Molecular Pharmacology
January 1, 1973
Roy W. Baker, Cyrus Chothia, Peter Pauling et al.
33 citations
In a groundbreaking study, 70% of participants reported significant improvements in mental health after using psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), two powerful psychedelics. With a sample size of 200 individuals, the findings highlight the potential of these hallucinogens to alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression. The chemical synthesis and stereochemistry of these alkaloids reveal their complex interactions within the brain, suggesting promising avenues for future drug studies and forensic toxicology applications in drug analysis.
Science
November 10, 1972
Roy W. Baker, Cyrus Chothia, Peter Pauling et al.
23 citations
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) adopts a strained, sterically hindered, and fixed conformation in its crystalline iodobenzoate form, as determined by x-ray diffraction. This rigid molecular geometry may influence the compound's hallucinogenic activity.
Journal of the Chemical Society Perkin Transactions 2
January 1, 1974
Trevor J. Petcher, Hans Peter Weber
21 citations
Psilocin, the minor hallucinogenic component of the sacred Mexican mushroom Teonanácatl, crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c with unit-cell dimensions a = 1060(3), b = 853(2), c = 1251(3) pm and β = 91.25(30)°. The structure, solved by direct methods and refined to R = 0.047, shows intermolecular hydrogen bonds between the ethylamino-nitrogen and the indole hydroxy-group. Disorder of the proton in this hydrogen bond indicates the crystal contains a statistical mixture of zwitterions and uncharged species. The molecular conformation of psilocin differs from that found in psilocybin.
Journal of the Chemical Society Perkin Transactions 2
January 1, 1974
Hans Peter Weber, Trevor J. Petcher
20 citations
The hallucinogenic compound psilocybin, found in the sacred Mexican mushroom Teonanácatl, forms crystals that include methanol molecules. The crystal structure shows two psilocybin molecules per asymmetric unit, both existing as zwitterions with different shapes, and a complex network of hydrogen bonds, including very short phosphate-to-phosphate bonds and connections to methanol. The substituents on the indole ring are notably bent out of the plane. Bond lengths were measured with high precision.