Abstract:
Picrotoxin is the bitter tasting convulsive poison,
obtained from the cocculus berries, the fruit of the East Indian creepers, Menispermum cocculus and Anamirta paniculata. It has been used extensively in medicine as anti-barbiturate.
Although picrotoxin was first isolated in 1812 by
Boullay and has been the subject of exhaustive research since then, the problem of its structure is still incompletely solved.