Why dont any drugs contain inorganic components?

just wondering why all psychoactive drugs are totally composed of organic atoms. I mean, alot of vitamins (coenzymes), and essential compounds to life contain metals, and alot of active sites contain metals as well. so why don't any drugs contain metal atoms? or do they and i'm just not aware of them. any thoughts on this? I assume compounds containing metals might not be able to pass the blood brain barrier because of the polarity the metals might create but this is only a guess.

 

Lithium is a metal and is used as a prescription drug. That's a common one, there's probably more.

 

Well when you ingest most drugs they cross over into your blood/cellular system by one of few methods..

Active transport, passive diffusion, or pinocytosis.

Active transport. Believe it or not, some cells actually contain proteins that carry certain molecules over into the blood for you.

Passive diffusion. When the concentration of a drug on one side is very great, according to newtonian physics this "pressure" buildup by the concentration must be relieved by having the drug slowly diffuse into the blood from whereever it is at that moment in your digestive system.

Donbt worry about the last one...

Anyway, almost all cells contain active transport mechanisms for metal ions. ESPECIALLY sodium and potassium... magnesium, iron, etc also exist too. Passive diffusion is usually out of the question because if you're ingesting that much of an inorganic metal you will probably just.. die .. lol



So cells have specific mechanisms for certain metals, allowing them to cross over into them and perhaps even into the blood.. This means the body already has a fate for these metal ions, theyre meant for something. Theyve got some biological importance, iron goes to the hemoglobin, sodium and potassium are used in electrical nerve impulse signals.. etc..

 

The metals form ions in solution, like NaCl (regular salt), breaks up into Na+ (sodium) and Cl- (chlorine) ions in solution, so they don't do anything "together" except balanced each others charges out, they float around in water freely. So the metal (sodium) makes no difference.

Actually, the same sort of thing happens with drugs like Dextromethorphan HBr, DMT HCl or cocaine (ie crack HCL), they break up in solution into Cl- or Br- or another ion, and whatever else (dextromethorphan+, DMT+). I once heard about somebody buying 2C-B HBr, instead of 2C-B HCl. That technically is not organic.

Metals will never covalently bond to a molecule, they can not be in molecules by definition. Basically all they do is go up non-metals and steal away their electrons
(since they're so big and bossy). They're always doing one of two things:

- In solution they float around with the stolen electrons
- As a solid they form a lattice, and sit next to (touching) non-metals who's electrons they stole.

As a solid they are brittle crystals. You could have an ionic compound (metal + non-metal) that does not break up in H2O... but it would have a hard time moving around in your body. It would be stuck in its brittle crystaline form.

Lastly, most drugs work in the synapses between neurons, they mimic and screw with neurotransmitters. In order to do this they need to be similiar (to an extent), and usually that means no crazy metals. Metals have a hard time simply passing into cells.

However, there are some (but very few) inorganic compounds that are psychoactive. Lithium and Xenon are examples. Epsom salt is inorganic and it's used in medicine too.

Tell me if any of this is confusing, and i'll try and clarify.

 

How does pinocytosis get drugs into your bloodsteam?

And both active and passive diffusion act becasue of a concentration gradient, not just passive. Things passivly diffuse when theyre structure, polarity and whether they are hydrophobic of hydrophillic etc. alllow them to. When they cant passivly diffuse then they actively diffuse. Then theres facilitated diffusion which I forget about.

 

Nah, diffusion (osmosis & facilitated diffusions) is a type of passive transport.

 

YEa, I meant active transport, not diffusion. My bad

 

Not all substances have an active transport mechanism.. .what are you talking about?

 

hahahahah, i don't remember man, this was about 6 months ago in bio

 

nitrous oxide is an inorganic compound, for one.

i know this doesnt contribute much to the conversation though, sorry

most of this is pretty over my head. perhaps i should read it more thoroughly someday when i have time.

 

There are quite a few drugs that are complexed with typically inorganic atoms, attaching a halogen is quite common. Metals are less common. Vitamin B12 if you call that a drug. There are also some anti-cancer drugs that are metal based. Plenty of drugs effect the flow of ions, indirectly. The presumption is that we have all the ions we need but drugs may direct their traffic. But yeah who knows, perhaps someday there will be more drugs with metals coordinated to organic groups.

 

uplink: I don't mean lattices or complexed ions, i'm talking about a metal atom in a molecule like vitamin B12 was given as an example. And metals (Co) are infact covelantly bonded to carbon in it. so metals can be covalently bonded

also, look at salvorin A and B or PCP, those do not resemble any neurotransmitter known to man yet are psychoactive.

2CB is organic as are all the 2C's but i'm just refering to the drug as in what gets into the brain and causes a reaction, not salts that are present in the ingested substance.

Yea nesta nitrous is a good example, i was mainly more wondering about metals, but i would see as they would have a hard time getting into cells because they are soo heavy and can have polarites due to the metal.

 

Many of the heavy metals are toxic, even the essential ones to living, like zinc, iron, copper and magnesium in large enough quantities. They can cause all sorts of damage to the body and brain. That is sort of a reaction but I don't think that is what you mean.

 

Interesting how symptoms of B12 deficiency are similar to transient N20 effects.

 

Hey, I just discovered the perfect university course for anyone interested in this topic:
Bioinorganic Chemistry.