Salvinorin A is the main bioactive compound in Salvia divinorum, an endemic plant with ancestral use by the inhabitants of the Mazateca mountain range (Sierra Mazateca) in Oaxaca, México. The main use of la pastora, as locally known, is in spiritual rites due to its extraordinary hallucinogenic effects. Being the first known nonalkaloidal opioid-mediated psychotropic molecule, salvinorin A set...
Salvinorin, isolated from Salvia divinorum, has been shown by spectroscopic and X-ray-crystallographic methods to be a trans-neoclerodane diterpene of structure (1). Crystals of compound (1) are orthorhombic, space group P212121 with a= 6.368(2), b= 11.338(3), c= 30.710(6)Å, and Z= 4. The structure was refined by leastsquares to R 0.052 and R′ 0.056.