Friday, April 10, 2020

Day 1 - Fatal Attraction

Blame Sarin.


"I won't be ignored."

4 comments:

Sarin said...

Delicious.

Saw a decent read over at Herschel's blog about why hydroxychloroquine works that's been apparently scrubbed from the interwebs. Link for posterity: https://www.captainsjournal.com/2020/04/08/why-hydroxychloroquine-works/

From the publication of known symptoms and ensuing pandemonium, I've been wondering if we're dealing with something that's like a Blood Agent (horrible name, but not germane to the discussion) from the Chemical Warfare spectrum.

Symptoms are similar in nature and the read there is spot on and could almost be used to describe what happens when affected by a Blood Agent. Only discernable difference, between the CW agents (CK and/or AC Cyanogen chloride and Hydrogen Cyanide, respectively) and COVID-19, outside of the obvious, is that the hemoglobin and associated Fe aren't freed triggering the liver response which is indicator #2.

Doubt that there'd be any efficacy for CW blood agent treatment, but interesting that this thing is seemingly a combination of a blood agent and biological agent simultaneously. Makes me question the origin a little more.

Warren said...

Just wondering, but isn't HDQL basically quinine water with a dash of chlorine? Not saying we should drink bleach but stocking up on quinine/tonic water might not be such a bad idea,

Maybe to be on the safe side we should all drink a tumbler or two a day as a sort of a prophylactic protection. Perhaps add a couple of ice cubes made from city water which has a bit of chlorine in it, maybe a jigger (can I still use that word?) of Gin to soften the taste of the quinine

Aesop said...

@Warren,

Sir John Marbury on ancient cures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAnwYfEUtLw

ThatWouldBeTelling said...

Just wondering, but isn't HDQL basically quinine water with a dash of chlorine?

Look at the two molecules, quinine and hydroxychloroquine, or their full chemical names vs. the preceding shorthand versions:

(R)-(6-Methoxyquinolin-4-yl)[(1S,2S,4S,5R)-5-vinylquinuclidin-2-yl]methanol
or
(RS)-2-[{4-[(7-chloroquinolin-4-yl)amino]pentyl}(ethyl)amino]ethanol

The one thing they share in common, and that's no doubt critical, especially since it's at the end of each molecule and they both have the same rough shape, a quinoline group, a naphthalene as in old fashioned moth balls, with one carbon replaced with a nitrogen in a particular location. And directly opposite that nitrogen is a long chain of atoms, but on the other side, different for each, and the hydroxychloroquine's chlorine is in a different location than quinine's bigger methoxy group. Those are the "7-chloroquinolin" vs. "6-Methoxyquinolin" bits.

So for a first guess, assume it's like all the beta-lactam antibiotics (note "R" means "random stuff starts here"). The beta-lactam group does the dirty work, the other stuff helps put it in the right place, changes what it can attack, allows it to be taken by mouth instead of by injection for original penicillin, last longer in the body than the 4 hours for original penicillin (30 minute half-life), etc. etc.