How 'Heavy Hydrogen' makes Drugs work: Deuterium in Pharmaceuticals, Organic Chemistry & Synthesis

Organic chemistry does not only use abundant forms of atoms but also rare isotopes such as deuterium - the heavy form of hydrogen. Addition of "the D" can completely transform a molecule's reactivity and pharmacokinetic properties. Watch this to find out more about the physical chemistry, biochemistry and organic synthesis associated with Deuterium and more specifically, the discovery route and large-scale process behind the second deuterated drug to be approved by the US FDA, deucravacitinib (Sotyktu).

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00:00 Why you should care about D
01:40 Deuterium's discovery and application in medicinal chemistry (deutetrabenazine)
06:44 Psoriasis landscape, key molecules and mechanisms of action
09:08 Deucravacitinib Tyk 2 deep dive and outlook
12:33 Discovery chemistry route overview
14:54 Process chemistry route deep dive

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No information on this channel is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of information on Youtube.

Some recommended books on organic synthesis:
- Clayden, Greeves, Warren; Organic Chemistry (basic organic chemistry knowledge)
- Wyatt, Warren; Organic Synthesis: The Disconnection Approach (excellent introduction to retrosynthesis)
- Kurti, Czako; Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis (extensive toolkit of functional group reactions and applications thereof with common conditions)
- Nicolaou et al; Classics in Total Synthesis 1-3 (the ultimate total synthesis trilogy)
- Nicolaou; Molecules That Changed the World (the world's most important molecules and their impact on everyday life)
- Carreira, Kvaerno; Classics in Stereoselective Synthesis (compilation of the groundbreaking methods of stereoselective synthesis and application to synthesis of stereochemically complex structures)

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[dkozersky]

you are, far and away, one of the most effective youtube chemistry channels at teaching.

[kevinmarrs]

I can’t say a huge amount about this due to confidentially but the drug at 12:33 (CTP-543) was a project that I worked on during my time in the pharmaceutical industry. It’s still an active project. Ive since moved on to do a PhD but it was certainly an interesting experience to learn about substituting deuterium into drugs to improve their efficacy.

[milsomas]

As someone who went from a more organic chemistry focus to chemical biology, this video and channel is perfection. Keep the total synthesis videos coming! Your explanations of science concepts is direct and understandable, keep up the good work, subscribed.

[totalsynthesis]

Stay tuned for more videos in the near-future - make sure you're subscribed and enable notifications!

[ianbd]

Incredibly impressive video I can't say I understood all of it but it's certainly gave me an insight thank you so much

[definetlynotacomment]

Wow didn't expect this to go into process chemistry! Learning about pharmacokinetics is always interesting.
This type of video is a blessing.

Ist zwar etwas spät, aber: Frohes Neues! :D

[thechemist]

This synthesis clearly shows that process chemist are the best chemist out there ! 👨‍🔬

[yannikesser]

Amazing video! Just learned about kinetic isotope effects last semester in Phys Org, interesting to see there are actual uses beyond mechanistic studies.

[redwood]

The way you describe chemistry is exquisitely beautiful....

[jorgejimenez]

That diazoketone ring forming reaction was cool.

[petevenuti]

One of the most fascinating of your videos that I have watched so far!

[expiredgoatmeal]

very interesting video! loving this medchem/investigational style

[espltdm]

really good video covering many areas of chemistry within a single topic

[alexandraschneider]

Omg I was waiting so long for another video!!🔥🔥🔥

[chefboyardab]

Aye bro i really like your channel and how you explain things. One of my favorites!

[kalrbaum]

Man, I love some good process chemistry!

[PotooBurd]

Love your work! Comenting for the algorithm 🌻

[johnfox]

Beautiful discussion of the organic synthesis; though it did bring me some unpleasant flashbacks of undergrad pchem.

[romainbonnot]

The mastery of the morph effect in ppt is impressive 😂

[Stonie]

great video and research of the topic... This is so intrereting, and I still lmao about the cylo-proply swag😆