Introduction
Ephedrine was found in the Chinese "Ma-huang" or Ephedra sinica Stapf plant, made from various species of ephedra, by Nagai in 1887. It has two chiral centers so that four configurationally isomeric ephedrines exist. The two naturally occurring ephedrines differ in the configuration...
Extraction of pseudoephedrine from pharmaceutical (Sudafed) tablets.
Pseudoephedrine was extracted from Sudafed tablets using ethanol, ethanol/methanol (90:10% vol/vol) and methylated spirits. The solvents were chosen with reference to the relevant clandestine literature. For each extraction...