Colloidal alkaloids

[red22]

Can anyone shed some light on this?


Reference #1

More complex substances, such as quinine and cocaine, have also been used successfully in the colloidal state, but not nearly to the same extent as the elements just mentioned.

The Use of Colloids in Health and Disease, 1920, Alfred B. Searle


Reference #2

Simpson W.J. & Hewlett R.T. Alkaloids in Colloidal Form. British Medical Journal. May 5, 1917; 1(2940): 585.

 

[Solipsis]

I think the point would be to suspend small particles of a drug in a liquid (like a mixture of different phases), so that the drug would be absorbed through membranes in a way that it otherwise would not. Some compounds apparently suck balls to try and get absorbed by the body in a more usual state. I think that is also what is supposed to be the difference between cheap vitamin pills and expensive ones, some trace elements and vitamins are just not taken up well by the body, so in expensive pills they use some coordination compound or matrix to solve that, otherwise it would just fall out of your asshole.
Cocaine is not horribly difficult to get absorbed by the body as far as I know, but perhaps it could increase bioavailability to use a colloidal solution. I guess there is a difference between medical application of cocaine and recreational use. I guess snorting is not fine in a medical setting. Also it is worth noting that book is nearly a century old and I would personally prefer to experiment with surfactants like HPBCD. For example I wonder if efficacy of salvinorin tinctures would be really enhanced by that.

Anyway isn't propofol a colloidal solution? Or is it just semi miscible / emulsion... I know it's not an alkaloid tho.

edit: apparently not, slight difference between emulsion (liquid dispersed but not dissolved in other liquid), suspension and colloid (solids of different particle sizes dispersed in liquid)

propofol sidenote:

NSFW:

Propofol was originally developed in the UK by Imperial Chemical Industries as ICI 35868. Clinical trials followed in 1977, using a form solubilised in cremophor EL. However, due to anaphylactic reactions to cremophor, this formulation was withdrawn from the market and subsequently reformulated as an emulsion of a soya oil/propofol mixture in water. The emulsified formulation was relaunched in 1986 by ICI (now AstraZeneca) under the brand name Diprivan (abbreviated version of diisopropyl intravenous anesthetic)[citation needed]. The currently available preparation is 1% propofol, 10% soybean oil, and 1.2% purified egg phospholipid as an emulsifier, with 2.25% of glycerol as a tonicity-adjusting agent, and sodium hydroxide to adjust the pH. Diprivan contains EDTA, a common chelation agent, that also acts alone (bacteriostatically against some bacteria) and synergistically with some other antimicrobial agents. Newer generic formulations contain sodium metabisulfite or benzyl alcohol as antimicrobial agents. Propofol emulsion is a highly opaque white fluid due to the scattering of light from the tiny (~150 nm) oil droplets that it contains.

A water-soluble prodrug form, fospropofol, has recently been developed and tested with positive results. Fospropofol is rapidly broken down by the enzyme alkaline phosphatase to form propofol. Marketed as Lusedra, this new formulation may not produce the pain at injection site that often occurs with the traditional form of the drug. The US Food and Drug Administration approved the product in 2008.[43]