328
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Stilicho@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A methyl group is the name given to single carbon (with 3 hydrogens attached) when substituted onto a larger chemical moiety (a structure or motif in chemistry). When people speak about methyl groups they're mostly speaking about those single carbon methyl group being attached to a heteroatom (atoms other than carbon and hydrogen in organic chemistry, like nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, etc.).

Methamphetamine (N-methylamphetamine or N-methyl alpha-methyl-phenyl-ethylamine in full form) has a methyl group on it's amine (nitrogen or N-position), which drastically alters its psychological effects and the way it's synthesized by chemists (requiring methylamine). The methyl group there prolonges the stimulating effects, while also providing serotonergic effects (generally euphoric effects caused by interaction with the serotonin receptor transport protein), which gives it much greater addiction potential.

Methyl groups in general don't "make drugs stronger" like the other guy said. To consider drug receptor interaction you need to take into account how well a molecule fits into the receptor you're targetting as a whole.

[-] hazeebabee@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 year ago

Thats super interesring. It always amazes me how a small modification like a methyl group can so drastically alter the psychoactive properties of a substance. The body is such a nuanced and complicated system, its fascinating.

I really hope drug laws change so that we can see more research being done. Things like this help us learn more about not just the sustance, but the way our chemisty works & how our concious experience is shaped.

If you have any cool links on this topic, id love to browse them. Either way thanks for your run down on methyl groups :)

[-] Eheran@lemmy.fmhy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Moiety? Motif? Never heard of these things in this context. Why not just compound or structure? Good post otherwise.

[-] Stilicho@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm not referring to the compound or structure as a whole with this. Calling anything a moiety is just a way of singling out one specific part of a molecule, without it having to be a specific functional group in chemistry (like amines, alcohols, methoxy groups, halides, ketones, etc.). It's sometimes also called a motif in the same way that repeating paterns in art can be a motif.

You're right that I probably put that in a confusing way. What I meant is that methyl groups are mostly used in the context of methoxy groups and secondary (like methamphetamine) and tertiary amines/imines and ethers, but sometimes also with a carbon - carbon bond, which isn't really the same thing.

this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
328 points (97.4% liked)

Don’t You Know Who I Am?

3812 readers
1 users here now

Posts of people not realising the person they’re talking to, is the person they’re talking about.

Acceptable examples include:

Discussions on any topic are encouraged but arguements are not welcome in this community. Participate in good faith - don’t be aggressive and don’t argue for arguments sake.

The posts here are not original content, the poster is not OP and doesn’t necessarily agree with or condone the views in the post. The poster is not looking to argue with you about the content in the post.

Rules:

This community follows the rules of the lemmy.world instance and the lemmy.org code of conduct. I’ve summarised them here:

  1. Be civil, remember the human.
  2. No insulting or harassing other members. That includes name calling.
  3. Censor any identifying info of private individuals in the posts. This includes surnames and social media handles.
  4. Respect differences of opinion. Civil discussion/debate is fine, arguing is not. Criticise ideas, not people.
  5. Keep unrequested/unstructured critique to a minimum. If you wish to discuss how this community is run please comment on the stickied post so all meta conversations are in one place.
  6. Remember we have all chosen to be here voluntarily. Respect the spent time and effort people have spent creating posts in order to share something they find amusing with you.
  7. Swearing in general is fine, swearing to insult another commenter isn’t.
  8. No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia or any other type of bigotry.
  9. No incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies.

Please report comments that break site or community rules to the mods. If you break the rules you’ll receive one warning before being banned from this community.

PLEASE READ LEMMY.ORG’S CITIZEN CODE OF CONDUCT: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/code_of_conduct.html

PLEASE READ LEMMY.WORLD’S CODE OF CONDUCT: https://lemmy.world/legal

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS