The study of historical documents: morphine in Bulgakov´s famous manuscript

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Mikhail Bulgakov was a recognized writer born in Kiev in 1891. His famous novel, The master and Margarita, criticizes the soviet society and the literature establishment. He wrote the novel by the end of his life. In these days, Bulgakov was suffering nephrosis that caused his death in 1940.

Researchers from Italy and Israel have chemically evaluated the original manuscript of the novel with the intention of identifying potential drugs consumed by Mikhail Bulgakov to fight the nephrosis [1]. For this purpose, they have proposed a solid phase enrichment protocol using cation exchange (SCX) and hydrophobic (C8) beads of different particle sizes. In this proposal, wet beads are deposited on the manuscript surface and thanks to the different sizes (SCX have larger sizes than C8) a complete covering of the document with the particles is achieved. The targets are extracted by a mixed-mode mechanism and after the extraction, the final extracts are analyzed by GC/MS.

Morphine
The results are astonishing. Morphine (and a related metabolite) has been identified and even quantified in the document, leading to the conclusion that Mikhail Bulgakov consumed this drug, probably as pain reliever, while he wrote the novel. Concentrations ranged between 5 to 100 ng/cm2 have been found in the document. The deposition of the drug by the sweat is presented as the main hypothesis although other alternatives are also considered.

Highly recommendable article!!, especially for the History/literature/science enthusiasts.

Reference

1) Maestro, Marguerite, morphine: The last years in the life of Mikhail Bulgakov. Link to the article

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