How are active ingredients in medications made?

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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

5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Organic Chemistry (mostly)

Active ingredients are just molecules, some small, some large.

They all come from basic molecules and we learn to put them together with some chemical reactions.

Those molecules are created/synthesized from other basic smaller molecules with various other chemicals ingredients and processes.

Most of the time, larger molecules are created in steps with various intermediate molecules.

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