Isolation of Morphine
- When
- December 1804
- Where
- Paderborn
Sertürner began isolating morphine from opium in 1804, with one source dating the isolation to December 1804 in Paderborn.
Working as a pharmacist, Sertürner started the isolation process in 1804. One source specifies December 1804 in Paderborn as the time and place of the isolation. The compound was later recognized as an analgesic alkaloid, though Sertürner initially named it meconic acid in his 1805 publication. This event marked the first time an active ingredient from a medicinal plant was isolated, setting a precedent for alkaloid chemistry.
Sources
- Morphine Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-12
- Friedrich Sertürner Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.