Wonder Drugs

Wonder Drugs

One of the derived compounds, acetylsalicylic acid, or Aspirin, is one of the most widely used over-the-counter drugs in today’s day. The molecule, salicin, is processed and the glucose unit is removed to form the salicylic alcohol, which is oxidized into salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is based on the molecule phenol, except it contains an adjacent carboxyl group. The acylation of salicylic acid leads to the production and synthesis of acetylsalicylic acid; the hydrogen atom on the hydroxyl group is replaced with an acetyl group, CH₃CO. Aspirin is a drug that is used to treat and suppress headaches. Another class of medications, antibiotics, such as penicillin and ampicillin, have been synthesized to treat streptococcal infections and bacterial infections. A molecule of an antibiotic contain the beta-lactam ring, which is responsible for the instability of the molecule. That is why storage of antibiotics is recommended at a particular temperature range. In the human body, upon ingestion, the beta-lactam ring disassembles and the acetyl group travels towards the bacterial enzyme responsible for cell wall formation and deactivates it by acylating it. Since the cell wall structure refers to the component of bacteria and plant-like substances, we are not affected negatively by the antibiotic, unless it is ingested without a sufficient purpose. An adequate supply and production of antibiotics decreased the mortality rate and treated a variety of bacterial infections that precipitated a variety of symptoms and health-threatening conditions. The pharmaceutical industry that has flourished from the isolation of various molecules that would be processed to synthesize medications, today, generated huge profits from the sale of various drugs, such as Aspirin. However, these types of drugs such as Aspirin had to be chemically derived from a molecule present in a certain plant, which requires arduous research. The wonder drugs, two antibiotics and the pain-relieving Aspirin are drugs that have influenced the pharmaceutical industry significantly. Felix Hoffman decided to investigate the properties of salicylic acid, which is isolated as salicin from the Salix tree. Aspirin, a derivative of salicylic acid, relieves pain, reduces inflammation, treats deep-vein thrombosis, prevents cardiovascular diseases, acts as a blood thinner, reduces fever, and decreases the body temperature. Paul Erlich investigated the disease, syphilis, and was aware that the treatment for this disease has been mercury, which has a variety of negative health effects, such as heart failure, dehydration, and suffocation. Gerhard Dogmak also applied a molecule called protosil red, which metabolizes into sulfanilamide in the body, which possesses antibiotic effects, which treats the streptococcal and bacterial infections. A majority of the symptoms that relate to fevers, infections, and diseases are not successfully treated with certain classes of pharmaceuticals that have been derived by certain people in the past. Salicylate poisoning is rare but it may occur if the substance in injected in extremely high quantities and include a variety of symptoms; salicylate poisoning could be treated with hemodialysis. Hemodialysis is a medical technique, in which tubes are connected to the blood stream; a vein and an artery, and the excess substance is removed from the bloodstream or the bloodstream is filtered from a variety of waste products during renal inefficiency. The synthesis of sulfa drugs lead to a lower amount of bacterial infections during the First World War  and prevented gangrene, along with lowering the cases of Botulism from the bacterium, Clostridium botulinum. At lower amounts, these sulfa drugs have an antimicrobial activity. The plant, Penicillium notatum has been used to isolate and synthesize a potential antibiotic. By July 1943, American pharmaceutical companies were already producing and manufacturing approximately 800 million units of various antibiotics. The antibiotics, after they deactivate the cell-formatting enzyme and acylate the bacterial enzyme, prohibit the growth and development of the bacteria. Antibiotics have been synthesized to lower mortality rates and to treat a series of bacterial infections and diseases such as typhus, gastritis, tuberculosis, chorela, pneumonia, and diphtheria New antibiotics are being synthesized and to treat and target other bacterial infections that are present around us to insure safety and to prevent a variety of symptoms from various bacterial diseases. I think that the author’s argument makes sense because the derivation and large-scale production of antibiotics, anti-microbial drugs, and pain-relievers influenced the economy, the trade, and today’s research and applications of similar products. For thousands of years and for prolonged periods of time, medical herbs have been used to cure sickness, relieve pain, and heal wounds. During wars such as the American Civil war, many casualties have occurred to du bacterial infections from wounds; however these issues were counteracted with molecules such as penicillin, apically, sulfa drugs, and phenol, which aided in maintaining sterile and sanitary conditions by serving as a barrier between infection-causing microorganisms. Since the supply of a natural antibiotic, penicillin, has not been as high as the demand for these types of drugs, synthesis counterparts of these types of these molecules should be derived such as synthetic penicillin, or ampicillin, which has an extra NH₂ group incorporated in its molecular structure. Since bacteria of different types have different metabolic pathways and have a different form of toxicity in the body, different antibiotics are being synthesized to target other bacterial infections constantly, which leads to the progression and the expansion of the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, all of the different antibiotics such as the sulfa drugs, penicillin, and ampicillin, have been derived, synthesized, produced and manufactured at a large-scale production to treat bacterial infections and to decrease mortality rates. The development of this industry and the efforts and work of various scientists in the past lead to the development of other drugs similar to the ones synthesized and produced in the past. Aspirin, a pain-reliever, has been synthesized from the molecule salicin, which is present in the Salix tree, to treat a variety of symptoms from fever and to prevent health-threatening disorders that could occur as a result of a high blood pressure or density. Today, the over-the counter-drug, Aspirin, generates huge profits because it is one of the most widely purchased drugs at the pharmacy. The common drug, Aspirin, which is purchased by large amounts of people in a short period of time, has been isolated and derived through a few simple chemical reactions by Felix Hoffman, which has impacted society and civilization due to its increasing demand and biochemical activity, such as reducing headaches.