analgesic and antitussive potency is slightly higher than that of its parent compound hydrocodone, which gives it approximately eight times the milligram strength of codeine. The acetylation at position 3 and the conversion into a dihydromorphinone class semisynthetic (at position 14 on the morphine carbon skeleton) allows for the drug to more rapidly enter the central nervous system in greater quantity where it is de-acetylated into hydromorphone, and also converted by other processes into hydromorphinol, morphine and various other active and inactive substances; it therefore simultaneously takes advantage of two methods of increasing the effectiveness of morphine and its derivatives, those being catalytic hydrogenation (codeine into hydrocodone) and esterification (morphine into diamorphine, nicomorphine &c) in a manner not unlike to that of dihydrodiacetylmorphine. Production Thebacon is generated by the esterification product of the enol tautomer of hydrocodone (dihydrocodeineone) with acetic anhydride. Although modification of thebaine is the most common way of making thebacon, preparation by refluxing hydrocodone with acetic anhydride is not uncommon, generally similar to how diacetylmorphine is produced. It is also a product of the metabolism of hydrocodone by Pseudomonas putida M10, the bacterium used for oil spill remediation. This also produces a morphinone reductase, which can turn morphine into hydromorphone in a process which produces other active opioids, such as oxymorphone, oxymorphol, or hydromorphinol as intermediates. Legal status Thebacon is a Schedule I controlled substance in the United States, never having been in medical use there. The US DEA Administrative Controlled Substance Control Number assigned by the Controlled Substances Act 1970 for thebacon and all of its salts is 9737. See also Pharmacology Opioid Hydrocodone Benzhydrocodone Myrophine References Acetate esters 4,5-Epoxymorphinans Mu-opioid receptor agonists Phenol ethers Semisynthetic opioids