​
Hey everyone, i'm an undergrad studying chemistry and i have an interest in psychedelics. I talk to my professors and they help me out as much as they can, but of course i'm not mentioning psychedelics so they can only help so much. Thats what brings me here, i know there are a lot of people on the nexus that are into chemistry.

What i want to do is combine the 2 things that i really like, psychedelics and chemistry. I like both of them individually, but combining them both would be amazing.

The two questions i have are:

1. What are the applications of chemistry to psychedelics? The only things i know of is synthesizing new/old psychedelics, and also learning about the physical chemistry of psychedelics. It's like the effects of psychedelics are irrelevant in chemistry because you're not really focusing on the effects, you're just focusing on the chemistry. It's like theres no difference between working with psychedelics and any other molecule. But at least i would be making some contribution to psychedelics.

2. My 2nd question is, are there fields better suited for studying psychedelics directly? Like biochemistry, pharmacology, neuroscience

I'm thinking something like biochemistry and pharmacology is more suited for studying how psychedelics work and you get to study psychedelics directly. But it seems kind of stupid to go through all those years of college, in a subject i'm not particularly interested in, just so can after 8+ years (most likely more), i can finally study psychedelics.

I've read on the MAPS website how you don't need your career to be about psychedelics to have in interest in psychedelics. I guess thats true, but i feel like i'd like it, and i feel like since my chosen field is pretty relative, it could be possible.

Sorry if this was too long/over explained!

Medicinal and natural product chemistry.
Basically chem of psychoactive compounds in plants and trough synthesis.

Sasha Shulgin seems an apt role model. A lot depends on your concept of "study". A solid foundation in organic chemistry, conceptual and applied, would be useful. Phyto-botanical extraction can be tackled by most clever and motivated schmos. Full on lab synthesis and application/understanding of physical chemistry concepts necessitates all those "stupid" years of college, and then some, to be mastered. Likely, a "gender studies" degree won't get you there.

Fortunately, of late, cultural prohibition on studying the clinical effects of psychedelic compounds does seem to be loosening. However access to pharmaceutical grade drugs and gaining "sanctioned" approval to use them in clinical trials is maddeningly byzantine.

Peace

This is what I do. Natural product chemistry, or natural product total synthesis , is about tackling the tough problems on the frontiers of organic synthesis. Attempting to synthesize complex molecules found in nature, in creative and forward thinking ways. It represents the be all end all of synthesis. Its not just about making the molecule, that is just a arbitrary destination. The discoveries, the magic, happen on the journey. As they do in life.

Psychedelics aren't very complex natural products, their total synthesis is trivial (except for lysergic acid in LSD of course).

Medicinal chemistry, also an area of mine, is concerned with developing new methodologies and small molecule drugs. Psychedelics overlap with this field, for example if you are researching new kinds of ht2a agonists. Organic synthesis overlaps too of course, but again, the molecules are not complex, the synthesis is trivial. I'm interested in developing new methodologies, new reactions, to make some of these compounds. (which, of course, can be accomplished through natural product total synthesis, but it doesn't have to either, just need some problem to draw out the idea.)

Your interest in psychedelics doesn't have to overlap with your career, but it can guide you into interest into something else. I was interested in chemistry from a young age, but psychedelics surely helped clarify what path I was going to go down. I was interested in drugs in generally, got me interested in pharmacology, further into medicinal chemistry.

Though psychedelics, and good people, have helped me, and I want that give back to people what was freely given to me. I just don't know how to do that yet. I have considered going down the medical route, as a doctor maybe I could better help people, but again its the same as you mentioned, I don't want to subject myself to medschool, which to me seems like a terrible learning environment compared to my research environment, so I don't think id enjoy the time in between, id rather stick with chemistry. But i don't need that either. I often wonder if somehow with chemistry I could combine all of these things..