chemistry

Nikethamide

Nikethamide is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nikethamide rather than just read about it. In short: Nikethamide is a stimulant which mainly affects the respiratory cycle. Widely known by its former trade name of Coramine, it was used in the mid-twentieth century as a medical countermeasure against tranquilizer overdoses, before the advent of endotracheal intubation and positive-pressure lung expansion.

Key takeaways

Nikethamide belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nikethamide to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nikethamide from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nikethamide is a stimulant which mainly affects the respiratory cycle. Widely known by its former trade name of Coramine, it was used in the mid-twentieth century as a medical countermeasure against tranquilizer overdoses, before the advent of endotracheal intubation and positive-pressure lung expansion. It is no longer commonly considered to be of value for such purposes. In alternate terminology, it is known as nicotinic acid diethylamide, which meaningfully emphasizes its laboratory origins, and of which its common name is derived as a blend.

Uses It is useful for mountain climbers to increase endurance at high altitudes.

Available forms It is available as a short-acting over-the-counter drug in several South American and European countries, combined with glucose in form of lozenges.

Contraindications Contraindications include hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and epilepsy.

Society and culture Coramine was used by suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams when treating patient Gertrude Hullett, whom he was suspected of murdering. However, the toxicity of nikethamide is quite low (LD50 rabbits 650 mg/kg oral, LD50 rats 240 mg/kg subcutaneous). Theodor Morell, Adolf Hitler's personal physician, would inject the German ruler with Coramine when Hitler was unduly sedated with barbiturates. In addition, Morell would use Coramine as part of an all-purpose "tonic" for Hitler.

Use in sports In some sports, nikethamide is listed by the World Anti-Doping Agency as a banned substance. Jaime Huélamo was stripped of his bronze medal at the 1972 Olympic individual cycling road race after testing positive for Coramine. Croatian tennis player Marin Čilić was suspended from competition for nine months after he tested positive for nikethamide in April 2013. This ban was later reduced to four months after Cilic appealed and claimed he had unintentionally ingested it in a glucose tablet bought at a pharmacy. Polish kart driver Igor Walilko was given a two-year ban, later reduced to eighteen months, from competition in 2010 due to testing positive for nikethamide after a win in Germany in July, 2010. In July 2021, Swiss athlete and doctor Kariem Hussein was positively tested for nikethamide, which he regularly uses during training. He missed the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and was banned from competitions for nine months.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nikethamide

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nikethamide claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nikethamide before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nikethamide ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nikethamide

In research: Nikethamide appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nikethamide in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nikethamide is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 3-Pyridyl compounds, Diethylamides, Nicotinamides, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nikethamide outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nikethamide in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nikethamide means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nikethamide out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nikethamide in simple terms?

Why does Nikethamide matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nikethamide?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nikethamide.