Global Chemical Database

Medicines & Human Health

This topic covers chemicals closely connected with drug discovery, therapeutic applications, biomedical research, and human health.

Melarsomine dihydrochloride

Why does Melarsomine dihydrochloride matter? Its most interesting chemistry is easier to remember than a list of uses.

Benorylate

Benorylate is a reminder that small structural details can have large practical consequences.

Ambroxol hydrochloride

A closer look at Ambroxol hydrochloride: the structure tells the story.

2,4-Dichlorobenzyl alcohol

A medicine is not only a molecule. Sometimes the dosage form decides where the molecule works and how long it stays there.

((2R,7aS)-2-Fluorotetrahydro-1H-pyrrolizin-7a(5H)-yl)methanol

A "butterfly-shaped" chiral building block for one of oncology's hardest targets: KRAS G12D.

Exatecan Intermediate 2

A small intermediate behind a much larger oncology story: from exatecan chemistry to modern ADC payloads.

Pembrolizumab

Does an anticancer drug have to attack the cancer cell itself? Pembrolizumab helped change the answer by targeting a molecular "brake" that tumors can use to suppress the immune response.

4'-Hydroxyacetophenone

How far is 4-hydroxyacetophenone from acetaminophen? Surprisingly, not very far.

2,4,6-Trifluorobenzoyl chloride

One atom is there to leave. Three are there to stay. That's the chemistry hidden inside 2,4,6-trifluorobenzoyl chloride.

2-(2-Chloroethoxy)ethanol

When does a useful pharmaceutical ingredient become an impurity?

3-Fluorophenylacetonitrile

Can a molecule with only eight carbon atoms become part of the architecture of a modern insomnia medicine?

5,6-Dimethoxy-2-(pyridine-4-yl)methylene-indan-1-one

Can you recognize a drug before the molecule is finished? This compound gives us a fascinating chance to try.

1-Cyclopropylnaphthalene

What can a triangle do inside a drug molecule? Quite a lot. 1-Cyclopropylnaphthalene contains one of chemistry's smallest carbon rings—a cyclopropane—attached to the much larger, flat surface of naphthalene.

2,3,4,5-Tetrahydro-7,8-dinitro-3-(trifluoroacetyl)-1,5-methano-1H-3-benzazepine

Its chemical name is almost a paragraph long. It contains two nitro groups, three fluorines, and a strange bridged ring.

Piperazine ferulate

Can a molecule from plant chemistry become part of a kidney medicine simply by changing its salt form?

Pteroic Acid

What happens if you take folic acid apart? You discover another molecule hiding inside it.

Tyramine

Why would a psychiatrist ever tell someone to be careful with... cheese?

Ibuprofen

Did you know that ibuprofen was originally developed as a safer alternative to aspirin?