The Quinine

Quinine is an alkaloid derived from the bark of a tree in the Peruvian Andean Cordillera the cinchona. The Jesuits of Lima were the first in the XVII to use this bark against fevers and popularized its use in Europe. It was only much later, around 1820, that the two chemists Pierre Pelletier and Joseph Caventou were able to extract the active principle from the bark of the tree and begin its extraction in a more industrial way. This was the beginning of the Pharmaceutical industry. In 1853, Louis pasteur, after studying quinine, succeeded in obtaining a quinotoxin derivative. This plant revolutionized and was the first anti-malaria treatment, used in South America and Africa.