The Large and Nifty Not-quite-advanced Drug Chemistry, Pharmacology and More Thread

[aparenz]

What are a few general guidelines that should be followed when choosing a solvent for a specific reaction?

 

[MurphyClox]

With regard to 2C-CN:

Not extraordinarily, but possibly toxic?

I couldn't find any verified data so can only speculate. I'd think the toxicity should approximately be in the range of 2C-B, -C & -D.

Cyanide toxicity is not expected in this case. But lets consider the unlikely (and furthermore unrealistic) scenario of quantitative cyanide-release from 2C-CN for a moment:
Shulgin lists 2-40 mg as common dosage, therefore I will calculate with the median, 30 mg. The molar weight of 2C-CN is 242.7 (as hydrochloride salt), a dose of 30 mg equals therefore 123 µmol. Wikipedia lists the letal dose for cyanide (CN-, not KCN or NaCN) as ca. 140 mg, which equals 5.4 mmol.
Relating these values, one can see that even upon quantitative release of cyanide from 2C-CN, the lethal dose is still 43 times larger.

Ergo: Cyanide poisoning, either with a lethal or sublethal dosage, is far unrealistic both from the metabolic perspective (see my last post above) as well as from the consumed amounts.


Take care!

- Murphy

 

[MurphyClox]

What are a few general guidelines that should be followed when choosing a solvent for a specific reaction?

1. Synthesis-discussion and even synthesis-related topics are forbidden here!

2. Anyway, to answer in short: Your question is too sketchy to be answered properly.
It really depends on a lot of criteria, for example the reaction's mechanism, solubility of reagents, required reaction temperature, ...

Without further info, there's no answer possible. Well, but adding more details brings us directly back to 1.


- Murphy

 

[Christo_Rey]

Question: bk-MDMA has been patented by Shulgin (1996) as an antidepressant. Is anyone aware of actual clinical trials that were done with it, and where I could read about them?

Don't know if it's the best thread to ask this, but don't know where else to ask.

 

[alexi]

Any recommendations for advanced organic chemistry books? I've taken two semester of organic and my university doesn't offer higher level classes.

Clayden's "Organic Chemistry", by a long way

 

[seep]

Suggested reading order for Pihkal?

What order should I read Pihkal (part 2) in if I want to read it as a narrative?

That is: everything was cooked up and ingested in a certain order, and that order wasn't alphabetical. Is there a chronological index (or something along those lines) somewhere?

 

[dread]

Aren't the entries numbered chronologically? I always thought they were.

 

[seep]

^Doesn't seem that way to me. Even in compound #1 (alpha-ethyl mescaline) he has this whimsical passage (red text shows references to past events):

The extension of the two-carbon chain of mescaline by alpha-methylation to the three carbon chain of TMA approximately doubled the potency of the compound. And it was felt to be a completely logical possibility that, by extending it one more carbon atom, to the four carbon chain of alpha-ethyl-mescaline, it might double again. And following that logical progression, the doubling of potency with each additional carbon atom, the factor would be 2 to the 7th power by the alpha-octyl (or 256x that of mescaline, or a milligram as active dose) and with a side chain of a 70-carbon alkyl group (alpha-heptacontylmescaline) it would take just a single molecule to be intoxicating. This was rich fantasy stuff. As an active compound, just where would it go in the brain? With an 80-carbon side-chain, would one-thousandth of a single molecule be enough for a person? Or might a single molecule intoxicate a thousand people? And how long a chain on the alpha-position might be sufficient that, by merely writing down the structure on a piece of paper, you would get high? Maybe just conceiving the structure in your mind would do it. That is, after all, the way of homeopathy.

Maybe it was just as well that this added two-carbon side-chain with lowered activity was already enough to disprove the doubling pattern.

The implication is that 3,4,5-trimethoxyamphetamine (TMA, #157) had already been synthesized and assayed, was found to be twice as potent as mescaline, and Shulgin then set out to test whether longer alpha-alkyl extensions would show a continual escalation in potency. In this vein he synthesized and assayed AEM.

Plus, from an administrative standpoint, common families have common precursors (obviously ordered in bulk), and some of these have poor shelf lives. Why place yourself in a position in which you have to continually discard and reorder precursors when you can utilize economies of scale to streamline your budget?

 

[nuke]

As many of the items in PiHKAL were synthesized in part and then shelved and returned to later, it's difficult to get a chronology for the compounds. The same thing goes for the bioassays. The closest thing you'll get to chronological order would be the stuff in the first books of PiHKAL/TiHKAL.

You can also go through Shulgin's list of publications to see when he published about various compounds.

 

[x89]

Perhaps an easy one: Where's a good place for one with mediocre knowledge of chemistry but 168 hours a week of free time and a burning desire for knowledge to self teach this stuff. Are there any areas which are easier to start on? I believe the encompassing subject is called "Organic Chemistry" am I right?!
Computing is my area of expertise but that's a dawdle!

 

[aparenz]

Anyone looking to hone their OChem skills I found this page to be rather useful.

http://evans.harvard.edu/problems/index.cgi

 

[DavisK4high247]

I cannot find any info on any websites on this medicine I got for nasal use after a surgery 2 days ago( cocaine and neosynephrine nasal drops ) can anyone help me find the chemical makeup of these drops and in what amount of each drug is prsent in this soulution and maybe the ph of the solution,it says saline cocaine drops with noesynephrine and it stops the bleeding and somwhat dums the stiched up area but does not seem to absorb into the bloodstop nasaly or through the stitced area which are still fresh and should absorb any cocaine into the bloodstram unless it is ph designed or something to be non soluble internasaly to absorb more that at a very small localized are? any help would be appreciated and as quicky as possible as well would be of great help.Thank You

 

[nuke]

Perhaps an easy one: Where's a good place for one with mediocre knowledge of chemistry but 168 hours a week of free time and a burning desire for knowledge to self teach this stuff. Are there any areas which are easier to start on? I believe the encompassing subject is called "Organic Chemistry" am I right?!
Computing is my area of expertise but that's a dawdle!

Buy yourself a copy of vogel's practical organic chemistry... I started with organic chem instead of generalized chem and it treated me fine.

 

[Xynthetic]

What does the "N" refer to in IUPAC nomenclature?

 

[phase_dancer]

It describes substitution on a Nitrogen....e.g. N-methyl-1-phenyl-propan-2-amine (methamphetamine); N,N-dimethyl-1-phenylpropan-2-amine (dimethylamphetamine)

 

[brown sugar]

hello im new here

 

[Astavats]

Pharmacokinetics

I'd like to learn more about metabolization of various drugs, how certain groups may or may not get removed/replaced, and so forth. Does anyone have suggestions where I could begin? Websites, books, texts, videos, anything would be appreciated, especially if it's publicly available.

It's fine if it's ahead of me, I have no exceptions of digesting all the information at once.

All the best.

 

[phase_dancer]

A basic pharmacology text is a good place to start

I found Rang et al "Pharmacology" a fairly good text.

It's also worth getting an metabolic pathways wall chart. Sigma Aldrich used to have a good free chart.


Here's a few that have been available online as e-books

Drug Metabolism Current Concepts Edited by Corina Ionescu and Mino R. Caira

Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism in Drug Design
Edited by D. A. Smith, H. van de Waterbeemd, D. K. Walker, R. Mannhold, H. Kubinyi, H.Timmerman

If you're feeling like getting in up to your ears

Comprehensive Enzyme Kinetics by Vladimir Leskovac

 

[Astavats]

Sounds excellent, thank you for the wealth of sources P_D!

 

[zero zero]

Can this be produced directly from DMT. How does it happen. Where do the other hydrogen atoms go.