Gordon Alles

Gordon A. Alles (November 26, 1901 – January 21, 1963), was an American chemist and pharmacologist who did extensive research on the isolation and properties of insulin for the treatment of diabetics. He is also credited with discovering and publishing the physiological effects of amphetamine and methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA). He is the first person to have prepared amphetamine sulfate, although not the amphetamine molecule. Alles first reported the physiological properties of amphetamine as a synthetic analog of ephedrine, and therefore received credit for this discovery. He enjoyed large royalties from Smith, Kline & French (SKF) because he sold his patent rights for amphetamine to the company and it enjoyed large sales. Several popular products sold by SKF contained amphetamine, including Benzedrine pills and inhalers, Dexedrine pills and Dexamyl tablets. Counterfeit drugs such as Profetamine (a generic form of amphetamine sulfate) appeared, aiming to circumvent Alles' 'weak' patent. He was owner of the Alles Chemical Research Laboratories in Pasadena, and had been a Caltech research associate since 1939. In 1958 he gave Caltech a gift of $350,000 which financed, in large part, the five-story Gordon A. Alles Laboratory for Molecular Biology. In 1928 he discovered the physiological properties of benzedrine (amphetamine) and he contributed to its development as a drug. This drug and dextroamphetamine, which was developed from the discovery, have had worldwide medical use as general brain stimulants.

Alles discovered the psychoactive effects of 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), a mescaline analogue and the first synthetic psychedelic as well as the first entactogen, in 1930. He co-discovered MMDA (5-methoxy-MDA), another one of the earliest synthetic psychedelics, in 1962, with psychedelic chemist Alexander Shulgin independently synthesizing the drug the same year.

Alles also spent time in Tahiti, where he was investigating the possibilities of developing tranquilizers from a native drink called kava.

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