chemistry question #2623

Marke Jones, a 40 year old male from Aurora, Ontario asks on March 4, 2005,

Q:

Why do many pharmaceutical drugs have HCl (hydrochloride) associated with them? Is this a solubility issue? Or is this to create an acidic storage environment?
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the answer

Reg Mitchell answered on March 30, 2005, A:

Many drugs are amines and are not very soluble in water (and hence blood); these form salts (like ammonium salts) with HCl, which are much more soluble in water, and hence easy to absorb, move around the body etc. [Editor: so the answer is solubility. It's nothing to do with "acid storage environment".]

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