The root of the matter: The analgesic tramadol has been isolated from the root bark of N. latifolia, an African medical plant. This finding is a rare example of a common synthetic drug that occurs at considerable concentrations in nature. Cl purple, N blue, O red.
Ahcène Boumendjel, Germain Sotoing Taïwe, Elisabeth Ngo Bum, Tanguy Chabrol, Chantal Beney, et al.. Occurrence of the Synthetic Analgesic Tramadol in an African Medicinal Plant.. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2013, 52 (45), pp.11780-4. ⟨10.1002/anie.201305697⟩. ⟨inserm-00874145⟩