Kratom & kava guides
Kratom Alkaloids Explained: Mitragynine, 7-Hydroxymitragynine, and Minor Compounds
Kratom leaf contains a mixture of naturally occurring alkaloids. Mitragynine is usually the most abundant and the name customers see most often, but it is not the only compound present.
Mitragynine
Mitragynine is a principal alkaloid in Mitragyna speciosa. It interacts with opioid receptors and other biological targets, and it contributes to kratom’s psychoactive effects.
Its amount can be reported as a percentage by weight, milligrams per gram, or milligrams per piece. Those units are not interchangeable. A result should always stay attached to the sample, method, and product format that produced it.
7-Hydroxymitragynine
7-Hydroxymitragynine, often shortened to 7-OH, is a related compound with strong opioid-receptor activity. Natural leaf generally contains far less 7-OH than mitragynine. The body can also form some 7-OH as it metabolizes mitragynine.
Products built around elevated 7-OH can create a very different exposure from ordinary milled leaf and should be identified as their own product category.
Other alkaloids matter too
Analytical studies have identified compounds such as speciogynine, speciociliatine, paynantheine, corynantheidine, and mitraciliatine alongside mitragynine and 7-OH. Their proportions can vary with genetics, season, growing conditions, harvest, processing, and storage.
Researchers continue to study how these compounds act alone and together. A single mitragynine number is useful chemistry, but it is not a complete description of the leaf or a guaranteed effect score.
Reading a laboratory panel
Look for the sample or lot identifier, laboratory, test date, analyte names, units, method, and reporting limits. “Not detected” means the laboratory did not detect an analyte above the method threshold in that sample; it does not mean an instrument proved absolute zero.
Kratom and concentrated mitragynine products are psychoactive. Nausea, dizziness, constipation, sedation, dependence, withdrawal, and interactions are among the concerns described in research and public-health guidance.
Sources
- FDA assessment of 7-hydroxymitragynine
- Identification and quantification of ten kratom alkaloids
- Kratom alkaloid chemotypes
- Chemical and biological study of kratom alkaloids
- Conversion of mitragynine to 7-hydroxymitragynine
- Human kratom alkaloid pharmacokinetics
- Controlled kratom-drug interaction study