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Heroin Deacetylation via the Brain

S

shepj

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Heyy everyone,
I was wondering what enzymes or chemicals in the body/brain make heroin go through deacetylation to morphine... I can't seem to find this out with a solid answer.
 
ah.. why doesn't water start to convert heroin to morphine in a syringe then?

btw I didn't see hydrolysis the first time through (as I was skimming), but i know what hydrolysis is. lol.
 
if you leave a shot of dope overnight then a lot of it will be morphine by morning...that is if for some reason you forgot (hahahaha) to take it
 
Hydrolysis of diacetylmorphine (heroin) by human serum cholinesterase

O Lockridge, N Mottershaw-Jackson, HW Eckerson and BN La Du


The enzyme in human serum that rapidly hydrolyzes diacetylmorphine (heroin) to 6-acetylmorphine is identified in this report as serum cholinesterase (EC 3.1.1.8, acylcholine acylhydrolase; also called pseudocholinesterase or butyrylcholine esterase). The rate of heroin hydrolysis was measured spectrophotometrically at 245 nm using highly purified serum cholinesterase. The turnover number was 500 mumol of heroin hydrolyzed per min per mumol active site. The product was identified spectrophotometrically and by thin-layer chromatography to be 6-acetylmorphine. There appeared to be marked product inhibition of heroin hydrolysis, as 6-acetylmorphine (Ki = 0.015 mM) bound 7 times more tightly than heroin (Ki = 0.11 mM). Purified human serum arylesterase did not hydrolyze heroin. Purified serum cholinesterase accounted for all the observed heroin hydrolysis by whole serum. The genetic variants of human serum cholinesterase, silent and atypical cholinesterase, were also tested. Serum from a person identified as having silent cholinesterase did not hydrolyze heroin. Purified atypical cholinestearase hydrolyzed heroin, but the binding was less tight (Km = 0.45 mM) than with usual cholinesterase (Km = 0.11 mM). The possibility that heroin potency may be influenced by serum cholinesterase genotype or activity level remains to be investigated.
Volume 215, Issue 1, pp. 1-8, 10/01/1980
Copyright © 1980 by American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Click to expand...
http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/215/1/1

Heroin will slowly hydrolyze in water, with the greatest amount of stability in the range of pH 4.2 and 5.5. It usually takes a while, though (in the duration of weeks to months). It's not like an anhydrous acid or something.
 
^ That's interesting. I always figured it was esterase or pseudoesterase enzymes.
 
I managed to understand some of these posts.. but for the most part I get the general idea. Thanks for the replies and info.

What classes do I need to take to really get all of this kind of shit?
 
Hmm. So when I cut my black tar using water and then letting the adulturant absorb it and let it dry out overnight, did that make it turn into morphine?
 
yes, at a faster rate.

But ethanol evaporates faster, so it may balance out!
 
You would solvate a bunch of heroin in ethanol. Ethanol's pH is so low that it'd be useless to cleave an ester.

Ester hydrolysis happens in H2O but it's usually so slow and the equilibrium constant so small that it's almost neglible.
 
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