Jordan Howell Howell 1

Period 6
4/17/13
Rausch
Research Essay: Phenylephrine
I chose the biologically active molecule Phenylephrine for my essay. Its the active
ingredient in several decongestants that are sold as pills, eye drops, and/or as nasal spray, but
its not a common nasal spray ingredient, it is also used as a mydriatic, a vasopressor, and/or
detumescent. This is the biologically active molecule in these medicines that help decongest
you when you absorb it. It is commonly added with Hydrochloric Acid. Without Phenylephrine,
these medicines would not work, and they would be non-beneficial to our health when we
ingested them.
The molecular structure of Phenylephrine is C
9
H
13
NO
2
according to
http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=6041 at 6:13 P.M. on April 12
th
,
2013. It is composed of nine carbon atoms and 13 hydrogen atoms and two atoms of nitrogen
dioxide per one molecule of Phenylephrine. I find researching my on this topic interesting
because its a common day-to-day ingredient that most of us use now that allergy season is
here, and thats interesting to see what it does to our bodies and the effects it has on us, and
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How it does that. Its also something important to research as well, because its something
most of us are ingesting, and allowing it to have biological impact on us and thats something
important to think about.

One of Phenylephrines effects on the body is that it makes you very energetic and
awake. It does have a rare side effect where you do get drowsy. The many side effects that
Phenylephrine can have on your body are: loss of appetite, warmth/tingling/redness of skin,
restlessness or unusual excitedness, insomnia, skin rash, fast pounding/uneven heartbeat,
severe dizziness or anxiety, easy bruising/bleeding, unusual weakness, fever, chills, body aches,
flu symptoms, and dangerously high blood pressure, severe headaches, blurred vision, ringing
in your ears, anxiety, confusion, chest pain, trouble breathing, uneven heart rate, seizures. So,
although it can relieve your pain and sickness and congestion and allergies, it can also cause
lots of things to go wrong in your system. Nursing mothers are also advised not to take it as it is
unknown if it is recycled through their milk or not, according to an eBook on Phenylephrine.
The latest research on Phenylephrine in the world is that it is being questioned on its
effectiveness as of 2006. In a peer-reviewed letter to the editor of the Journal of Allergy and
Clinical Immunology, UF pharmacists Leslie Hendeles and Randy Hatton warn that
phenylephrine is poorly absorbed into the bloodstream and will not work as well as
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Medications containing pseudoephedrine. So, Phenylephrine is still used, but it isnt used as
widely as other medications because it isnt as effective as other biological molecules, and
produces more side effects, which is obviously negative and would obviously stray people
away.
In conclusion, Phenylephrine is the active ingredient in medicines, and these medicines
would not work, and they would be non-beneficial to our health when we ingested them,
without Phenylephrine. I found this biological molecule fairly interesting and quite important
to cold medicines as I found out. It has many different effects on our bodies, depending on
how reactive we are to it, and they can be good and bad, but the negatives far outweigh the
positives on this molecule in comparison to other molecules of this nature with this same
function. And thats Phenylephrine for you!




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Citations
Website Citation: PubChem. "Phenylephrine." Phenylephrine -
PubChem. 28 Oct. 2009. PubChem. 12 Apr. 2013
<http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=6041>.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Citation: Hendeles/University of Florida,
Leslie, and Randy Hatton/University of Florida. "Phenylephrine not as
effective as other chemicals." Phenylephrine not as effective as other
chemicals. ~ ~ (2006): N/a.
Book Citation: Wong/EHS, Gary. "First Aid Information."
Phenylephrine Hydrochloride Solution 25. ~ ed. Vol. ~. ~. N/a: N/a, 1994. 4.