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Pharmacology & Chemistry

Looking back on ICPR 2024 – the leading interdisciplinary conference on psychedelic research

September 13, 2024 / Anthropology & Sociology, Biology & Ethnobotany, Ethics, Humanities & Art, Neuroscience, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Philosophy & Religious Studies, Policy, Law & Economics, Psychiatry & Medicine, Psychology, Technology / By

It’s been 2 months since the leading conference on psychedelic research in Europe, ICPR 2024, took place in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Despite having taken steps to integrate it all, the OPEN foundation team has accepted that we still lack the words to convey what the whole event felt like and meant to us.

Pia Dijkstra – Minister of Healthcare, The Netherlands – Opening ICPR 2024

From combating prejudice and stigma back in 2007 to having not one but two subsequent Ministers of Healthcare lining up to inaugurate ICPR, our mission to advance psychedelic research to benefit science, healthcare and society has come a long way.

At ICPR 2024, we had it all, from Minister from the Netherlands, Pia Dijkstra’s moving opening speech to the heartfelt realities shared by trial participants Maryam Zahra Jabir and Patty B., the Wet Blanket Award for presentations representing rigor and critical thinking’ awarded to Dr. Jamila Hokanson, M.D, MBA, the kind of deep thinking showcased by Leor Roseman, Erik Davis’ magnificent storytelling and accompanying visuals, the important discussions around decolonization curated by Yogi H., and so so so much more.

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You might imagine why the OPEN Foundation & ICPR team was unable to attend most talks on-site. Yet, via the high-quality recordings (more on this will follow), we didn’t miss out. What we saw was consistently great.

Immense effort went into crafting ICPR’s mind-blowing programme. And no doubt those efforts have been worth it. ICPR embodied the true spirit of interdisciplinarity: from clinical trial design, neuroscience, archaeology, integration, psychotherapy, adverse events, spirituality, literary analysis—it was all there.

The programme and ICPR 2024 fulfilled their purpose: to gather and facilitate conversation and connection between open-minded, committed, curious, and caring individuals whose collective perspective creates a critical and constructive narrative for what psychedelics mean moving forward in 21st-century Europe.

Vibrant lunch breaks @ICPR

We are honored and humbled by the ICPR 2024, the progress in the field of psychedelic research and therapy, and what lies ahead. Lastly, gratitude. Gratitude, for our co-creation, persists. Fortunately so, as it’s our fuel to do our part in this ongoing process of integrating psychedelics safely and responsibly into healthcare and society.

Thank you,
The OPEN & ICPR team

And please, a big applause for….. the rockstar volunteers who made ICPR 2024 possible!

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In loving memory of ann shulgin

October 22, 2024 / 2C-Compounds, MDMA, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Scienitific Discipline, Substance / By / , ,

Ann Shulgin, the wife of renowned chemist genius Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin, passed away at age 91 on July 9. Both were extraordinary human beings and pioneers in the field of psychedelic research, particularly due to their significant contribution in the development and therapeutic use of (novel) psychedelic compounds. To honor both, we gladly share some of her history and both their legacy.

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Laura Ann Gotlieb was born in Wellington, New Zealand on March 22, 1931, and shortly thereafter lived an extraordinary life, spending her time in various places around the world, including Italy, Cuba, Canada, and finally the Bay Area in the US when the Beatnik generation was in full swing. She got married, and divorced, three times and then met her fourth husband, Sasha Shulgin, in the Fall of 1978. After three years of spending time together, they got married in Sasha’s backyard during a surprise ceremony by an official of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Yes, the DEA. 

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Ann used to work as a medical transcriber in San Francisco and probably became familiar with Jungian psychology through her third husband who was a Jungian psychiatrist. It was only later after marrying Sasha that she got involved in the development of novel psychedelic compounds. During this period, she started practicing psychedelic-assisted therapy in conjunction with MDMA or 2C-B at a time when these substances were still legal. She became a strong adherent of Jungian psychoanalysis and believed that psychedelics have huge potential for self-actualization when used within such a framework. 

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The development and various discoveries of other psychedelics together led to the authoring of two books: PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story and TIHKAL: The Continuation. Respectively, these titles are  acronyms for “Phenethylamines/Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved.” Partly fictional autobiography and partly considered “pretty much cookbooks on how to make illegal drugs” by the DEA, both Ann and Sasha were filled with passion and courage to describe no more than over 179 different psychedelic compounds – all with the main goal of releasing information about psychedelic compounds and its therapeutic properties to the public. Psychedelics, they both believed, were there as valuable tools for human beings to explore and self-actualize. Ann briefly appears on a recent episode of Hamilton’s pharmacopeia, where we see that she continued to live in the house that contains the original lab of Sasha.

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We are forever grateful for their contribution to the development and therapeutic use of (novel) psychedelic compounds and aim to continue their legacy. 

LSD, My Problem Child

June 15, 2022 / Humanities & Art, LSD, Pharmacology & Chemistry / Leave a Comment / By

LSD, My Problem Child. Albert Hofmann. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978-0198840206

In a highly candid and personal account, the father of LSD details the history of his “problem child” and his long and fruitful career as a research chemist. An essential read for anyone wanting to learn about how LSD originated and Hofmann’s view on its transition to recreational use.

Buy this book through bookdepository.com and support the OPEN Foundation

Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism

February 3, 2022 / Biology & Ethnobotany, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Philosophy & Religious Studies / Leave a Comment / By

Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. Daniel Pinchbeck. Broadway Books. ISBN: 978-0767907439

Daniel Pinchbeck tells the story of the encounters between the modern consciousness of the West and psychedelic substances, including thinkers like Allen Ginsberg, Antonin Artaud, Walter Benjamin, and Terence McKenna, and the new wave present-day ethnobotanists, chemists, psychonauts and philosophers.

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TIHKAL: The Continuation

February 2, 2022 / Pharmacology & Chemistry / Leave a Comment / By

TIHKAL: The Continuation. Alexander Shulgin, Ann Shulgin. Transform Press. ISBN: 978-0963009692

In a sequel to PiHKAL, the first part continues the story of the Shulgins’ relationship and the second part provided synthesis information about tryptamines. Shulgin has made the second part freely available on Erowid.org.

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PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story

February 2, 2022 / Pharmacology & Chemistry / Leave a Comment / By

PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story. Alexander Shulgin, Ann Shulgin. Transform Press. ISBN: 978-0963009609

One part fictionalized autobiography of the Shulgin’s relationship and one part chemistry cookbook for a variety of phenethylamines. This book is not easy to get your hands on and while it is considered a classic text, the second part of the part will not be easily accessible to those without knowledge of chemistry. The Shulgin’s were motivated to make the synthesis information of these compounds readily available to protect public access to this information.

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Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of 5-Methylpsilocybin: A Tryptamine with Potential Psychedelic Activity

February 21, 2022 / Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Papers, Pharmacology & Chemistry / Leave a Comment / By / , , , ,

Abstract

A novel analogue of psilocybin was produced by hybrid chemoenzymatic synthesis in sufficient quantity to enable bioassay. Utilizing purified 4-hydroxytryptamine kinase from Psilocybe cubensis, chemically synthesized 5-methylpsilocin (2) was enzymatically phosphorylated to provide 5-methylpsilocybin (1). The zwitterionic product was isolated from the enzymatic step with high purity utilizing a solvent-antisolvent precipitation approach. Subsequently, 1 was tested for psychedelic-like activity using the mouse head-twitch response assay, which indicated activity that was more potent than the psychedelic dimethyltryptamine, but less potent than that of psilocybin.

Fricke, J., Sherwood, A. M., Halberstadt, A. L., Kargbo, R. B., & Hoffmeister, D. (2021). Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of 5-Methylpsilocybin: A Tryptamine with Potential Psychedelic Activity. Journal of natural products, 84(4), 1403–1408. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c00087

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A non-hallucinogenic psychedelic analogue with therapeutic potential

January 21, 2022 / Iboga / Ibogaine, Neuroscience, Papers, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Substance Use Disorder / Leave a Comment / By / , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Abstract

The psychedelic alkaloid ibogaine has anti-addictive properties in both humans and animals1. Unlike most medications for the treatment of substance use disorders, anecdotal reports suggest that ibogaine has the potential to treat addiction to various substances, including opiates, alcohol and psychostimulants. The effects of ibogaine-like those of other psychedelic compounds-are long-lasting2, which has been attributed to its ability to modify addiction-related neural circuitry through the activation of neurotrophic factor signalling3,4. However, several safety concerns have hindered the clinical development of ibogaine, including its toxicity, hallucinogenic potential and tendency to induce cardiac arrhythmias. Here we apply the principles of function-oriented synthesis to identify the key structural elements of the potential therapeutic pharmacophore of ibogaine, and we use this information to engineer tabernanthalog-a water-soluble, non-hallucinogenic, non-toxic analogue of ibogaine that can be prepared in a single step. In rodents, tabernanthalog was found to promote structural neural plasticity, reduce alcohol- and heroin-seeking behaviour, and produce antidepressant-like effects. This work demonstrates that, through careful chemical design, it is possible to modify a psychedelic compound to produce a safer, non-hallucinogenic variant that has therapeutic potential.

Cameron, L. P., Tombari, R. J., Lu, J., Pell, A. J., Hurley, Z. Q., Ehinger, Y., Vargas, M. V., McCarroll, M. N., Taylor, J. C., Myers-Turnbull, D., Liu, T., Yaghoobi, B., Laskowski, L. J., Anderson, E. I., Zhang, G., Viswanathan, J., Brown, B. M., Tjia, M., Dunlap, L. E., Rabow, Z. T., … Olson, D. E. (2021). A non-hallucinogenic psychedelic analogue with therapeutic potential. Nature, 589(7842), 474–479. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-3008-z

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Synthesis and Characterization of 5-MeO-DMT Succinate for Clinical Use

September 17, 2024 / 5-MeO-DMT, Papers, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Substance / Leave a Comment / By / , , , ,

Abstract

To support clinical use, a multigram-scale process has been developed to provide 5-MeO-DMT, a psychedelic natural product found in the parotid gland secretions of the toad, Incilius alvarius. Several synthetic routes were initially explored, and the selected process featured an optimized Fischer indole reaction to 5-MeO-DMT freebase in high-yield, from which the 1:1 succinate salt was produced to provide 136 g of crystalline active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) with 99.86% peak area by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and a net yield of 49%. The report provides in-process monitoring, validated analytical methods, impurity formation and removal, and solid-state characterization of the API essential for subsequent clinical development.

Sherwood, A. M., Claveau, R., Lancelotta, R., Kaylo, K. W., & Lenoch, K. (2020). Synthesis and Characterization of 5-MeO-DMT Succinate for Clinical Use. ACS omega, 5(49), 32067–32075. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.0c05099

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Quantum chemical (QM:MM) investigation of the mechanism of enzymatic reaction of tryptamine and N,N-dimethyltryptamine with monoamine oxidase A

January 3, 2022 / DMT, Papers, Pharmacology & Chemistry / Leave a Comment / By / ,

Abstract

The endogenous psychedelic (mind-altering) N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) molecule has an important role in tissue protection, regeneration, and immunity via sigma-1 receptor activation as its natural ligand. The immunologic properties of DMT suggest this biogenic compound should be investigated thoroughly in other aspects as well. In our in silico project, we examined the metabolism of DMT and its primary analogue, the tryptamine (T), by the monoamine oxidase (MAO) flavoenzyme. MAO has two isoforms, MAO-A and MAO-B. MAOs perform the oxidation of various monoamines by their flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) cofactor. Two-layer QM:MM calculations at the ONIOM(M06-2X/6-31++G(d,p):UFF=QEq) level were performed including the whole enzyme to explore the potential energy surface (PES) of the reactions. Our findings reinforced that a hybrid mechanism, a mixture of pure H+ and H– transfer pathways, describes precisely the rate-determining step of amine oxidation as suggested by earlier works. Additionally, our results show that the oxidation of tertiary amine DMT requires a lower activation barrier than the primary amine T. This may reflect a general rule, thus we recommend further investigations. Furthermore, we demonstrated that at pH 7.4 the protonated form of these substrates enter the enzyme. As the deprotonation of substrates is crucial, we presumed protonated cofactor, FADH+, may form. Surprisingly, the activation barriers are much lower compared to FAD with both substrates. Therefore, we suggest further investigations in this direction.

Kubicskó, K., , & Farkas, Ö., (2020). Quantum chemical (QM:MM) investigation of the mechanism of enzymatic reaction of tryptamine and N,N-dimethyltryptamine with monoamine oxidase A. Organic & biomolecular chemistry, 18(47), 9660–9674. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ob01118e

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