Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
Carfentanil is an absurdly strong opiate - ca 10^4 times stronger than morphine.
It's so strong a ug will have effects on you, and it's really only good for tranquilizing lions and Jurassic Park dinosaurs. I spent one summer in a medchem lab synthesizing potential opiates and often wondered what would happen if i stumbled upon something like this. Technique aside, its not hard to take in a ug or two of something just by being near a powder (or getting a drop of an NMR sample in chloroform or DMSO on your glove!)
Fortunately, none of my stuff was anywhere close to a drug lead and I mostly ran a lot of FIscher indoles, which never fail to satisfy me. Run one if you're having a bad afternoon - I'd marry that reaction.
Comments
This a great blog! I could learn a lot here, and it's fun too. Very different from the widespread blathering.
But: what's so great about a Fischer indole reaction? I feel like I'm missing an in joke.
Posted by: John Baez | August 17, 2007 4:39 AM
I assume 'ug' means microgram...had to read it twice...;)
Posted by: joeylawn | August 17, 2007 9:11 PM
Yeah, ug is microgram. A lot of medical literature uses "mcg". My position is that if you can't write a Greek letter mu, you have no business measuring quantities that small and should stay in the kiddie pool. (Yes, I understand that a mu can look like an "m" and thereby make people dispense a thousand times more than they intended. But still, you really ought to be careful.)
I recall hearing a story about one of those crazy-strong opioids where somebody synthesized it, got a teeny drop on his hand, touched it to his mouth later, and ended up needing to be dragged to the ER for a shot of naloxone. This is some seriously strong stuff.
"Fischer indoles . . . never fail to satisfy me. Run one if you're having a bad afternoon - I'd marry that reaction." MOTD dude, I believe you just might be a bit of a dork. :-D 'S ok, I'm a bit of a dork myself.
Posted by: Adam | August 18, 2007 2:23 AM
You're correct Joey - mcg to most....1ug is one one millionth of a gram.
The author states "an absurdly strong opiate"
I guess so...Wowza!
Posted by: Jon | August 18, 2007 2:12 PM
A summer synthesizing potential opiates? Sounds like a dream job! You looking for mu, delta, or kappa selective? Something unique?
Posted by: Vince Noir | August 18, 2007 7:38 PM
Let's see if I can write a letter μ here. Yeah, it works in the previewer - you just write
μ
and you see
μ
Posted by: John Baez | August 19, 2007 6:33 AM
Yeah, just to give you an idea of how strong this stuff is, it only takes a milligram to put an elephant down. Just a little stat we had to learn in pharmacy school.
Posted by: Adel | August 19, 2007 8:48 PM
Carfentanil or Carfentanyl (R33799) is an analogue of the popular synthetic opioid analgesic fentanyl, and is one of the most potent opioids known (also the most potent opioid used commercially).
Posted by: Burn Alex | January 14, 2008 2:51 AM