Albrecht Kossel (1853–1927)
CAFFEINE’S COUSIN. Coffee and tea, the two most commonly consumed hot beverages worldwide, contain two very closely related alkaloids: caffeine and theophylline. Caffeine was first isolated from coffee in 1819. Theophylline was extracted and isolated from tea in 1888 by the German physiological chemist Albrecht Kossel (1853–1927), who was awarded the 1910 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his studies on the protein and nucleic acid chemistry of cells.
Caffeine and theophylline are chemical cousins of the xanthine family. They share the same biological effects, although not with the same intensity. Caffeine is a strong nervous-system stimulant, while theophylline is far less so. By contrast, theophylline is much more active than caffeine in relaxing and widening the bronchi to facilitate breathing and in promoting urine output (diuretic effect).
Theophylline first appeared in medicine in 1902 for use as a diuretic, and it continued to be used for many decades until it was replaced in the 1950s by the far more effective and safer Diuril-related drugs. In the early 1920s, laboratory studies in animals demonstrated theophylline’s effects on the bronchioles, leading to its use three decades later for the treatment of bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Theophylline and closely related aminophylline continue to be used as antiasthmatic drugs, although such inhaled steroids as beclomethasone and such long-acting bronchodilators as albuterol/salbutamol are more effective, cause fewer heart problems, and are far less irritating to the stomach.
In addition, very importantly, approximately 318 drugs interact with theophylline, 47 of which interact significantly. Theophylline elevates the blood level of some of these drugs, increasing the risk of adverse effects, while lowering the blood level of others, hence reducing their effectiveness.
SEE ALSO Tea (c. 2737 BCE), Coffee (c. 800), Alkaloids (1806), Caffeine (1819), Diuril (1958), Albuterol/ Salbutamol (1968).
Albrecht Kossel’s primary scientific research and fame were based on determining the relationship between the chemistry of cellular components (in particular, the nucleus) and their biological function.