CHEMISTRY INVOLVED IN LSD DRUGS
LSD is a chiral molecule with two stereocenters at carbon atoms C-5 and C-8, allowing for the existence of four distinct optical isomers of LSD. LSD, also known as (+)-D-LSD, has the absolute configuration (5R,8R). The C-5 isomers of lysergamides do not exist in nature and cannot be synthesised from d-lysergic acid. The C-5 stereocenter might be analysed retrosynthetically as having the same configuration as the alpha carbon of the naturally occurring amino acid L-tryptophan, which is the precursor of all biosynthetic ergoline molecules. However, because the alpha proton is acidic and may be deprotonated and reprotonated, LSD and iso-LSD,…