Ibogaine

Ibogaine
Clinical data
Other names12-Methoxyibogamine
Routes of
administration		Oral
ATC code
  • None
Legal status
Legal status
Identifiers
  • (1R,15R,17S,18S)-17-ethyl-7-methoxy-3,13-diazapentacyclo[13.3.1.02,10.04,9.013,18]nonadeca-2(10),4(9),5,7-tetraene
CAS Number
PubChem CID
ChemSpider
UNII
ChEBI
ChEMBL
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)
ECHA InfoCard100.001.363 Edit this at Wikidata
Chemical and physical data
FormulaC20H26N2O
Molar mass310.441 g·mol−1
3D model (JSmol)
Melting point152 to 153 °C (306 to 307 °F)
  • CC[C@H]1C[C@@H]2C[C@H]3c4[nH]c5ccc(OC)cc5c4CC[N@@](C2)[C@@H]13
  • InChI=1S/C20H26N2O/c1-3-13-8-12-9-17-19-15(6-7-22(11-12)20(13)17)16-10-14(23-2)4-5-18(16)21-19/h4-5,10,12-13,17,20-21H,3,6-9,11H2,1-2H3/t12-,13+,17+,20+/m1/s1 checkY
  • Key:HSIBGVUMFOSJPD-CFDPKNGZSA-N checkY
  (verify)

Ibogaine is a psychoactive indole alkaloid obtained either by extraction from plants in the family Apocynaceae such as Tabernanthe iboga, Voacanga africana, and Tabernaemontana undulata or by semi-synthesis from the precursor compound voacangine, another plant alkaloid. The total synthesis of ibogaine was described in 1956.[3] Structural elucidation by X-ray crystallography was completed in 1960.[4][5][6]

The psychoactivity of the root bark of the iboga tree, Tabernanthe iboga, one of the plants from which ibogaine is extracted, was first discovered by the Pygmy tribes of Central Africa, who passed the knowledge to the Bwiti tribe of Gabon. French explorers in turn learned of it from the Bwiti tribe and brought ibogaine back to Europe in 1899–1900, where it was subsequently marketed in France as a stimulant under the trade name Lambarène. Although ibogaine's anti-addictive properties were first widely promoted in 1962 by Howard Lotsof, its Western medical use predates that by at least a century.

During an eighteen-year timeline, a total of 19 fatalities temporally associated with the ingestion of ibogaine were reported, from which six subjects died of acute heart failure or cardiopulmonary arrest. Its prohibition in many countries has slowed scientific research.[7] Various derivatives of ibogaine designed to lack psychedelic properties, such as 18-MC, are under preliminary research.

  1. ^ "Notice - Prescription Drug List (PDL): Multiple additions". Health Canada. Government of Canada, Health. 12 May 2017.
  2. ^ Galea S, Lorusso M, Newcombe D, Walters C, Williman J, Wheeler A (March 2011). Goodyear-Smith F (ed.). "Ibogaine--be informed before you promote or prescribe" (PDF). Journal of Primary Health Care. 3 (1): 86–7. PMID 21359272. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  3. ^ US patent 2813873, Morrice-Marie Janot & Robert Goutarel, "Derivatives of the ibogaine alkaloids", issued 19 November 1957, assigned to Les Laboratoires Gobey 
  4. ^ Soriano-García M (1992). "Structure of ibogaine". Acta Crystallogr. C. 48 (11): 2055–2057. Bibcode:1992AcCrC..48.2055S. doi:10.1107/S0108270192002786.
  5. ^ Soriano-García M, Walls F, Rodríguez A, Celis IL (1988). "Crystal and molecular structure of ibogamine: An alkaloid from Stemmadenia galeottiana". Journal of Crystallographic and Spectroscopic Research. 18 (2): 197–206. Bibcode:1988JCCry..18..197S. doi:10.1007/BF01181911. S2CID 97519993.
  6. ^ Arai G, Coppola J, Jeffrey GA (1960). "The structure of ibogaine". Acta Crystallographica. 13 (7): 553–564. Bibcode:1960AcCry..13..553A. doi:10.1107/S0365110X60001369.
  7. ^ Alper KR, Lotsof HS, Kaplan CD (January 2008). "The ibogaine medical subculture". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 115 (1): 9–24. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2007.08.034. PMID 18029124. Archived from the original on 6 February 2008.