I've taken a moment of time and drawn out the structural diagrams for the tricyclics. They all look very, very similar to me.
Then I took a moment to draw out the SSRIs, Prozac, Luvox, Celexa, Zoloft and Paxil. Now, I'm very confused.
What is the reason that all these chemicals go through the serotonin reuptake channel?
I see that they all have electron withdrawing substituents on a phenyl ring. Either a 3,4- chloro on zoloft, a 4-fluoro on Paxil and Celexa or a 4-trifluoro on Luvox and Prozac. Is this the reason? And is the reason they inhibit serotonin reuptake because they bind to the reuptake channel but because of the large subsituents they can't pass through it?
Could one take safrole and make an antidepressant of it by branching a big long chain ending in a secondary amine?
I'm probably sounding like fman to more knowledgeable bees, but I'm just shooting in the dark trying to make sense of a trend I can't quite discern?