Alexander Shulgin

Alexander Theodore Sasha Shulgin June 17 1925 June 2 2014 was a prolific American medicinal chemist biochemist organic chemist pharmacologist psychopharmacologist and author He is credited with introducing MDMA ecstasy to psychologists in the late 1970s for psychopharmaceutical use and for the discovery synthesis and personal bioassay of over 230 psychoactive compounds for their psychedelic and entactogenic potential In 1991 and 1997 he and his wife Ann Shulgin authored the books PIHKAL and TIHKAL standing for Phenethylamines and Tryptamines I Have Known And Loved which extensively described their work and personal experiences with these two classes of psychoactive drugs Shulgin performed seminal work into the descriptive synthesis of many of these compounds Some of Shulgins noteworthy discoveries include compounds of the 2C family such as 2CB and compounds of the DOx family such as DOM Due in part to Shulgins extensive work in the field of psychedelic research and the rational drug design of psychedelic drugs he has since been dubbed the godfather of psychedelics