From: [M d h] at [debug.cuc.ab.ca]
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: MDMA synthesis
Date: 19 Nov 1993 18:12:36 -0600
Ok I just found this file a few days ago and I wanted to post it as to
let the chemists look at it and tell me what they think. The reason why I post
it is that this has to be one of the easier MDMA synthesis that I have seen,
it requires readily available chemicals such as H2O2, formic acid, etc. but
the formamide may be a little hardder to get. Please send all replies ot my
mailbox as my Usenet feed is down.
Thanks
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
>>>See note about H2o2 below!
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.
Mike Hamilton <[m d h] at [debug.cuc.ab.ca]>
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: [an 47455] at [anon.penet.fi] (bardeau)
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1993 07:29:31 UTC
Subject: Re: MDMA synthesis
> Ok I just found this file a few days ago and I wanted to post it as to
>let the chemists look at it and tell me what they think. The reason why I post
>it is that this has to be one of the easier MDMA synthesis that I have seen,
>it requires readily available chemicals such as H2O2, formic acid, etc. but
>the formamide may be a little hardder to get. Please send all replies ot my
>mailbox as my Usenet feed is down.
>
> Thanks
>Manufacture of "Ecstacy"
>from Chemical Abstracts 52, 11965 (1958)
>
>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%
rest of text deleted.
Beware. This is a misprint, and a potentially dangerous one, in
the Chemical Abstracts.
In the cited reference, CA 52:11965 (1958) the phrase appears
that states as noted above, "is heated at 190 C 5 hrs, cooled,
100 cc H2O2 added, extracted with benzene, the extract
evaporated," etc.
That was an abstract of the Japanese patent 8593 ('56). Somewhat
earlier, two of these three authors published this chemical
information in J. Pharm. Soc. Japan in two papers, Vol. 74 975-7,
977-80 (1954) and the Chemical Abstracts of this publication (CA
49:10958 (1955) give an almost identical set of chemical
directions, which reads, "heated 5 hours at 190, the solution
cooled, 100 ml water added, the mixture extracted with benzene,
the extract evaporated," etc. In this presentation, the
diluting solvent was water, not hydrogen peroxide.
Water is the correct term. The addition of hydrogen peroxide to
an organic mixture is intrinsicly dangerous, especially when
there is the thermal removal of solvent
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