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Level/Year: Grad
Subject: Chemistry

Already Tried:
The tea plant has high levels of Tannins, which are extracted when tea leaves are steeped.
Red wine also has a high Tannin content. What are Tannins, chemically? What are some
of the relevant properties of Tannins?
2. Why do we not steep coffee or cocoa leaves, much as we steep tea leaves?
3. We have said the binding of caffeine to Adenosine Receptors triggers the release of
Epinephrine. What is Epinephrine and what is its function?
4. Cortez, who introduced chocolate into Spain, was himself introduced to chocolate by the
Aztecs. Discuss the use of chocolate by the Aztecs.
5. Roasting coffee beans helps in the production of the oil Caffeol? What is Caffeol and what
are some of its properties?
6. What are the major components of a Chocolate Liquor?
7. Water Hemlock (Cicuta virosa) was a component of the Flying Ointment I presented in
class. What is the dominant neurotoxin derivable from this plant sources? What are some
of the propertied of this toxid?
8. What is the difference between the Nicotinic and Muscarinic Choline Receptors? What
events are triggered when Acetylcholine binds to the Muscarinic Choline Receptor?
9. We indicated Solanine is a glycoalkaloid derivable from Black Nightshade, Potato, Tomato
and Eggplant. How does this alkaloid act physiologically?
10. Would you expect the free base form of the tropane based alkaloids (Atropine, Cocaine,
Scopolamine) to be highly water soluble? Explain. What about their salt forms?