Cinchona genus is the source of a variety of alkaloids, the most familiar of which is quinine, an antipyretic (antifever) agent especially useful in treating malaria. Cinchona alkaloids include: They find use in organic chemistry as organocatalysts in asymmetric synthesis. Alongside the alkaloids, many cinchona barks contain cinchotannic acid, a particular tannin, which by oxidation rapidly yields a dark-coloured phlobaphene called red cinchonic, cinchono-fulvic acid or cinchona red. In 1934, efforts to make malaria drugs cheap and effective for use across countries led to the development of a standard called "totaquina" proposed by the Malaria Commission of the League of Nations.
Jesuit's bark plant cinchona outside of South America. Jesuit's bark Jesuit's Bark, also known as cinchona bark, as Peruvian Bark, and as China Bark, is a former name of the most celebrated specific remedy for all forms of malaria. It is so named because it was obtained from the bark of several species of the genus "Cinchona", of the Rubiaceae family, that have been discovered at different times and are indigenous in the Western Andes of South America and were first described and introduced by Jesuit priests who did missionary work in Peru. Other terms referring to this preparation and its source