Hello pepsii-ga,
You?re right in recognizing HCL as the abbreviation of hydrochloric
acid. When used on over-the-counter medication labels, HCL is a
designation for hydrocholoride. Medications that are hydrochlorides
are salts that result from the reaction of hydrochloric acid with an
organic base used to produce the particular drug. This form of the
drug is usually more water soluble than the free form of the chemical.
I?ve found a discussion in Google Groups that asked this same question
that should be helpful. I?ve also included some links to a few basic
chemistry links and to rules about naming conventions for drugs.
I trust this will help you with reading medication labels.
All the best.
~ czh ~
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.chem/browse_thread/thread/9d9c523cb286f832/2e313181ccd7d448?lnk=st&q=group:sci.chem+insubject:hydrochloride+insubject:salt&rnum=1#2e313181ccd7d448
Why the Hydrochloride Salt?
Akilli -- Jun 20 1998, 11:00 pm
Newsgroups: sci.chem
From: aki...@aol.com (Akilli)
Date: 1998/06/21
Subject: Why the Hydrochloride Salt?
Greetings,
Just a casual look at the generic names of medications shows many
which terminate in "hydrochloride". Is there some reason (solubility?) which
determines the choice of a hydrochloride salt?
This is probably a quite standard procedure in chemistry, but, as a
non-chemist, (just one of my myriad of non-professions) it is something I have
always been curious about, and would appreciate an explanation, or comment upon
my assumptions.
Much Obliged,
Ethan Gross
------------------------
Bruce Hamilton
Jun 20 1998, 11:00 pm
Newsgroups: sci.chem
From: B.Hamil...@irl.cri.nz (Bruce Hamilton)
Date: 1998/06/21
Subject: Re: Why the Hydrochloride Salt?
aki...@aol.com (Akilli) wrote:
>Greetings,
> Just a casual look at the generic names of medications shows many
>which terminate in "hydrochloride". Is there some reason (solubility?) which
>determines the choice of a hydrochloride salt?
Pharmaceuticals are often available as either the "free" form, or
as a salt. The hydrochloride forms are usually both more water
soluble and stable in formulations than the free form, and
traditionally, recrystallising salts was a common method of
purifying chemicals. One requirement is that chemicals should be
anemable to, and able to withstand, the conditions during
formulation, and many of the "free" forms of chemicals are not
solids and may also react with other components.
For those pharmaceuticals taken orally, the hydrochloride forms
also can't cause significant increases in concentration of
a minor ionic species when encountering the hydrochloric acid
in our stomach, and thus it's easier to exclude such effects
during approval testing if *HCl forms are used.
Although *HCl is common, there still are a lot of other forms
used, depending on the desired properties, eg codeine phosphate.
Bruce Hamilton
***** See other four comments as well for a broader discussion.
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.uiowa.edu/~idis/dvt_description.pdf
IDIS DRUG VOCABULARY AND THESAURUS DESCRIPTION
I. Valid Drug Terms
A. Naming Conventions
B. Naming Rules
C. Naming Drug Classes
D. Acceptable Abbreviations for Use in Valid Drug Terms
Abbreviation Word/Phrase
-- HCL -- Hydrochloride
***** When a drug label includes HCL as part of the name of the
medication, the medication is a hydrochloride. There are many
medications that fit this classification.
-------------------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloride
Hydrochloride
In chemistry, hydrochlorides are salts resulting, or regarded as
resulting, from the reaction of hydrochloric acid with an organic base
(mostly amine).
Converting otherwise water-insoluble amines into hydrochlorides is a
common way to make them water-soluble. Many pharmaceutical substances
are used as hydrochlorides.
-------------------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid
Hydrochloric acid
The chemical substance hydrochloric acid is the aqueous (water-based)
solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl) gas. It is a strong acid, the
major component of gastric acid and of wide industrial use. As a
highly corrosive liquid, hydrochloric acid should be handled only with
appropriate safety precautions.
Production of organic compounds
The largest hydrochloric acid consumption is in the production of
organic compounds such as vinyl chloride for PVC, and MDI and TDI for
polyurethane. This is often captive use, consuming locally produced
hydrochloric acid that never actually reaches the open market. Other
organic compounds produced with hydrochloric acid include bisphenol A
for polycarbonate, activated carbon, and ascorbic acid, as well as
numerous pharmaceutical products.
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