pseudoephedrine

[generalblando]

what is the difference between pseudephedrine and ephedrine,etc(different forms of ephedrine)?
does any one know?

 

[jonah_222]

For what you are looking at them for, you might want pseudoephedrine HCl which works for what you are wanting it for.
For more info, email me.
email must be pgp encrypted, i will send you the public key on request.
-j.

 

[fairnymph]

Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine have the same molecular forumula -- C10H15NO -- however they are stereoisomers of each other. In my favorite chemistry professor's terms, this means that ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are "non-superimposable mirror images of each other". Another analogy would be left and right hands -- stereoisomers are like left and right hands -- you can see they are very similar but not exactly the same
Ephedrine is the (+) or S isomer, and when exposed to polarized light, the molecule rotates counterclockwise.
Pseudoephedrine is the (-) or R isomer, and when exposed to polarized light, the molecue rotates clockwise.
Chirality is the term that describes this property of molecules to rotate in one way or the other when exposed to polarized light.
Check out this link to compare 3-D images of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine.
[ 21 April 2002: Message edited by: fairnymph ]

 

[PhreeX]

^^^^ I couldn't have given a better explaination!