Nicotine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nicotine - Essay ExampleNicotine levels might rise in formulated products up to 34 g/kg (Andersson, Wennstrm & Gry, 2003, p. 9). In commercial cigarette tobacco, nicotine is present in around 1.5% by weight of the product and it constitutes for 95% of total alkaloid content (Hukkanen, Jacob, & Benowitz, 2005, p. 79). This native compound is alkaloid in nature and consists of apyridine cycle and a pyrrolidine cycle. This bicyclic chemical has an asymmetric carbon and so display enantiomeric behaviour. Nicotine is naturally found in S enantiomeric form in nature which is levorotatory (Hukkanen, Jacob, & Benowitz, 2005, p. 80). Nicotines IUPAC nomenclature is 3-(1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinyl) pyridine (Pubchem). chemic formula is C5H4NC4H7NCH3 and Empirical formula of nicotine is C10H14N2. Its CAS number is 54-11-5 and molecular weight is 162.23156 g/mol. Nicotine is a hygroscopic, colourless to pale yellow oily base which have acrid burning bitter taste. Nicotine is also sensitive to air o r light and on exposure changes its color to brown. Therefore it should be protected from light and air. It has relatively high vapour pressure and has ability to form salts with almost any acid, and doubly salts with many metals and acids. It is stored at room temperature not more than 30C. The pKa-values of nicotine are pKa1 6.16, and pKa2 10,96. Nicotine is highly soluble in alcohol, chloroform, ether, kerosene and oils, and is miscible with water below 60C. The mixture of nicotine and water occupies less volume than water alone (Andersson, Wennstrm & Gry, 2003, p. 13). Initial isolation of nicotine from tobacco plant was done by German chemists Posselt & Reimann in 1828, who referred it as a poison (Henningfield & Zeller, 2006, p. 286). Its bicyclic chemical structure is fixed in 1895 by Pinner. Chemical structure of nicotine is shown in Figure 1 (pubchem). Chemical sythesis of nicotine was done in 1904 and structure is confirmed (Andersson,