Pharmacology for Anaesthesia and Intensive Care

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7 Medicinal chemistry

Sugars

These are carbohydrates with a chemical formula (CH 2 O)n, where n can be 3 (a

triose, e.g. glyceraldehyde), 4 (a tetrose), 5 (a pentose, e.g. ribose) or 6 (a hexose,

e.g. glucose). They are naturally occurring compounds and glucose is metabolized

to carbon dioxide and water through oxidative tissue respiration. The pentoses and

hexoses exist in cyclic forms in vivo.

Drugs and their structures

Many drugs are organic molecules and often derived from plant material. It is not

possible here to describe all the molecular structures of groups of anaesthetically

important drugs. In this section the following selected structures will be described:

catecholamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, non-depolarizing muscle relaxants

(bis-benzylisoquinoliniums and aminosteroids) and opioids.

Catecholamines and derivatives

These are derived from the amino acid tyrosine (see also Figure12.3), which is hydrox-

ylated (addition of an –OH group) and decarboxylated (removal of a –COOH group).