Several semi-synthetic opioids were developed in Germany in the 1910s. The first,
oxymorphone, was synthesized from
thebaine, an opioid alkaloid in opium poppies, in 1914.
[197]Next, Martin Freund and Edmund Speyer developed
oxycodone, also from thebaine, at the University of Frankfurt in 1916.
[198] In 1920,
hydrocodone was prepared by
Carl Mannich and
Helene Löwenheim, deriving it from codeine. In 1924,
hydromorphone was synthesized by adding hydrogen to morphine.
Etorphine was synthesized in 1960, from the
oripavine in opium poppy straw.
Buprenorphine was discovered in 1972.
[197
ect ect . . .
The term "opioid" originated in the 1950s.
[210] It combines "opium" + "-oid" meaning "opiate-like" ("opiates" being morphine and similar drugs derived from
opium). The first scientific publication to use it, in 1963, included a footnote stating, "In this paper, the term, 'opioid', is used in the sense originally proposed by George H. Acheson (personal communication) to refer to any chemical compound with morphine-like activities".
[211] By the late 1960s, research found that opiate effects are mediated by activation of specific molecular receptors in the nervous system, which were termed "opioid receptors".
[212] The definition of "opioid" was later refined to refer to substances that have morphine-like activities that are mediated by the activation of opioid receptors. One modern pharmacology textbook states: "the term opioid applies to all agonists and antagonists with morphine-like activity, and also the naturally occurring and synthetic opioid peptides".
[213] Another pharmacology reference eliminates the
morphine-like requirement: "Opioid, a more modern term, is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors (including antagonists)".
[2] Some sources define the term
opioid to exclude
opiates, and others use
opiate comprehensively instead of
opioid, but
opioid used inclusively is considered modern, preferred and is in wide use.
[17]