Study of hydrogen bonding interactions of methaqualone with alcohols, naphthols (α and β) and nitrophenols

Methaqualone is a non-addictive drug widely abused by the miscreants. However, the principle of drug action is not known with certainty. H-bonding appears to be an important property for drug action. Methaqualone is found to form H-bonds with alcohols, naphthols, nitrophenol as apparent from the determination of the association constants of methaqualone with the ligands. Attempt has been made to suggest a probabale mechanism of drug action based on water structure, H-bonding and hydrophobic interactions.