Valerian is a dietary supplement that was first sold in the United States in 1994, but has been historically utilized as a medicinal herb since the days of ancient Greece and Rome. It is understood to possess anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) and hypnotic (sleep-induction) properties and has been subject to investigation for the treatment of anxiety disorders …
Inositol is a non-essential nutrient and natural sugar present within phospholipids of cell membranes, plasma lipoproteins, and the nuclei. Chemically, there are 9 subtypes of inositol each with distinctive stereoisomers, the most common of which is known as “myo-inositol.” Within the human body, myo-inositol is synthesized from glucose and accounts for 95% of total free …
Modafinil (brand name “Provigil”) is a blockbuster eugeroic drug synthesized by Cephalon Pharmaceuticals (now Teva) and approved in 1998 for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) associated with narcolepsy. It was since approved for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness associated with obstructive sleep apnea, as well as to normalize circadian rhythms in diagnoses …
Adrafinil (Olmifon) is a eugeroic agent originally synthesized in the 1970s by chemists at Group Lafon, a pharmaceutical company based in France. Following its synthesis, researchers discovered that adrafinil induced wakefulness in humans, and by the mid-1980s, it was being marketed as an experimental treatment for narcolepsy. Though its exact pharmacodynamics aren’t fully elucidated, adrafinil …
Noopept (N-phenylacetyl-L-prolylglycine ethyl ester) is a synthetic peptide manufactured in Russia by JSC LEKKO Pharmaceuticals. Chemically, noopept is a hydrophilic proline with a dipeptide structure consisting of a phenylacetyl subunit bound to a small peptide chain of proline and glycine. Although it isn’t technically classified as a “racetam” (due to its lacking of a 2-oxo-pyrrolidine …
Piracetam is a drug that was synthesized in 1964 by Corneliu E. Giurgea et al. at the pharmaceutical company “UCB” headquartered in Belgium. Chemically, it is identified as 2-oxo-1-pyrrolidine acetamide, shares the same base structure with pyroglutamic acid, and as a result of its pyrrolidone nucleus, is classified as a “racetam” compound. Following the synthesis …
Curcumin is a yellowish-colored compound derived from turmeric (a curry spice within the Ginger family) that is often taken as a dietary supplement and/or utilized as a food additive. It was initially isolated from turmeric in 1815, chemically mapped in 1910, and thereafter formally classified as a “diarylheptanoid” (as a result of its chemical structure …