ECGONINE  , in

chemistry, C9H15NO3, a cycloheptane derivative with a nitrogen bridge . It is obtained by hydrolysing cocaine with acids or alkalis, and crystallizes with one molecule of water, the crystals melting at 1980 to 199° C . It is laevo-rotatory, and on warming with alkalis gives iso-ecgonine, which is dextro-rotatory . It is a tertiary base, .and has also the properties of an acid and an alcohol . When boiled with caustic baryta it gives methyl-amine . It is the carboxylic acid corresponding to tropine, for it yields the same products on oxidation, and by treatment with phosphorus pentachloride 'is converted into anhydroecgonine, C9H13NO2, which, when heated to 28o° C. with hydrochloric acid, splits out carbon dioxide and yields tropidine, C8H13N . Anhydroecgonine melts at 235° C., and has an acid and a basic character . It is an unsaturated compound, and on oxidation with potassium permanganate gives succinic acid . It is apparently a tropidine monocarboxylic acid, for on exhaustive methylation it yields cycloheptatriene-1.3.5-carboxylic acid-7 . Sodium in amyl alcohol solution reduces it to hydroecgonidine C9H15NO2, while moderate oxidation by potassium permanganate converts it into norecgonine . The presence of the heptamethylene ring in these compounds is shown by the production of suberone by the exhaustive methylation, &c., of hydroecgonidine ethyl ester (see POLYMETHYLENES and TROPINE) .