Methadone

[Eduard]

As the story goes, methadone was invented in Second World War by German scientists Max Bockmühl and Gustav Ehrhart. German strated to ran out of opium because United Nations cut of their supplies of Turkish opium in hose days.

Now the question goes: Although chemically unlike morphine or heroin, methadone also acts on the opioid receptors and thus produces many of the same effects... How did those scientists know about what they synthesized (while the structure is unlike morphine and heroine) in search for an analgesic, as it was a search of analgesic?

 

[Slay]

Well I cant answer your question but methadone aint the first LAAM derivative, I guess. I mean, theyd already known what methadol is. So I think they were %100 aware of what they were doing.

 

[fastandbulbous]

Trial & error - that's how a lot of drugs were discovered before the ability to determine the structure of the receptor proteins. Pethedine/demorol was discoved in the search for an atropine like anticholinergic

 

[jasoncrest]

German strated to ran out of opium because United Nations cut of their supplies of Turkish opium in hose days.

They invented Methadone because their Morphine/Opium/Poppies supply was cut out.
So Methadone can be made without starting with an Opium alkaloid?
It is totally synthetic?

 

[johanneschimpo]

^ Yeah, it looks nothing like morphine and the like

 

[Slay]

German strated to ran out of opium because United Nations cut of their supplies of Turkish opium in hose days

I dunno this is true or not but in Turkey, theres a city called "afyon" - means opium , they say, there used to be lots of opium fields there before they ban the opium.

 

[BilZ0r]

There must have been some opioid receptor mediated in vitro test, but I can't think what that would have been... Maybe relaxation of ilium? They wouldn't have had radioligand binding back the would they? It also wasn't the first synthetic opioid, and it's kinda similar to demerol and darvon.

I think this is their first published paper:
M. Bockmuhl and G. Ehrhart, Uber eine Neue Klasse von Spasmolytisch and Analgetisch Wirkenden Verbindugen. I, Ann., 561, (1948).

Judging from that spasmolytich and analgetisch, they decided it worked because it was a pain killer and a spasmolytic.

 

[oldkaw]

And Lilly stole both it and darvon, and began manufacture here after the war.
Well, we stole some rocket scientists too.