tubocurarine Pharm.
(tjuːbəʊˈkjʊərəriːn)
[ad. G. tubocurarin, f. tubocurare tube curare (see tubo-, curare): see -in1.]
An isoquinoline alkaloid that is the active ingredient of tube curare and whose chloride, C37H42Cl2N2O6, is used as a muscle relaxant.
| 1898 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXXIV. i. 284 Paracurarine (tubocurarine). 1935 Nature 23 Mar. 470/1 The quaternary alkaloid tubocurarine..has now been crystallised for the first time. 1973 Reader's Digest Apr. 206/1 They paralysed him with 70 milligrams of tubocurarine chloride. 1977 Lancet 19 Mar. 650/2 Three drugs used in clinical anæsthesia consistently cause arterial hypotension in patients with essential hypertension—halothane, d-tubocurarine, and verapamil. |