Hello National Institute of Health,
As you may know, Thalidomide can be a life-saving drug in certain cases such as Cancer and Leprosy however, this is only done in the case of absolute emergencies due to the very serious side effects it causes such as limb malformation and birth defects. The reason Thalidomide can simultaneously have such positive and negative effects will make more sense once we understand the mechanism for the acid hydrolysis of thalidomide.
Initially thalidomide will be protonated via H3O+ at the double bonded oxygen which is between the protonated nitrogen and the stereo center. As we know this results in a positive charge on the oxygen. We then have the conjugate base, which would be H2O, attacking the carbon of the
As you may know, Thalidomide can be a life-saving drug in certain cases such as Cancer and Leprosy however, this is only done in the case of absolute emergencies due to the very serious side effects it causes such as limb malformation and birth defects. The reason Thalidomide can simultaneously have such positive and negative effects will make more sense once we understand the mechanism for the acid hydrolysis of thalidomide.
Initially thalidomide will be protonated via H3O+ at the double bonded oxygen which is between the protonated nitrogen and the stereo center. As we know this results in a positive charge on the oxygen. We then have the conjugate base, which would be H2O, attacking the carbon of the