Abstract
THE degradation of the pyrrolidine ring of (−)-nicotine in a number of mammalian species1–5 involves the formation of the intermediate, cotinine. This lactam of (+)-γ-(3-pyridyl)-γ-methylaminobutyric acid is in turn demethylated by the dog6 and the rat7, but possibly not by man8, to give the urinary metabolite (−)-demethyl-cotinine. In the metabolism of (−)-nornicotine, a companion alkaloid to nicotine in many situations, (−)-demethylcotinine, is also formed9. Demethylcotinine thus occupies a unique position in the early metabolic oxidation of the two alkaloids and we were led to explore some of the detail in its metabolic degradation. Natural (−)-demethy 1 l/m cotinine, which was obtained from the metabolism of (−)-cotinine in the dog6, was used in the investigations.
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SCHWARTZ, S., McKENNIS, H. Mammalian Degradation of (—)-Demethylcotinine. Nature 202, 594–595 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/202594b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/202594b0
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