Indolebutyric Acid/Auxins (Plant doping) : Molecule of the Day

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Indolebutyric Acid/Auxins (Plant doping)

Category: Biology
Posted on: October 9, 2006 7:34 PM, by Molecule of the Day

Indole-3-butyric acid is a member of a class of hormones known as auxins, which are responsible for all sorts of plant growth regulation. You may have seen it on the shelves at a garden store, sold as "rooting hormone" - among other things, it can help a cutting of a plant set down roots more readily.

Comments

Speaking of doping, I was looking at the molecule, and it looks a lot like a tryptamine. The main difference is the positioning of the double bonds on the main rings of the indole, but I can't see that as having much of a difference on the metabolic front, since (a) the main purpose of the indole rings on molecules like this is structural and (b) the bonds are resonances, anyhow (on the other hand, move a bond from here to there and you can get some drastic effects, especially if proteins can break apart the rings at the changed points and the change of the bond location in the pyrrol ring worries me a bit). The long butryic acid chain seems like something that could be a candidate for replacement to produce illegal tryptamines or their analogs. My question is, "Given that tryptamine is banned in this paranoid age, have we found a new widely available precursor chemical?"

Posted by: Frank Adrian | October 9, 2006 8:25 PM

You're more likely to have to worry about indoleacetic acid. Two carbons between your aromatic ring and your amine for most tryptamine or catecholamine type drugs.

Posted by: MoTD | October 9, 2006 8:38 PM