pitubo said:Found this interesting in relation to some of the above discussions:
Unifying electron transfer mechanism for psilocybin and psilocin
Kovacic, Peter
Medical Hypotheses , Volume 73 , Issue 4 , 626
DOI: Redirecting
Attached is a picture from another article by the same author, titled "Novel, unifying mechanism for mescaline in the central nervous system" (full pdf here)In 2005, a unifying mechanism for the psychic action and toxicity of abused drugs was proposed based on electron transfer (ET)[1]. Among the principal ET functionalities, one of the main ones is the quinone category which is usually formed as a metabolite. The abused drugs that appear to function by the quinone route include amphetamine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, morphine, heroin, phenobarbital, and aspirin. Recently, mescaline has been added to the list [2].
Psilocybin, present in certain mushrooms, is a hallucinogen belonging to the tryptamine family. It has been banned in most countries. In vivo, psilocybin is converted by dephosphorylation into the phenol psilocin which also exhibits psychedelic (hallucinogenic) properties. Studies have been carried out entailing enzymatic oxidation which provide important evidence concerning the mechanistic mode. The product from psilocin, possessing a deep blue color, is believed to contain an o-quinone structure [3]. A similar result was obtained in a subsequent investigation in which the product was assigned either an o-quinone or iminoquinone structure [4].
Psilocybin yielded a similar result in accord with facile cleavage to psilocin. o-Quinones display quite favorable ET properties. The data fit nicely into the prior unifying framework involving participation of ET entities in the physiological activity [1]. There has been scant attention paid to action mode at the fundamental molecular level.
Pharmacological studies were reported on receptor participation [5]. Psilocin behaves as a partial agonist at the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor in the brain. It is not surprising that the effects are somewhat related to those of serotonin which possesses a closely related structure.
In conclusion, the quinoidal metabolite from enzymatic oxidation of psilocin and its capability to undergo ET which apparently plays a crucial role in drug action, support the earlier mechanistic hypothesis.
^ this is really cool. Those are sexy looking quinones, can definitely see where that blue colour comes from now. nice pi system. good flow.