So the prototype drug was in the old days a contraction of the chemical name (thus 3-(2-chloro-10H-phenothiazin-10-yl)-N,N-dimethyl-propan-1-amine become chlorpromazine, or 2-hydroxy- 3-(naphthalen- 1-yloxy) propyl] (propan- 2-yl) amine becomes propranolol), and now may be named so it sounds neat, and then if they're nice they keep the ending the same so you can figure out what the drug does :)
Of course we had to memorize all this crap in med school. The 'vir's are, unsurprisingly, antivirals. 'Ole's are antifungals (gimme that ole-time fungus-killin', it's good enough for me) , from 'triazole' and 'imidazole', 'cause the prototypes used to have five-membered heterocyclic rings with two or three nitrogens in them.
The 'niums' are usually muscle relaxants, and they do in fact have a positively charged nitrogen in many cases to mimic the nitrogen in choline (remember 'ammonium'?) I hit my NIUM and now I can't move!
Anxiety drugs usually end in 'iam', the first big seller (not the prototype) was Valium, or diazepam. The drugs are also known as benzodiazepines... I AM calm.
ACE inhibitors, yet another class of anti-blood pressure meds, end in 'pril' after captopril.
'sone's are steroids...and most of them do have the carbonyl group at the end that gives you an 'one' in chemistry-land. Also in testosterone...which gets changed into estradiol by aromatase, which in fact really does create an aromatic ring in the molecule. Yes, the female hormone is made from the male hormone. I kid you not. I'm SONE (sewing) my immune system into place.
'Cyclines' are antibiotics of the tetracycline class, which usually do have four rings.
Of course the 'cillins' are penicillin derivatives, but the names of ten relate to the chemistry too. Ampicillin has an AMino group, whereas Amoxicillin has an AMino and an OXygen attached...carbenicillin has a CARBoxyl group attached, whereas piperacillin has a PIPERazine (six-membered ring with two Ns).
I got a million of 'em...
Same with the 'micins' and 'mycins', which I think IUPAC chemical names are the closest to the fantasy concept of a True Name. Tells you EXACTLY what it is...
Ah, finally all the geeky knowledge is useful...
Of course we had to memorize all this crap in med school. The 'vir's are, unsurprisingly, antivirals.
'Ole's are antifungals (gimme that ole-time fungus-killin', it's good enough for me) , from 'triazole' and 'imidazole', 'cause the prototypes used to have five-membered heterocyclic rings with two or three nitrogens in them.
The 'niums' are usually muscle relaxants, and they do in fact have a positively charged nitrogen in many cases to mimic the nitrogen in choline (remember 'ammonium'?) I hit my NIUM and now I can't move!
Anxiety drugs usually end in 'iam', the first big seller (not the prototype) was Valium, or diazepam. The drugs are also known as benzodiazepines... I AM calm.
ACE inhibitors, yet another class of anti-blood pressure meds, end in 'pril' after captopril.
'sone's are steroids...and most of them do have the carbonyl group at the end that gives you an 'one' in chemistry-land. Also in testosterone...which gets changed into estradiol by aromatase, which in fact really does create an aromatic ring in the molecule. Yes, the female hormone is made from the male hormone. I kid you not.
I'm SONE (sewing) my immune system into place.
'Cyclines' are antibiotics of the tetracycline class, which usually do have four rings.
Of course the 'cillins' are penicillin derivatives, but the names of ten relate to the chemistry too. Ampicillin has an AMino group, whereas Amoxicillin has an AMino and an OXygen attached...carbenicillin has a CARBoxyl group attached, whereas piperacillin has a PIPERazine (six-membered ring with two Ns).
I got a million of 'em...
Same with the 'micins' and 'mycins', which
I think IUPAC chemical names are the closest to the fantasy concept of a True Name. Tells you EXACTLY what it is...