Truth serum

Alkaloids range from the belladonna alkaloids, such as atropine and scopalomine—which are used as poisons, cold remedies, and truth serums —to dextromethorphan, a cough suppressant (anti-tussive). But the most widely known alkaloids are the opiates, such as morphine, heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone, and methadone. These act on... 

Dr. Lincoln Clark, at the University of Oregon, for example, had published an article about this subject years earlier, in which he had tried sodium amytal (the popular notion of a truth serum), and various other drugs. It would appear that agents such as BZ and EA 3834 might challenge the conclusions drawn from Dr. Clark s experiments. (The CIA had already tried LSD for the same purpose and found they could not use it reliably to extract deliberately withheld information.)... 

Traube purine synthesis, 423 Triamcinolone, 201 Triamcinolone acetonide, 201 Triamterine, 427 Triazines, synthesis, 280 Triazolam, 368 Trichlomethiazide, 359 Trichomonas, 238 Tricyclic antidepressants, 149 Trifluoperidol, 306 Trifluoromethyl group, potentiation of biologic activity, 380 Triflupromazine, 380, 381 Trihexyphenidil, 47 Triiodothyronine, 95 Trimeprazine, 378 Trimethadione, 232 Trimethobenzamide, 110 Trimethoprim, 262 Trioxsalen, 334 Tripelenamine, 51 Triprolidine, 78 Tropinone, 5 Tropocaine, 7 Truth serum, 274... 

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, federal investigators discussed the use of truth serum to obtain information from jailed terrorism suspects. The serum is the barbiturate thiopental, which is also known as pentothal sodium. The use of this drug to make a reluctant person talk has been portrayed in movies, books, and on television. 

In large doses, injected intravenously, it would bum and hurt horribly, because it s a salt and because it instantly throws off the chemical balance of the blood with which it comes into contact. It makes all muscles lock up in extreme contraction that would hurt unbearably. It wouldn t get to all muscles when a prisoner is being killed with it, however. Since the heart is a muscle and it pumps the blood -- the minute that massive dose of potassium salt hits the heart, one would be history and that would be as far as it would travel. "In lethal injection, three chemicals are used to kill. First, sodium pentothal (its trade name) or thiopental sodium (its chemical name). Then one minute later they inject pavulon. One minute later the potassium chloride. Pentothal is a short acting barbituric acid (barbiturate used in anaesthesia) and is commonly called "truth serum" as it s used in narcoanalysis. It knocks one out. It s a hypnotic. Pavulon is a curare derivative which locks up the lungs so one can t breathe. 

The process by which one of these personalities reveals itself and controls behavior is called switching. Most of the time the change is sudden and takes only seconds. Sometimes, however, it can take from hours or days. Switching is often triggered by something that happens in the patient s environment, but personalities can also come out under hypnosis or when the patient is given amyl nitrate ( truth serum ). 

Histidine is a precursor of a very limited number of alkaloids. The most well-known is pilocarpine from Pilocarpus jaborandi. The plant was formerly used as a truth serum (diaphoretic activity), and the alkaloid is used to counter the mydriatic effects of atropine. 

Not all barbiturates are used as tranquilizing agents alone. Sodium pentothal, popular once in dentistry, has also been used as a truth serum in specific amounts. 

In 1941, scientists tested MDA as a treatment for Parkinson s disease, but it caused muscle stiffness in at least one of the patients involved in the experiment, so the study was discontinued. Still, scientists continued to experiment with MDA and the drugs related to it, including MDMA. In the 1950s, the U.S. military briefly considered MDMA as a possibility in its search for a "truth serum" that could make interrogations easier. 

Sodium Pentothal is a short-acting barbiturate derivative used as a general anesthetic and known in popular culture as a truth serum. It is synthesized like other barbiturates (see the A Deeper Look at the end of this chapter), using thiourea, (H2N)2C=S, in place of urea. How would you synthesize Sodium Pentothal ... 

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