Designer drugs: a medicinal chemistry perspective.
F Ivy Carroll, Anita H Lewin, S Wayne Mascarella, Herbert H. Seltzman, P Anantha Reddy
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences February 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06199.x (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key findings | The authors argue that published medicinal chemistry data on psychoactive substances and their synthesis have been exploited by clandestine chemists to design analogs of opioids, amphetamines, cannabinoids, and phencyclidine that produce similar effects while circumventing existing drug laws. |
Abstract
There are numerous medicinal chemistry reports in the literature describing the pharmacological properties of thousands of narcotics, stimulants, hallucinogens, sedative-hypnotic drugs, cannabinoids, and other psychoactive substances as well as synthetic methods for their preparations. This information, while essential for the advancement of science, has been used by clandestine chemists to manufacture and market an endless variety of analogs of so-called designer drugs. In this review, we describe how clandestine chemists used the principles of medicinal chemistry to design molecules, referred to as designer drugs, that elicit the effects of opioids, amphetamine and analogs, cannabinoids, and phencyclidine analogs while circumventing the law.
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