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Wanting to learn about Phenethylamines and Tryptamines

Solvaring

Solvaring

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Oct 25, 2014
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So i've been reading up a little bit on each one and I really want to get through my math course this semester at my local JC so I can hopefully have a chance to take and pass chemistry but do all drugs fall under one or the other category? It seems like from what I've read Tryptamines encompass my thoughts of psychedelics like DMT. Is LSD A Tryptamine as well? Phenethylamines can cover a wide range of substances from amphetamines to benzodiazepines (correct me if I am wrong) which is just confusing to me because amphetamines amp you up and benzos are tranquilizer but they both have the -phenyl somewhere in their chemical name. I guess my main question is are there psychoactive drugs that don't fall under being a phenethylamine or tryptamine? Or are these 2 broad all-encompassing categories that everything falls under?
 
PEA's(phenethylamines) doesn't cover benzodiazepines..
LSD is actually both a PEA and a tryptamine, but is classified as a lysergamide.

Yes, there are plenty of psychoactive drugs which aren't PEA's or tryptamines; cocaine, benzodiazepines, THC and ethanol to name a few..

You should look into TiHKAL and PiHKAL and/or just look up a compound on wiki..
Psychoactive PEA's are either stimulants(cathoninone, (meth)amphetamine), psychedelics(2C-B, DOM, mescaline) or empatogens/entactogens(MDMA, methylone).
All psychoactive tryptamines are, if I remember correctly, psychedelic..

Almost every psychoactive drug contain nitrogen atoms, but every rule has it's exceptions; Salvinorin A doesn't (;
 
blazR said:
PEA's(phenethylamines) doesn't cover benzodiazepines..
LSD is actually both a PEA and a tryptamine, but is classified as a lysergamide.

Yes, there are plenty of psychoactive drugs which aren't PEA's or tryptamines; cocaine, benzodiazepines, THC and ethanol to name a few..

You should look into TiHKAL and PiHKAL and/or just look up a compound on wiki..
Psychoactive PEA's are either stimulants(cathoninone, (meth)amphetamine), psychedelics(2C-B, DOM, mescaline) or empatogens/entactogens(MDMA, methylone).
All psychoactive tryptamines are, if I remember correctly, psychedelic..

Almost every psychoactive drug contain nitrogen atoms, but every rule has it's exceptions; Salvinorin A doesn't (;
Click to expand...

THC doesn't have any nitrogens either.

Anyway, tryptamines are not always psychedelic. There are the triptans which are mildly psychoactive, and certainly not psychedelic, and there is melatonin, just to same a couple.

PEAs can be a wide variety of drugs, antidepressants, anti-parkinsonian, even pheniracetam is TECHNICALLY a beta-PEA.
 
In order to understand this better, you really need to read up on chemical nomenclature. You can consult any textbook of organic chemistry for more information.

Just like words are built from letters, molecules are built from simpler structures. But asking why amphetamines and benzos produce different effects when they both contain phenyl in their chemical name is like asking why the words birthday and rain mean different things even though they both contain the letter R.
 
DL-ark said:
THC doesn't have any nitrogens either.

Anyway, tryptamines are not always psychedelic. There are the triptans which are mildly psychoactive, and certainly not psychedelic, and there is melatonin, just to same a couple.

PEAs can be a wide variety of drugs, antidepressants, anti-parkinsonian, even pheniracetam is TECHNICALLY a beta-PEA.
Click to expand...



Just to further point out that the phenethylamine substructure is very common and often not indicitive of pharmacology, I'll add a couple more: morphine and other opiates, diphenidine, and phenobarbital are all technically beta phenethylamines.
 
When referring to serotonergic psychedelics there are generally three classes, phenethylamines (mescaline, 2c-x), tryptamines (psilocin, DMT), and ergoloids (LSD, LSA).
There are stimulants which can also have a number of chemical bases, amphetamines have a phenethylamine base whereas cocaine has a tropane base.
Basic chemical structure does not determine the nature of a drugs effects, as seen between psychedelic phenethylamines and amphetamines.
As previously stated benzos are not phenethylamines, their chemical structure is based around a benzene ring and a diazepene ring.
There are also dissociatives like ketamine or PCP which are arylcyclohexylmines (or I believe they are at least very closely related)
In short there are many different classes of drugs which can have a wide variety of chemical structures.
There is no hard and fast rule for determining activity of a drug based on structure, that particular field of research is called structure activity relationships, and is not a well understood area of medicinal chemistry.
 
Lsd is NOT a PEA and a tryptamine...it's just a tryptanine. I mean it's pretty close to being a PEA but it simply doesn't have the PEA structure in it...technically it doesn't have the tryptamine skeleton either though...
 
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LSD actually has both the phenethylamine backbone and the tryptamine backbone, but LSD's structure is complex enough that it's hard to call it either.
 
To understand the difference between tryptamines and phenethylamines, you really need to understand 2nd year college (organic) chemistry. Learning organic chemistry is like studying a foreign language, except the 'words' represent actual three dimensional molecules. The hard part about that is that many colleges use it a weed out course for pre-med students, who themselves are usually already pretty smart. I remember at my university, a '92' out of 100 was considered a B, not even a B+. Fuck that professor!
 
Dresden said:
To understand the difference between tryptamines and phenethylamines, you really need to understand 2nd year college (organic) chemistry. Learning organic chemistry is like studying a foreign language, except the 'words' represent actual three dimensional molecules. The hard part about that is that many colleges use it a weed out course for pre-med students, who themselves are usually already pretty smart. I remember at my university, a '92' out of 100 was considered a B, not even a B+. Fuck that professor!
Click to expand...


You don't need an organic chemistry education to understand the structural differences between phenethylamine and tryptamine
 
Thanks for all the responses, I continue my quest for knowledge and understanding!
 
A must read is Alexander and Ann Shulgins' books, PiHKAL (phenylethyamines I have known and loved) and TiHKAL (tryptamines I have known and loved). Both are available at www.transformpress.com. Sadly, Sasha (Shulgin's nickname) recently passed away.
 
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