EXPLORATION 2:

How does a bioactive molecule enter your body and get to the active site where it works?

Delivery: Uptake and Transport

Chemicals can enter our body orally, dermally (through the skin) and through inhalation (the tissue in the lungs). In most examples, in order to be bioactive the chemical must make it into the blood stream and be transported to the organ that is affected. This may be desired or it may not be, for example aspirin being used for a headache versus a pesticide entering your body that is intended for an insect.

For reading on entry and fate of chemicals see: http://extoxnet.orst.edu/tibs/entryfat.htm


Group Exercises:

#1. Select all of the items in the following list that you believe are important in uptake and transport of a bioactive molecule. Briefly explain the basis for each of selections,

_ Physical State: gas, liquid, solid at ambient temperature and pressure.

_ Solubility in water.

_ Solubility in non-polar solvents (lipids).

_ Melting point / boiling point.

_ Mixtures with other materials: solvents, surfactants.

_ Crystal size and shape.

_ Compound color.

_ Ultraviolet or infrared absorbance of electromagnetic radiation.

_ Optical rotation of polarized light.

_ Polarity (Dipole moment).

_ Chemical Reactivity. 


Individual Exercise:
 


#2. Identify the chemical function and draw the structure for your assigned compound which has come from the following:
 

Aldicarb, Carbofuran, Propoxur, Neostigmine
TEPP, Paraoxon, Parathion, Diazinon, Chlorpyrifos
Penicillin G, Penicillin V, Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Cephalexin
Sulfanilamide, Sulfanilylurea, Sulfacetamide, Sulfathiazole
Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Ketoprofen
#3. Using any resource such as the Merck index, CRC Chemical Handbook and/or the Web:

List the available physical chemical data that you can find for the compound assigned. (Note: All of the data in first list will likely not be available. It will vary from compound to compound.) From your checked list in question #1, and using the actual data, select the most important property that would favor uptake and delivery; briefly discuss the reason why. Select a second property that would impede uptake and delivery of the chemical and again briefly discuss why you think so. (If you cannot find actual data, select an item without data for general discussion purposes.)