotoxin which disrupts the peripheral nervous system.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. See conine.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Same as conine.
I also had to add a pinch of coniine (which causes blurred vision) as well as -- the cherry on the cake -- a dash of stramonium (which can cause dizziness and hallucinations).
And why do you say so confidently that it will be interesting to find out who used the coniine?
This was heated with paraldehyde, whereby it was converted into allylpyridine (48 grammes), and this by reduction with sodium yielded alpha-propylpyridine, a body in almost every respect identical with coniine.
We may take piperidine and coniine as examples of the methods followed in alkaloidal synthesis; these are pyridine bases.
The synthesis of coniine by Ladenburg is one of the most notable achievements of modern chemistry.
Ladenburg has synthetized coniine, but he has not yet ventured to assert that his product will replace the natural alkaloid.
We find, indeed, that obstacles are gradually being cleared away, and the actual synthetic formation of such alkaloids as piperidine and coniine is a proof that the chemist is on the right track in studying the decomposition products, and building up from them, theoretically, bodies of similar constitution.
Dr.J. Schorm, of Vienna, the author of this paper, after remarking that in spite of the increase of the consumption of coniine, the methods hitherto in vogue for preparing it yielded an article which darkened on exposure to the air, and the salts of which crystallized but badly, gives the following method for preparing pure coniine and its salts:
The sirup is treated with magnesia, and the coniine dissolved out by shaking up with ether.
The solution of crude coniine in ether obtained by either of the above processes is evaporated over a water bath to remove the ether, mixed with dry potassium carbonate, and then submitted to fractional distillation from an air bath.