I do not agree with the frequent misuse of ‘chemical name’ for ‘common (generic, nonproprietary) name’ (2). The name epinephrine, from Greek epi-, upon or close upon, and nephros, kidney (3), was given by Abel to a substance he isolated in 1897 from the adrenal gland in the form of the corresponding dibenzoyl derivative. He erroneously thought it was an indole derivative. A few years later, Furth and Takamine independently isolated the same substance in the free base form and gave it the name suprarenine (from Latin supra-, upon, and ren, kidney) and adrenaline (from Latin ad-, near, and ren, kidney), respectively. These three names—epinephrine, suprarenine, and adrenaline—may be referred to as ‘traditional’ or ‘trivial’ chemical names (4) in their origin. However, ‘epinephrine’ was later chosen as the international nonproprietary name (INN) for this substance by the international panel of experts engaged in the international nomenclature program for pharmaceutical substances, started by the World Health Organization in 1959.

Of course the generic name epinephrine has nothing to do with a systematic (rational) chemical name, which has to be constructed observing the rules codified by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). Thus, the unspecified use of ‘chemical name’ should be discouraged as misleading, in that it may indicate both a trivial and a systematic chemical name. In this case ‘epinephrine’ is neither the former nor the latter—it is an INN.

Literature Cited

1. Schatz, P. F. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 10–13.
2. Kopp-Kubel, S. E. In The Practice of Medicinal Chemistry; Wermuth, C. -G., Ed.; Academic Press: London, 1996; Chapter 40.
3. Atkins, P. W. Molecules; W. H. Freeman: New York, 1987; Chapter 6.
4. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Commission on Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry. Revised Section F: Natural Products and Related Compounds (Recommendations 1999); (accessed Mar 2003).