List of psychedelic chemists

This is a list of psychedelic chemists, or of chemists who first identified, isolated, and/or synthesized specific psychedelic drugs or otherwise contributed to psychedelic chemistry: ^[1]

• Albert Hofmann – discovered LSD, isolated psilocybin from psilocybin-containing mushrooms and ergine from morning glory, developed numerous lysergamides and some psilocybin analogues
• Alexander Shulgin – developed numerous psychedelic phenethylamines and tryptamines ^{[2] [3]}
• Arthur Heffter – isolated mescaline
• Charles D. Nichols – developed certain medically intended psychedelics such as 2C-iBu
• Daniel Trachsel – developed numerous psychedelic phenethylamines ^{[4] [5] [6]}
• Darrell Lemaire – developed the TWEETIO psychedelics
• David E. Nichols – developed numerous psychedelic phenethylamines, tryptamines, and lysergamides
• David E. Olson – founder of Delix Therapeutics, developed various psychedelic-related drugs such as tabernanthalog, zalsupindole, and JRT
• David Repke – developed numerous psychedelic tryptamines ^[7]
• Gordon Alles – discovered MDA, the first synthetic psychedelic
• Hamilton Morris – developed various psychedelics
• Jason Wallach – developed various psychedelics
• Lizard Labs (Alexander Stratford) – developed numerous LSD prodrugs such as 1P-LSD and 1V-LSD
• Louis Lewin – attempted to isolate mescaline
• Matthew J. Baggott – founder of Tactogen, developed novel entactogens and psychedelics
• Peyton Jacob III – worked with Alexander Shulgin developing psychedelics
• Richard Glennon – developed numerous psychedelic phenethylamines and tryptamines
• Robert Oberlender – a student in the lab of David E. Nichols who developed and studied various psychedelics and entactogens
• Stephen Szára – discovered the effects of DMT, developed various psychedelic DMT analogues
• William Leonard Pickard – manufactured LSD and tested other psychedelics like 5-fluoro-AMT, 6-fluoro-AMT, and possibly LSZ

See also

• List of psychedelic drugs

References

1. Walker, Scott R.; Pullella, Glenn A.; Piggott, Matthew J.; Duggan, Peter J. (5 July 2023). "Introduction to the chemistry and pharmacology of psychedelic drugs". Australian Journal of Chemistry. 76 (5): 236–257. doi: 10.1071/CH23050 . ISSN   0004-9425 . Retrieved 19 October 2025.
2. Shulgin, Alexander; Shulgin, Ann (September 1991). PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story. Berkeley, California: Transform Press. ISBN   0-9630096-0-5. OCLC   25627628.
3. Shulgin, Alexander; Shulgin, Ann (September 1997). TiHKAL: The Continuation. Berkeley, California: Transform Press. ISBN   0-9630096-9-9. OCLC   38503252.
4. Trachsel D (2012). "Fluorine in psychedelic phenethylamines" . Drug Test Anal. 4 (7–8): 577–590. doi:10.1002/dta.413. PMID   22374819.
5. Trachsel, D.; Lehmann, D.; Enzensperger, C. (2013). Phenethylamine: von der Struktur zur Funktion [Phenethylamines: From Structure to Function]. Nachtschatten-Science (in German) (1 ed.). Solothurn: Nachtschatten-Verlag. ISBN   978-3-03788-700-4. OCLC   858805226. Archived from the original on 21 August 2025.
6. Kolaczynska KE, Luethi D, Trachsel D, Hoener MC, Liechti ME (2021). "Receptor Interaction Profiles of 4-Alkoxy-3,5-Dimethoxy-Phenethylamines (Mescaline Derivatives) and Related Amphetamines" (PDF). Front Pharmacol. 12 794254. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.794254 . PMC   8865417 . PMID   35222010.
7. Klein AK, Chatha M, Laskowski LJ, Anderson EI, Brandt SD, Chapman SJ, McCorvy JD, Halberstadt AL (April 2021). "Investigation of the Structure-Activity Relationships of Psilocybin Analogues". ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci. 4 (2): 533–542. doi:10.1021/acsptsci.0c00176. PMC   8033608 . PMID   33860183. Repke synthesized several other psilocin homologues, including 4-hydroxy-N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine (4-HO-MET), 4-hydroxy-N-methyl-N-isopropyltryptamine (4-HO-MIPT), 4-hydroxy-N,N-dipropyltryptamine (4-HO-DPT), and 4-hydroxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine (4-HO-DIPT).63,64