ECGONINE, a white crystalline alkaloid of the tropine group, is chiefly of interest because of its relation to cocaine. Ecgonine is a tropine carboxylic acid and cocaine is its ben zoyl methyl ester : l-Ecgonine results from the alkaline hydrolysis of I-cocaine (the naturally occurring form) ; it melts at when anhydrous a-Ecgonine is an isomeride, having its group attached to the same carbon atom as the OH group. (See CHEMISTRY : OR GANIC, HETEROCYCLIC DIVISION.)
