David E. Nichols

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David Earl Nichols
Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology
InstitutionsPurdue University, Indiana University School of Medicine

David Earl Nichols (born December 23, 1944,

medicinal chemist.[1]
Previously the Robert C. and Charlotte P. Anderson Distinguished Chair in Pharmacology at
entactogen
".

He is the founding president of the

West Lafayette, IN, and teaching medical students at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He officially retired in 2012 but has continued to work for the simple reason that nobody is in the position to continue his work,[citation needed] and he is considering writing an autobiography. He is currently an adjunct professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Chapel Hill, NC.[3]

Education

Research areas

Nichols is still carrying out academic research on the chemistry of psychedelics. He has published approximately 250 scientific reports and book chapters, all describing the relationship between the structure of a molecule and its biological effects (often referred to as a

PIHKAL were actually first synthesized in Nichols's lab. His lab also first developed [125I]-(R)-DOI as a radioligand. Nichols is one of the few people who has published legitimate research on the chemistry and pharmacology of LSD in the last 20 years, and first reported that several LSD analogues, including ETH-LAD, PRO-LAD, and AL-LAD, were more potent than LSD itself. Their human effects are described in TiHKAL. He also improved the synthesis of psilocybin so that it could be accessible for several recent clinical studies.[when?
]

Other notable research that he helped carry out includes extensive studies of the structure-activity relationships and mechanisms of action of

4-methylthioamphetamine (MTA) in the 1990s to synthesize the drug, which they sold in tablets nicknamed "flatliners" as a substitute for MDMA (Ecstasy)."[6]

More recently, Nichols has become one of the world leaders in research on dopamine, and his team has developed several notable dopamine receptor ligands, including the selective D1 full agonist compounds dihydrexidine and dinapsoline which have been researched for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, as well as a number of other subtype-selective dopamine agonists derived from dinoxyline. He co-founded DarPharma, Inc. to commercialize his dopamine compounds; several of his team's compounds are now being studied in clinical trials for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and the cognitive and memory deficits of schizophrenia.

Impact on the designer drug market

Designer drug producers who scan scientific literature for information on compounds with potential grey market value have described Nichols' publications as an "especially valuable" road map to making new designer drugs.[7] Several deaths have been attributed to compounds that have been discovered in Nichols' lab, which he finds quite upsetting, "I was stunned by this revelation, and it left me with a hollow and depressed feeling for some time."[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Heffter Review of Psychedelic Research, Volume 1, 1998 - 5. The Medicinal Chemistry of Phenethylamine Psychedelics by David E. Nichols, Ph.D." (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-04.
  2. ^ "Home". serotoninclub.org.
  3. ^ "David Nichols".Archived 2022-09-06 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "David E. Nichols, PhD, Robert C. and Charlotte P. Anderson Distinguished Chair in Pharmacology". Archived from the original on 2010-04-21. Retrieved 2010-04-09.
  5. ISBN 9781461441205
    .
  6. Reason
  7. ^ Whalen, Jeanne (Oct 30, 2010). "In Quest for 'Legal High,' Chemists Outfox Law". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  8. PMID 21209630
    .

Further reading

External links

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