THE DETOXICATION AND EXCRETION OF BETA PHENYLISOPROPYLAMINE (BENZEDRINE)

¹ From the Departments of Physiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Biochemistry, Western Kentucky State College, Bowling Green

A new method is described for the detection and determination of benzedrine. The principle of the color reaction is the coupling of betaphenylisopropylamine with para nitrobenzenediazonium chloride with resulting color formation when the solution of the coupled compound is made alkaline.

The method has been adapted to a study of the manner in which the body eliminates phenylisopropylamine. It was found that somewhat less than half the amount of the compound was excreted within 48 hours following ingestion. In man the per cent excreted of a given dose generally paralleled the volume output of urine. The per cent excreted was usually greater for the smaller doses. Individuals varied in their ability to excrete optically active forms of the drug.

In an attempt to account for the remainder of the drug several experiments were conducted. By means of these it was shown: 1) that not just half but probably all the drug is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, 2) hydrolysis of urine samples does not result in a greater yield of the amine, and 3) amine oxidase apparently does not activate oxidative deamination of benzedrine. From the fact that the excretion of the drug so markedly outlasts its physiological effect, and that impairing the function of certain organs by carbon tetrachloride increased to 100 per cent the amount of the drug excreted per 24 hours the following deduction was made. Benzedrine is apparently slowly and partially inactivated in the body by a loose combination with some agent normally contained therein. Whether the drug is then partially destroyed, or excreted slowly over a period of several days either free or so loosely combined as to be not apparently conjugated is the problem of a present investigation.

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