For instance, adderall, from what I’ve seen it looks like the main active ingredient is d-amphetamine and l-amphetamine salts. But I guess what I’m not understanding is HOW is THAT made? I am assuming amphetamine doesn’t naturally occur anywhere, (example. like a plant that’s grown and used to extract whatever out of.) So where are the active ingredients coming from? Or derived from? Do all medication ingredients essentially come from SOMETHING growing naturally the wild?
I’m sorry if this wasn’t asked correctly, basically I understand there’s people or machines in a lab creating and mixing ingredients to MAKE adderall, but where are these ingredients coming from?
In: Biology
There is no fixed answer. Some ingredients are derived from recently grown plant materials, some are derived from minerals (ie different kind of rocks) mined from the ground, others are created from things like crude oil. Some can be extracted from animals. Others can be extracted from things like yeast, bacteria and algae that produce certain chemicals as byproducts.
Multiple processing steps are necessary, some ingredients from huge industrial factories like crude oil distillation or ore refining. Some from smaller factories like extracting plant materials. These raw materials can be sent to other labs to make other intermediate materials. Finally the actual compounds are made in specialized labs that buy these intermediate materials.
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