Properties
1. The melting point of Morphine is 254oC.
2. It is bitter in taste and leavo- rotatory alkaloid.
3. It is insoluble in water and slightly soluble in most of the organic solvents.
4. When heated with concentrated hydrochloric acid, morphine undergoes rearrangement to form apomorphine.
Uses
1. It is used as an analgesic and sedative which even today has no substitute in controlling severe pain.
2. It has a marked depressant action on various parts of the nervous system. But as it is habit forming, it must be used with great care.
3. The diacetyl derivative of morphine is used in medicine under the name of heroin, but the derivative is more habit forming than the
morphine itself.
