Methylecgonine cinnamate is a natural tropanealkaloid found within the coca plant.[1] Its more common name, cinnamoylcocaine, reflects its close structural similarity to cocaine. It is pharmacologically inactive,[2] but some studies funded by anti-drug agencies imply that it is active when smoked.[citation needed] Furthermore, the discovery of differing impurity products yielding methylecgonine cinnamate in confiscated cocaine have led enforcing agencies to postulate that illicit manufacturers have changed their oxidation procedures when refining cocaine from a crude form.[3] Methylecgonine cinnamate can dimerize to the truxillic acidderivativetruxilline.[2] Methylecgonine cinnamate is mentioned in patents of active cocaine analogue structures.[4][5]
^Plowman, T.; Rivier, L. (1983). "Cocaine and Cinnamoylcocaine Content of Erythroxylum Species". Annals of Botany. 51 (5): 641–659. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a086511.
^Casale, J. F.; Hays, P. A.; Toske, S. G.; Berrier, A. L. (Jul 2007). "Four new illicit cocaine impurities from the oxidation of crude cocaine base: formation and characterization of the diastereomeric 2,3-dihydroxy-3-phenylpropionylecgonine methyl esters from cis- and trans-cinnamoylcocaine". J Forensic Sci. 52 (4): 860–6. doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2007.00476.x. PMID17553089. S2CID43863333.
^U.S. patent 6,479,509 Patent inventor Frank Ivy Carroll, Assignee: Research Triangle Institute