Chemical Forums
Chemistry Forums for Students => Organic Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: Zami87 on April 22, 2005, 01:04:04 PM
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Hi there!I read a story about a dog who died from eating too much chocolate. I know that chocolate is toxic but I thought maybe I could somehow isolate theobromine from different kinds of chocolate and deduce which kind is the most toxic.
But there is a problem:nobody knows how to isolate theobromine from chocolate(even some University professors!).Please help(books, sites ,PROTOCOLS).Thanks!
ps I already tried PubMed but only abstracts available.Jana
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Hi Zami87
Theobromine is an alkoloid to my knowledge. There are many alkoloid extraction procedures for extracting alkoloids from organic (plant) matter. I wonder how applicable this would be to your chocolate?? ???
I did a very, very breif google search:
:Edited:
Im sure if you looked up some text books they would have this information.
Hope that helps :)
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Please don't post links to drug websites.
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Hi Zami87
Theobromine is an alkoloid to my knowledge. There are many alkoloid extraction procedures for extracting alkoloids from organic (plant) matter. I wonder how applicable this would be to your chocolate?? ???
I did a very, very breif google search:
:Edited:
Im sure if you looked up some text books they would have this information.
Hope that helps :)
Thanks.It's good for beginning.Our "local textbooks" are not so detailed.Can you get me titles of some good books?
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Im sure if you looked up some text books they would have this information.
Okay, I looked up my basic 1st year/2nd year uni text books.... nothing on alkaloid extraction procedures :(
I searched alkaloids on my Uni's catalogue and came up with "Alkaloid chemistry" by Manfred Hesse and "Alkaloids : biochemistry, ecology, and medicinal applications" by Margaret F. Roberts and Michael Wink
Might be irrelavent :-\ or may contain some useful information :o
Good luck
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I searched alkaloids on my Uni's catalogue and came up with "Alkaloid chemistry" by Manfred Hesse and "Alkaloids : biochemistry, ecology, and medicinal applications" by Margaret F. Roberts and Michael Wink
Good luck
OK Thanks I'll try to find those books. :D
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Extraction process: Schwyzer, Die Fabrikation Pharmazeutischer und Chemisch-Technischer Produkte (Berlin, 1931).
Hope you can read German.
Theobromine is great stuff. Since you know little about it, first do a google search. Then do a google search for caffiene. You can also look these up on www.chemfinder.com Make sure that you note the similarities--they occur together naturally in at least some abundance and therefore you will have a difficult time separating the two. Aside from that, you should look in the Merck Index, available at your local library. There is also a book called 'The Chemistry of Chocolate' put out not too long ago.
Theobromine
3,7-dihydro-3,7-dimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione. Also 3,7-dimethylxanthine.
C7H8N4O2
MW 180.17
The principal alkaloid of the cacao bean wihich contains 1.5-3% of the vase. Also present in cola nuts and in tea. Usually extracted from the hull of cacao beans which contain 0.7-1.2%.
Synthesis is from 1898.
mp 357 deg C, subl. 290-295 deg C.
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Ok, there's no standard way to do this. I'd go with extracting some ground chocolate into ether and then running a chromotography column (on a small scale) combine the like fractions and use NMR to see what you've got in what fraction. Given the multitude of compounds in chocolate i think a column is the only real way.
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Thanks a lot people! I have got something valuable! :)
GREAT SITE hmx9123! 8)
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Theobromine is a stimulant? I never knew that. I thought it just existed with caffeine.