Manufacture of "Ecstacy" from Chemical Abstracts
Manufacture of "Ecstacy" from Chemical Abstracts 52, 11965 (1958)
For Informational Purposes Only. The authors & distributors do not advocate the use of illegal drugs and assume no liability for the use or misuse of this information . The procedures described are dangerous and should not be attempted by persons inexperienced in Organic Laboratory techniques.
This formula is exemplified for MDA (3,4-Methylenedioxy- phenylisopropylamine); substituting N-methyl formamide results in MDMA or N-methyl MDA (Ecstacy).
To a cooled mixture of 34 g 30% H2O2 and 150 g formic acid, add dropwise a solution of 32.4 g (0.2M) isosafrole in 120 ml acetone, (keep temperature below 30 degrees) Let stand twelve hours and evacuate in vacuum. Add 60 ml methanol and 369 g 15% sulfuric acid to the residue and heat on a water bath three hours. Cool, extract with ether or benzene and evaporate in vacuum the extract to give 20 g 3,4,-methylenedioxybenzylmethyl ketone.
Add 23 g of above ketone to 65 g formamide and heat at 190 degrees for five hours. Cool, add 100 ml H2o2, extract with benzene and evaporate in vacuum the extract. Add 8 ml methanol and 57 ml 15% HCL to residue, heat on water bath two hours and evaporate in vacuum (or basify with KOH and extract the oil with benzene and dry, evaporate in vacuum) to get 11.7 g MDA.
The above occurs as a yellowish brown oil; this is active orally, but somewhat inconvenient; to convert to powder (salt) form, reflux in Hydrochloric acid and evaporate.
Safrole, an allyl benzene, occurs naturally in oil of sassafras, about 70%. Can be extracted with simple distillation. It is con- verted to isosafrole (a propenyl benzene) by adding equal weight of KOH flakes and absolute ethanol and heating on steam bath or refluxing for 24 hours; dried and evaporated in vacuum or added with two time its volume in water and extracted with ether or methylene chloride and dried, evaporated in vacuum. Hexane is used for recrystalization.
Formamide and N-methyl formamide are closely watched by the DEA. Many people have been busted by small suppliers where it was easy to get; those are "sting" operations that tail the buyer home.
Show this to one of your Chem major pals.