AHHHH CHOO-DOEPHEDRINE
Although, originally defined as the chemistry of biological structures, organic chemistry has since been redefined to refer specifically to organic (carbon based) molecules. The hydrocarbon is the very basic molecule of organic chemistry and by adding functional groups to the hydrocarbon we can manipulate the properties of the molecule. Through the manipulation of these organic compounds, organic chemistry can be used to chemically synthesise many products such as soaps, detergents, drugs, plastics and polymers. Through the process of synthesis the individual molecule can be altered numerous times to ‘iron out’ any issues found in the product to optimise its functionality. The redesign of drugs can alter the way the human body reacts to the drug possibly removing the negative side effects as well as …show more content…
The process of synthesizing a drug is very hard to completely control but can be managed through the use of several organic chemistry principles. Chemical synthesis can be sped up by using catalysts to reduce the activation energy required to break and reform the bonds of molecules. Pseudoephedrine is a great example to show how factors such as polarity, functional groups and bonding sites can be used to increase the performance of a drug as well as reducing the amount of side effects. During the actual synthesis process chemists try to increase the yield Levo enantiomers. PSE eventually became notorious for its ability to be turned into methamphetamines through a process known as the birch reduction. Because of this a new drug was developed known as Phenylephrine, however as it had an extra hydroxyl functional group attached it was more soluble in water due to the extra hydroxyl giving it a higher polarity. This reduced the efficiency of PE to act as a nasal decongestant in comparison to
Although, originally defined as the chemistry of biological structures, organic chemistry has since been redefined to refer specifically to organic (carbon based) molecules. The hydrocarbon is the very basic molecule of organic chemistry and by adding functional groups to the hydrocarbon we can manipulate the properties of the molecule. Through the manipulation of these organic compounds, organic chemistry can be used to chemically synthesise many products such as soaps, detergents, drugs, plastics and polymers. Through the process of synthesis the individual molecule can be altered numerous times to ‘iron out’ any issues found in the product to optimise its functionality. The redesign of drugs can alter the way the human body reacts to the drug possibly removing the negative side effects as well as …show more content…
The process of synthesizing a drug is very hard to completely control but can be managed through the use of several organic chemistry principles. Chemical synthesis can be sped up by using catalysts to reduce the activation energy required to break and reform the bonds of molecules. Pseudoephedrine is a great example to show how factors such as polarity, functional groups and bonding sites can be used to increase the performance of a drug as well as reducing the amount of side effects. During the actual synthesis process chemists try to increase the yield Levo enantiomers. PSE eventually became notorious for its ability to be turned into methamphetamines through a process known as the birch reduction. Because of this a new drug was developed known as Phenylephrine, however as it had an extra hydroxyl functional group attached it was more soluble in water due to the extra hydroxyl giving it a higher polarity. This reduced the efficiency of PE to act as a nasal decongestant in comparison to