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I intended to write about rocket fuel. So, how did I end up writing about 鈥渁yahuasca,鈥� a hallucinogenic brew originating from Indigenous Amazon traditions? Well, here we go.聽
A few years ago, I was walking through the Smithsonian鈥檚 National Air and Space Museum鈥檚 giant display hangar in Virginia, already awed by having seen the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, the Space Shuttle Atlantis, and the SR-71 Blackbird, the world鈥檚 fastest airplane. Then I turned a corner and my jaw dropped! There sat the Messerschmitt Komet, one of Nazi Germany鈥檚 鈥渨underwaffe鈥� or 鈥渨onder weapons鈥� that I had often discussed in lectures because of the chemistry that propelled the world鈥檚 first airplane powered by a rocket engine. Basically, the Komet was a piloted missile.
Every rocket is driven by a reaction between a fuel and an oxidizing agent that may be oxygen itself or a chemical that can release oxygen. The combination produces hot gases that are then expelled rearward from the engine. According to Newton鈥檚 third law, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, which in this case means that the rocket blasts forward. It was the chemistry of that blast that prompted my discussing the Komet in class.聽
The Komet鈥檚 fuel was a mixture of hydrazine and methanol and the oxidizer was hydrogen peroxide. When these are combined, there is an instant exothermic reaction with the products being nitrogen gas and water vapour. Such a reaction that requires no ignition is said to be 鈥渉ypergolic.鈥�
The Komet was capable of achieving a speed of 1,100 kilometres per hour and was designed to defend against slow flying bombers that were like sitting ducks for its cannons. But there were problems. The plane only held enough fuel for a seven-minute flight and a number of pilots were killed when the fuel exploded on takeoff. Since the Komet landed as a glider at high speed after its fuel was spent,聽accidents on landing were common聽and often deadly.聽
Despite setting speed records, the Messerschmitt Komet, introduced into combat in 1944, did not have the impact anticipated, shooting down only about a dozen Allied aircraft.
Similar technology was used by NASA鈥檚 lunar lander in 1969, both in descending to and blasting off from the moon鈥檚 surface with nitrogen tetroxide replacing hydrogen peroxide as oxidizing agent. NASA did not want to take any chances using a fuel system that needed ignition because if it failed, the astronauts would be stranded on the moon with no chance of rescue. A hypergolic combination did not require ignition, and as we know, both the landing and liftoff from the moon were successful.
There was yet another problem with the Komet. Hydrazine was highly toxic and if inhaled caused liver and nervous system damage. It was this toxicity that later became of interest to medical researchers. Could hydrazine possibly be useful as a drug? Could it kill disease-causing organisms? Hydrazine itself proved to be too dangerous and corrosive to handle, so the search was on for molecules that incorporate the hydrazine structure but can be safely handled. Many of these were synthesized and one, iproniazid, showed activity against the bacteria that cause tuberculosis.
By the 1940s, tuberculosis was known to be an infectious disease, and patients were routinely placed in a sanatorium where they would be isolated from society. Iproniazid was tried on these patients, and doctors were in for a surprise. The hoped-for cure did not materialize, but the patients鈥� mood changed dramatically. Whereas before they were melancholy, now they were practically dancing in the halls. Iproniazid was a disappointment when it came to treating tuberculosis, but it turned out to be an effective antidepressant.
Further research revealed that the drug interferes with an enzyme known as monoamine oxidase (MAO) that breaks down serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, all three of which are 鈥渕onoamines鈥� and serve as neurotransmitters that control mood. They are constantly produced in the body from the amino acids tryptophan and tyramine both commonly found in the diet. Once these monoamines have served their purpose, they are broken down by monoamine oxidase. Now there was an explanation for the mood-elevating effect of iproniazid: The drug increased the concentration of the mood elevating neurotransmitters because it was a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). By 1957 its safety profile had been evaluated, and iproniazid was introduced into medical practice as an antidepressant.
As it turns out, long before 20th century researchers discovered monoamine oxidase inhibitors, Indigenous tribes in Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Columbia and Bolivia had unknowingly been making use of such chemicals. For centuries in their spiritual and healing rituals they had been consuming 鈥渁yahuasca,鈥� a bitter, dark psychedelic brew. It was made by boiling together the vine Banisteriopsis caapi and the leaves of the Psychotria viridis plant. The leaves contain dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a monoamine that due to its similarity to serotonin produces visual hallucinations, euphoria and dreamlike experiences.
However, if DMT is consumed by itself, the effects quickly wear off because it is quickly broken down by monoamine oxidase. As scientists eventually discovered, Banisteriopsis caapi contains harmine and harmaline, compounds that are monoamine oxidase inhibitors and prevent DMT from being broken down, making its effect last longer. This combination of the plants reflects a remarkable empirical discovery by indigenous peoples that modern science would only later explain.
DMT was actually synthesized in the lab in 1931 at the University of Waterloo by chemist Richard Manske even before it was isolated from plants in the 1940s. Its psychoactive properties were demonstrated in the 1950s by Hungarian physician and pharmacologist Stephen Szara, who had been hoping to study LSD 鈥� but his order from the Swiss company that was producing the hallucinogen was rejected on the grounds that a substance that had such potent effects on the brain would be dangerous in the hands of a Communist country. So Szara turned to DMT, which he synthesized and tested initially on himself and then on others.聽
When he escaped from Hungary during the 1956 uprising, Szara had some DMT in his pocket so that he could carry out further research in the U.S., which he did at the National Institute of Drug Abuse. And that is how I meandered to ayahuasca from rocket fuel.
