PiHKAL: The Chemical Story 12
This is part 6 of 6 of the second half of PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story, by Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin. Please forgive any typos or misprints in this file; further, because of ASCII limitations, many of the typographical symbols in the original book could not be properly represented in these files.
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At the present time, restrictive laws are in force in the United States and it is very difficult for researchers to abide by the regulations which govern efforts to obtain legal approval to do work with these compounds in human beings.... No one who is lacking legal authorization should attempt the synthesis of any of the compounds described in these files, with the intent to give them to man. To do so is to risk legal action which might lead to the tragic ruination of a life. It should also be noted that any person anywhere who experiments on himself, or on another human being, with any of the drugs described herin, without being familiar with that drug's action and aware of the physical and/or mental disturbance or harm it might cause, is acting irresponsibly and immorally, whether or not he is doing so within the bounds of the law.
#150 3-TE; 3-THIOESCALINE; 4-ETHOXY-5-METHOXY-3-METHYLTHIOPHENETHYLAMINE
SYNTHESIS: A solution of 10.4 g of 3-bromo-N-cyclohexyl-4-ethoxy-5-methoxybenzylidenimine (see under 3-TASB for its preparation) in 125 mL anhydrous Et2O, in a He atmosphere, was cooled with an external dry ice acetone bath to -80 °C with good stirring. To this clear pale yellow solution there was added 25 mL 1.6 M butyllithium in hexane (about a 25% excess) which produced a fine white precipitate over the following 15 min. There was then added 4.2 g dimethyl disulfide. At the half-addition point, the generated solids became so heavy that stirring became difficult, but towards the end of the addition the reaction thinned out again and became quite loose. The dry ice bath was removed and the reaction allowed to come to room temperature, which again allowed the formation of a heavy solid phase while warming and, again, a loose and easily stirred mixture when finally at room temperature. All was added to 400 mL H2O which had been strongly acidified with HCl. The two phases were separated, and the aqueous phase (which contained a small amount of yellow oily matter insoluble in either phase) was heated on the steam bath for 0.75 h. On cooling, the oily component set to a yellow solid, which was removed by filtration and washed with H2O. This crude product, 5.9 g of yellow solid, was distilled 115-125 °C at 0.3 mm/Hg to give 4.9 g of 4-ethoxy-3-methoxy-5-(methylthio)benzaldehyde as a pale yellow solid that had a mp of 43-45 °C. Recrystallization from MeOH gave a mp of 47-48 °C. Anal. (C11H14O3S) C,H. This product can also be prepared from the anion of 3-thiosyringaldehyde (mp 141-143 °C as crystals from MeOH) by reaction with ethyl iodide in the presence of phase-transfer catalyst, but the yield is quite poor.
To a solution of 4.4 g 4-ethoxy-5-methoxy-3-(methylthio)benzaldehyde in 75 mL nitromethane, there was added 0.5 g anhydrous ammonium acetate and the mixture was heated on the steam bath for 80 min. Care must be taken in the length of time, and there must be frequent TLC montoring, as there is a rapid scrudge buildup (see under 3-TSB for a discussion of scrudge). The reaction mixture was stripped of nitromethane under vacuum, and the residual deep-yellow oil was dissolved in 20 mL of boiling MeOH. This was decanted from a small amount of insoluble matter and, upon cooling, deposited bright yellow crystals of 4-ethoxy-5-methoxy-3-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene. This was removed by filtration and, after washing with cold MeOH and air drying, weighed 2.4 g. The mp was ambiguous. The above crude material melted at 92-93 °C, which is probably too high° Earlier samples which melted in the low 80's appeared to have a mp, after repeated recrystallization from MeOH, of 87-88 °C. This latter was the property of the analytical sample. Anal. (C12H15NO4S) C,H. The mp of the TLC low-moving component is always quite high, and might have been a factor in the assignment of this physical property.
AH was prepared in the usual manner from a suspension of 2.0 g LAH in 75 mL anhydrous THF, cooled to 0 °C, well stirred in an inert atmosphere of He, and treated with 1.33 mL of 100% H2SO4 added dropwise. There was added, dropwise and over the course of 10 min, a solution of 2.4 g 4-ethoxy-5-methoxy-3-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene in 15 mL anhydrous THF. The reaction was exothermic, and was heated on the steam bath at reflux for an additional 10 min. After cooling again, there was added enough IPA to decompose the excess hydride and sufficient 10% NaOH to convert the aluminum oxide solids to a white, easily filterable mass. This was filtered, the filter cake washed with additional IPA, the filtrate and washes combined, and the solvent removed under vacuum. This was dissolved in 100 mL of dilute H2SO4 which was washed with 2x50 mL CH2Cl2. The aqueous phase was made basic with NaOH, extracted with 2x50 mL CH2Cl2, and the extracts pooled and the solvent removed under vacuum to yield a residue of a colorless oil. This distilled at 118-122 °C at 0.4 mm/Hg producing 1.9 g of a colorless oil. This was dissolved in 10 mL IPA, neutralized with 30 drops of concentrated HCl and, with good stirring, diluted with 20 mL anhydrous Et2O. The product 4-ethoxy-5-methoxy-3-methylthiophenethylamine hydrochloride (3-TE) was removed by filtration, washed with Et2O, and air dried to provide a white solid that weighed 1.0 g and melted at about 180 °C. Anal. (C12H20ClNO2S) C,H.
DOSAGE: 60 - 80 mg.
DURATION: 8 - 12 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 60 mg) There may well be time slowing. I noticed that the voices on the radio seemed to be of a deeper pitch. And with music there is a most easy flight of fantasy. I tried to keep a logical conversation going on the telephone, but I am pretty sure there were problems. I found myself down sooner than I would have liked.
(with 70 mg) I found myself in a good, rich place, and thoroughly enjoyed my introspection. I didn't want to talk and interact, and that seemed just fine with everyone else. Several of the others seemed restless, but I lay back and let them do their thing. My appetite was fine towards the end, and I might have actually overeaten. I was able to drive home that evening, but there seemed to be some slight residual something after waking in the morning. I would certainly repeat without hesitation.
(with 80 mg) Art interpretation and imagery with music are remarkable. This material touches on the psychedelic Q rather than just being stoned. The body is higher than the mind, but where the mind is makes it all OK. It's worth the cost. My getting to sleep was easy that evening, but sleep was not too restful and there was something strange about it.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: There is a good lesson to be learned in the attempts to predict the potency of 3-TE before it was actually explored. All pharmacological prediction follows pretty much a single mechanism. Find things that are close in some way, and arrange them in a manner that allows comparison. A relates to B in this way, and A relates to C in that way, and since D incorporates both this and that of each, it will probably be such-and-such. The Roman square.
Here is the square with the horizontal arrow adding a sulfur in the 3-position and the vertical arrow adding an ethyl group in place of a methyl group at the 4-position:
Mescaline x 3.5 3-TM
200-400 mg 60-100 mg
x 6
Escaline 3-TE Rx20S
40-60 mg = 10-20 mgand one would predict a potency of some 20x that of mescaline, or something in the range of 15 mg.
Here is an equally likely square, based on the horizontal arrow relocating a sulfur from the 4-position to the 3-position, and the vertical arrow again adding an ethyl group in place of a methyl group in the 4-position:
Thiomescaline x 0.3 3-Thiomescaline
20-30 mg 60-100 mg
x 1
Thioescaline 3-TE Rx0.3S
20-30 mg = 60-100 mgand one would predict a potency of some one third of that of thiomescaline, or something in the range of 80 milligrams.
This latter square gave a prediction that was very close to the observed potency, but it would be careless, and probably wrong, to assume that the latter relationships had any more significance than the former ones. As one accumulates the potencies of many compounds it is tempting to draw complex relationships such as these, and to be seduced into believing that they must explain things. And, especially, beware the multivariable power of the computer which can explore monstrous numbers of variables at breakneck speeds, and spew forth fantastic correlations with marvelous ease.
But nothing can ever substitute for the simple art of tasting something new.
#151 TE; 4-TE; 4-THIOESCALINE; 3,5-DIMETHOXY-4-ETHYLTHIOPHENETHYLAMINE
SYNTHESIS: A solution was made of 45.2 g N,N,NU,NU-tetramethylethylenediamine and 41.4 g of 1,3-dimethoxybenzene in 300 mL hexane. This was stirred vigorously under a He atmosphere and cooled to 0 °C with an external ice bath. There was added 225 mL of 1.6 M butyllithium in hexane which produced a white granular precipitate. The reaction mixture was stirred for 15 min. There was then added 38 mL of diethyl disulfide which changed the granular precipitate to a creamy character. Stirring was continued for an additional 5 min, then the reaction mixture was poured into 1 L of dilute H2SO4. The two phases were separated, and the aqueous phase extracted with 2x150 mL Et2O. The organic phases were combined, and the solvent removed under vacuum to provide 60 g of 2-ethylthio-1,3-dimethoxybenzene as an off-white oil that spontaneously crystallized. It was distilled nonetheless, boiling at 85-96 °C at 0.4 mm/Hg. This distillate can be recrystallized from hexane to form long needles with a mp of 45-46 °C. Anal. (C10H14O2S) C,H.
To a stirred solution of 60 g of 2-ethylthio-1,3-dimethoxybenzene in 300 mL CH2Cl2 there was added 49 g elemental bromine dissolved in 100 mL CH2Cl2. The reaction was not exothermic, and it was allowed to stir for 2 h. The reaction mixture was washed with H2O, then with aqueous NaOH, and finally with H2O that contained sodium hydrosulfite. The solvent was removed under vacuum leaving 84 g of an amber oil as residue. This was distilled at 105-115 °C at 0.15 mm/Hg yielding 73.3 g of 4-bromo-2-ethylthio-1,3-dimethoxybenzene as a light yellow oil. Anal. (C11H15BrO2S) C,H.
To a solution of 27 mL diisopropylamine in 150 mL anhydrous THF that was stirred under a N2 atmosphere and cooled to -10 °C with an external ice/MeOH bath, there was added in sequence 83 mL of 1.6 M butyllithium in hexane, 4.4 mL of dry CH3CN over the course of 5 min, and finally 12.1 g of 4-bromo-2-ethylthio-1,3-dimethoxybenzene which had been dissolved in 20 mL THF (also added over the course of 5 min). The color progressed from yellow to orange to deep red-brown. Stirring was continued for 10 min, and then the reaction mixture was poured into 300 mL dilute H2SO4. The organic layer was separated, and was washed with more dilute H2SO4. The aqueous phases were combined, and extracted with 2x100 mL CH2Cl2. These extracts were pooled with the original organic phase, and the solvents removed under vacuum. The residue was distilled into two fractions at 0.3 mm/Hg. The first fraction boiled at 95-115 °C and weighed 4.9 g. It was made up of several components, but it contained little nitrile material and was discarded. The second fraction came over at 145->200 °C and weighed 2.9 g. By thin layer chromatography this fraction was largely 3,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthiophenylacetonitrile, and was used as such in the following reduction.
A suspension of 1.25 g LAH in 50 mL anhydrous THF under N2 was cooled to 0 °C and vigorously stirred. There was added, dropwise, 0.8 mL 100% H2SO4, followed by 2.7 g 3,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthiophenylacetonitrile, neat, over the course of 5 min. The reaction mixture was stirred at 0 °C for a few min, then brought to a reflux for 15 min on the steam bath. After cooling back to room temperature, there was added 15 mL IPA to destroy the excess hydride and 10% NaOH to bring the reaction to a basic pH and convert the aluminum oxide to a loose, white, filterable consistency. This was removed by filtration, and washed with 50 mL portions of IPA. The filtrate and washes were stripped of solvent under vacuum, and the residue suspended between 50 mL CH2Cl2 and 50 mL dil. H2SO4. The organic phase was separated, and extracted with 2x50 mL dilute H2SO4. The original aqueous phase and these two extracts were combined, made basic with aqueous NaOH, and extracted with 3x50 mL CH2Cl2. These extracts were stripped of solvent under vacuum. The residue was distilled at 112-135 °C at 0.2 mm/Hg to give 1.1 g of a slightly yellow viscous liquid. This was dissolved in 4 mL IPA, neutralized with 14 drops of concentrated HCl and, with continuous stirring, diluted with 10 mL anhydrous Et2O. The product was removed by filtration, washed with Et2O, and air dried to give 1.0 g of 3,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthiophenethylamine hydrochloride (TE) as white crystals with some solvent of crystallization. The crude mp of 101-106 °C was only slightly improved by recrystallization from CH3CN (mp 106-109 °C). But upon fusion and resolidification, the melting point was 167-168 °C and this sample was further dried by heating at 100 °C for 24 h before analysis. Anal. (C12H20ClNO2S) C,H.
DOSAGE: 20 - 30 mg.
DURATION: 9 - 12 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 20 mg) I feel it in my ovaries. It is very sensuous. This is total energy, and I am aware of my every membrane. This has been a marvelous experience, very beautiful, joyous, and sensuous. But maybe the dose is a little too high as there is too much body tingling. I am jangly.
(with 20 mg) The predominant characteristic was the feeling of clean burning, pure energy, a long-lasting clear-headedness and clarity of thought, and an ease of talking and sharing. I did not have a strong feeling of Presence, but more a wonderful feeling of converting energy into action. I found that my initial look inwards was always a look of fear, and I wondered if this might not be the same feeling that others express as excitement. They were certainly of the same nature, they arose at the same point on the fringe of the unknown, and they point to a basic difference in attitude. The excitement is for the new, and is based on trust. The fear is a return to the past, and is defensive, with reluctance to reexperience past pain. The aftermath of this experience was the most profound of any that I have had in a long time. For the following week, I found myself on a new level of functioning, very energetic and very much in the flow of life and free of mental distractions. I have become a great deal more aware of the traps of meditation, and how you can build walls around yourself and around certain concepts, if you are not careful.
(with 22 mg) Totally developed at 2 hours, to a +++. No clearing of the sinuses, so it is not a decongestant. There is a lot of visual activity. In the group there is good communication, and a lot of laughter.
(with 25 mg) There is a disconnection, there is complex depth without definition. Without music, this is almost negative, as I can find no definition. But talking gives me some structure. And I got into some pretty extraordinary conversations. About President Hoover, Omni magazine, the colors of spices, and a couple of personal relatives. This is extra-good for ideas and talking. It is indeed a clean experience, and superb for communication.
(with 30 mg) I was at a plus three for certainly three hours. There were some visuals, some eyes-closed fantasy, but little imagery. Somehow I could at no time interlock with music. It seemed always to get in the way. Sexual activity is an excellent way to relieve the muscular tension and the body's heaviness. There was little hunger and I ate lightly, and I felt somehow depleted. Sleep OK at the twelth hour. The AM was fine, but on retrospect the experience was overall strangely cloudy, not negative, but there was not enough mental to balance the physical.
(with 30 mg) My alert was in 40 minutes, and I was completely developed by 2 hours. There was a large measure of erotic fantasy, but the body load was also quite heavy. I had a slight cloak effect, where I was over-energized but somehow under a blanket of quietness. I would certainly repeat this, but at maybe 25 milligrams.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: Although the ethyl group (of the ethylthio on the 4-position) is just one carbon atom longer than the methyl group (of TM) that small change already produces hints and indicators of some physical toxicity. The propyl compound (see TP) is still of similar potency, but appears to be yet more difficult, physically. The butyl homolog never made it off the ground at all as a psychedelic, but the physical difficulties seem less as well. All that was left to come through was the euphoria. If this 4-position sulfur analogue series of mescaline is ever to be more carefully explored, it must almost certainly be with the shortest possible chain (TM, as a psychedelic) or with long, long chains (the four-carbon chain of the butyl group in TB), as a feel-good compound.
#152 2-TIM; 2-THIOISOMESCALINE; 3,4-DIMETHOXY-2- METHYLTHIOPHENETHYLAMINE
SYNTHESIS: A short foreword to the synthetic portion is needed. First, although the required thioanisole, 2,3-dimethoxythioanisole, is now commercially available, it is of the utmost importance that it be free of the impurity, veratrole. I know that the material presently available from Aldrich Chemical Company is satisfactory, as I have had a hand in making it. But, if veratrole is present, there are very difficult separations encountered during these preparations. And secondly, the synthesis of 2-TIM and 4-TIM requires a separation of isomers. The first intermediates are common to both. They will be presented here, under this recipe for 2-TIM.
A solution of 150 mL of 1.6 M butyllithium in hexane under N2 was vigorously stirred and diluted with 150 mL petroleum ether (30-60 °C) and then cooled with an external ice bath to 0 °C. The addition of 26.7 g of veratrole produced a flocculant white precipitate. Next, there was added a solution of 23.2 g of N,N,NU,NU-tetramethylethylenediamine in 100 mL anhydrous Et2O and the stirred reaction mixture was allowed to come to room temperature. The subsequent addition of 20.7 g of dimethyl disulfide over the course of several min produced an exothermic response, and this was allowed to stir for an additional 30 min. There was then added 10 mL EtOH followed by 250 mL of 5% NaOH. The organic phase was washed first with 150 mL 5% NaOH, followed by 2x100 mL portions of 5% dilute HCl. The removal of solvent and bulb-to-bulb distillation of the residue provided 2,3-dimethoxythioanisole boiling at 72-80 °C at 0.4 mm/Hg as a white oil. This product contained some 20% unreacted veratrole as a contaminant and the isolation of subsequent products from this impure material was extraordinarily difficult. The effort needed for careful purification at this point was completely justified. The product could be obtained in a pure state by distillation at 0.1 mm/Hg through a 6 cm Vigreaux column with collection of several fractions. Those that distilled at 84-87 °C were pure 2,3-dimethoxythioanisole. An analytical sample can be obtained by cooling a concentrated MeOH solution in dry ice, filtering the generated crystals, and washing with cold MeOH. This product melts at 36.5-37 °C. Anal. (C9H12O2S) C,H,S. The picrate can be formed by treatment with a saturated EtOH solution of picric acid. It formed orange crystals with a mp of 73-78 °C. Anal. (C15H15N3O9S) N.
To 18 mL of POCl3 there was added 25 mL N-methylformanilide and the solution allowed to stand at room temperature for 0.5 h, until the color had developed to a rich claret. There was then added 25.0 g of 2,3-dimethoxythioanisole and the mixture heated on the steam bath for 2.5 h. This was added to 500 mL H2O and stirred at ambient temperature for 2 h. The product was extracted with 4x150 mL CH2Cl2, the extracts combined, and the solvent removed under vacuum. The residue was distilled through a Vigreaux column under vacuum (0.1 mm/Hg) with the fraction boiling at 125-135 °C being richest in aldehydes, as determined by GC analysis. If the starting 2,3-dimethoxythioanisole contains appreciable veratrole as a contaminant, then this aldehyde fraction contains three components. There is present both 2,3-dimethoxy-4-(methylthio)benzaldehyde and 3,4-dimethoxy-2-(methylthio)benzaldehyde (the two desired precursors to 4-TIM and 2-TIM, respectively), but also present is 3,4-dimethoxybenzaldehyde from the veratrole contamination. The weight of this fraction was 11.9 g and was a white oil free of starting thioether.
Although efforts to separate this mixture were not effective, one of the aldehydes could be isolated in small yield by derivative formation. This was too wasteful to be of preparative value, but it did allow the generation of seed that was of great value in the later separation of the mixed nitrostyrenes that were prepared. If a 1 g portion of this mixture was fused with 0.6 g p-anisidiine over an open flame and then cooled, the melt set up as a solid. Triturating under MeOH gave a yellow solid (0.45 g, mp 77-80 °C) which on recrystallization from hexane appeared to be a single one of the three possible Schiff's bases that could theoretically be prepared. It had a mp of 80-81 °C. Anal. (C17H19NO3S) C,H. Hydrolysis with hot 3 N HCl freed the benzaldehyde which was isolated by quenching in H2O and extraction with CH2Cl2. The extracts were stripped of solvent under vacuum and the residue distilled bulb-to-bulb under vacuum to give white crystals of 3,4-dimethoxy-2-(methylthio)benzaldehyde (the 2-TIM aldehyde) with a mp of 23-24 °C. A micro-scale conversion of this to the corresponding nitrostyrene provided the seed that was effectively used in the large scale preparation described below.
A solution of 9.0 g of a mixture of 3,4-dimethoxy-2-(methylthio)benzaldehyde and 2,3-dimethoxy-4-(methylthio)benzaldehyde in 50 mL of nitromethane was treated with 1.5 g anhydrous ammonium acetate and held at reflux for 5 h. The excess nitromethane was removed under vacuum to yield 10.4 g of a dark orange oil which, upon dissolving in 40 mL hot MeOH and being allowed to cool and slowly evaporate at ambient temperatures, provided dark colored crystals. Filtration (save the mother liquors°) and recrystallization from 40 mL MeOH provided 6.3 g of a yellow crystalline solid. A second recrystallization from 50 mL MeOH gave 5.0 g of lemon yellow plates 3,4-dimethoxy-2-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene with a mp of 102-103.5 °C. An analytical sample, from IPA, had a mp of 103-104 °C and a single spot on TLC with CHCl3, with an Rf of 0.54. Anal. (C11H13NO4S) C,H. When there had been veratrole left as a contaminant in the original 2,3-dimethoxythioanisole, the nitrostyrene that was isolated by this method had, after recrystallization, a mp of 93-95 °C. This substance acted as a single compound through a number of recrystallization trials, but on TLC analysis always gave two components (silica gel, chloroform) with Rf's of 0.54 and 0.47. It proved to be a mixture of 3,4-dimethoxy-2-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene and 3,4-dimethoxy-'-nitro-styrene in an exact molecular ratio of 2:1. This latter nitrostyrene is the precursor to DMPEA, q.v. Anal. (C32H37N3O12S2) C,H. The mother liquor above is the source of the 4-TIM nitrostyrene, and its isolation is described in the recipe for 4-TIM.
A solution of 4.2 g LAH in 70 mL anhydrous THF was cooled to 0 °C under He and with stirring. There was added, dropwise, 2.8 mL of 100% H2SO4, followed by 4.4 g of 3,4-dimethoxy-2-(methylthio)-'-nitrostyrene dissolved in 25 mL THF. Stirring was continued for a few min as the reaction returned to room temperature, and then it was heated to a reflux for 10 min on the steam bath. The reaction was cooled again, and 25% NaOH was added dropwise until a white granular precipitate was obtained. This was removed by filtration, and the filter cake was washed with 2x50 mL Et2O. The filtrate was extracted into 100 mL dilute H2SO4 which was, in turn, made basic again and extracted with 2x100 mL CH2Cl2. The extracts were pooled, and the solvent removed under vacuum to give a residue of crude product. This was distilled from 100-115 °C at 0.3 mm/Hg yielding 3.2 g of a clear white oil. This was dissolved in 25 mL IPA, neutralized with 23 drops of concentrated HCl, and diluted with 75 mL anhydrous Et2O. There was a deposition of beautiful white platelets of 3,4-dimethoxy-2-methylthiophenethylamine hydrochloride (2-TIM) which were removed by filtration, washed with ether, and air dried. This hydrochloride salt contained a quarter mole of H2O of crystallization. The mp was 183-184 °C. Anal. (C11H18ClNO2Sa1/4 H2O) C,H,N.
DOSAGE: greater than 240 mg.
DURATION: unknown.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 160 mg) There was perhaps some awareness in an hour or so, but in another hour there was absolutely nothing. A small amount of wine in the evening was quite intoxicating.
(with 240 mg) No effects of any kind.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: The problems that might be associated with the making of the three amphetamines that correspond to 2-TIM, 3-TIM and 4-TIM might very well prove quite exciting. These would be the three thio analogues of TMA-3; vis, 3,4-dimethoxy-2-methylthioamphetamine, 2,4-dimethoxy-3-methylthioamphetamine, and 2,3-dimethoxy-4-thioamphetamine. The first challenge would be to name them. Using the 2C-3C convention, they would be the 3C analogs of trivially named 2-carbon compounds, namely 3C-2-TIM, 3C-3-TIM and 3C-4-TIM. Using the thio convention (the number before the T is the position of the sulfur atom), they would be 2-T-TMA-3, 3-T-TMA-3 and 4-T-TMA-3. The second challenge would be their actual synthesis. The information gained from the separation of the 2-carbon nitrostyrenes and that most remarkable mixed-nitrostyrene thing that acted as a single pure material, would not be usable. But it is intriguing to speculate if there might be some parallel problems in the 3-carbon world. It seems almost certain that none of the compounds would be pharmacologically active, so the incentive would be the challenge of the chemistry. Some day, maybe.
#153 3-TIM; 3-THIOMESCALINE; 2,4-DIMETHOXY-3-METHYLTHIOPHENETHYLAMINE
SYNTHESIS: A mixture of 3.1 g POCl3 2.8 g N-methylformanilide was heated on a steam bath until it was a deep claret color (about 5 min). To this there was then added 3.0 g of 2,6-dimethoxythioanisole (see under 4-TM for its preparation), and heating was continued for 30 min. The reaction mixture was then added to 75 mL H2O and stirred overnight. The dark oily mixture was extracted with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2, the extracts pooled, and the solvent removed under vacuum. The residue was extracted with 3x20 mL boiling hexane, each extract being poured off from the insoluble residue. Pooling and cooling these extracts yielded 1.5 g of 2,4-dimethoxy-3-(methylthio)benzaldehyde as an off-white crystalline solid with a mp of 67-69 °C. Recrystallization from either MeOH or cyclohexane tightened the mp, but lowered it to 67-68 °C and 66-67 °C, resp. Anal. (C10H12O3S) C,H.
To a solution of 1.3 g 2,4-dimethoxy-3-(methylthio)benzaldehyde in 60 mL nitromethane there was added 0.3 g anhydrous ammonium acetate and the mixture was heated at reflux for 3 h. The hot solution was decanted from a little insoluble material, and the excess nitromethane was removed under vacuum. The residue dissolved in 10 mL hot MeOH. On cooling, yellow crystals of 2,4-dimethoxy-3-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene were obtained which were removed by filtration and air-dried, and weighed 0.9 g. The mp was 130-133 °C and could be improved to 136-137 °C following recrystallization from MeOH (10 g/g). Anal. (C11H13NO4S) C,H.
A well-stirred solution of 0.6 g LAH in 10 mL anhydrous THF was cooled to 0 °C under He. There was added, dropwise, 0.4 mL of 100% H2SO4, followed by 0.6 g of 2,4-dimethoxy-3-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene dissolved in a little THF. Stirring was continued for a few min as the reaction returned to room temperature, and then it was heated to a reflux for 5 min on the steam bath. The reaction was cooled again, and 25% NaOH was added dropwise until a white granular precipitate was obtained. This was removed by filtration, and the filter cake was washed with 2x25 mL Et2O. The filtrate was extracted into 25 mL dilute H2SO4 which was, in turn, made basic again and extracted with 2x25 mL CH2Cl2. The extracts were pooled, and the solvent removed under vacuum to give a residue of crude product. This was distilled from 120-140 °C at 0.3 mm/Hg yielding 0.25 g of a clear white oil. This was dissolved in 5 mL IPA, neutralized with about 3 drops of concentrated HCl, and diluted with 15 mL anhydrous Et2O. Scratching with a glass rod instigated crystallization of bright white solids which were filtered, washed with Et2O, and air dried. The weight of 2,4-dimethoxy-3-methylthiophenethylamine hydrochloride (3-TIM) was 0.2 g and the mp was 204-206 °C with decomposition. This hydrochloride appeared to be a hemihydrate. Anal. (C11H18ClNO2Sa1/2 H2O) C,H,N.
DOSAGE: greater than 240 mg.
DURATION: unknown.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 240 mg) Briefly I thought that there might have been an alert at the 2 to 3 hour point, but I now think it was nothing. During the following day I had a mild stomach upset off and on, but I can't believe that it was connected with 3-TIM.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: Isomescaline itself is not active, but there is no way of knowing just how "non-active" it really is. If it were to be active just beyond the levels assayed, then the introduction of a sulfur into the molecule in place of an oxygen could have increased the potency to where it might have some effect. The absence of any activity from this TIM, and the other two TIMs, might well suggest that isomescaline is really very "non-active," if that makes sense°
#154 4-TIM; 4-THIOISOMESCALINE; 2,3-DIMETHOXY-4-METHYLTHIOPHENETHYLAMINE
SYNTHESIS: The mother liquors from the initial crystallization of the 2-TIM nitrostyrene (see under 2-TIM) was the source and raw material for all 4-TIM chemistry. Once the bulk of the 2-TIM nitrostyrene has been removed, these mother liquors could be processed to give the 4-TIM nitrostyrene. The easier procedure was to evaporate these mother liquors to a residue under vacuum, and hope for a spontaneous crystallization. If this failed, flash chromatography could be used. For reference purposes, the three nitrostyrenes involved in the 2-TIM/4-TIM problem movedon silica gel TLC with CHCl3 solvent in the following manner: 2,3-dimethoxy-4-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene (leading to 4-TIM), Rf = 0.61; 3,4-dimethoxy-2-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene (leading to 2-TIM), Rf = 0.54; and 3,4-dimethoxy-'-nitrostyrene (leading to DMPEA), Rf = 0.47. For flash chromatography, a small portion of the residue from the mother liquor was dissolved in CHCl3, and placed on a silica gel column. CHCl3 was used as the eluding solvent. The first material breaking through from the column was the 4-TIM nitrostyrene and on evaporation of this fraction, seed was obtained as gold-colored crystals that had a mp of 71-73 °C. This, when added to the residues from the described 2-TIM synthesis nitrostyrenes, started the crystallization process. The gummy solid that was produced was triturated under MeOH, and the crystals so revealed were removed by filtration. Recrystallization from 10 mL MeOH gave 1.9 g of solids. A second recrystallization from 5 mL MeOH provided 0.7 g of pumpkin-colored crystals of 2,3-dimethoxy-4-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene with a mp of 70-71 °C.
A solution of 1.2 g LAH in 20 mL anhydrous THF was cooled to 0 °C under He and stirred. There was added, dropwise, 0.8 mL of 100% H2SO4, followed by 0.9 g of 2,3-dimethoxy-4-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene dissolved in 20 mL THF. Stirring was continued for a few min as the reaction returned to room temperature, and then it was heated to a reflux for 5 min on the steam bath. The reaction was cooled again, EtOAc was added to destroy the excess hydride, followed by 25% NaOH added dropwise until a white granular precipitate was obtained. This was removed by filtration, and the filter cake was washed with 2x35 mL Et2O. The filtrate was extracted into 50 mL dilute H2SO4 which was washed with Et2O and, in turn, made basic again and extracted with 2x50 mL CH2Cl2. The extracts were pooled, and the solvent removed under vacuum to give a residue of crude product. This distilled cleanly from 100-115 °C at 0.3 mm/Hg yielding 0.45 g of a clear white oil. This was dissolved in 6 mL IPA, neutralized with 5 drops of concentrated HCl, and diluted with 25 mL anhydrous Et2O. There was a deposition of white solids which were removed by filtration, washed with Et2O, and air dried. The 2,3-dimethoxy-4-methylthiophenethylamine hydrochloride so obtained (4-TIM) weighed 0.3 g and contained a molecule of H2O of crystallization. The mp was 212-213 °C. Anal. (C11H18ClNO2SaH2O) C,H,N.
DOSAGE: greater than 160 mg.
DURATION: unknown.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 160 mg) Everything seemed normal. Pulse was under 80, there was nothing with eyes-closed, my appetite was normal. The compound was completely inactive.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: There has been much noise made about the effectiveness of an unusual substitution group at the 4-position of the phenethylamine molecule. Here is a methylthio group at this position, and it is an inactive compound. I was just a little bit surprised.
#155 3-TM; 3-THIOMESCALINE; 3,4-DIMETHOXY-5-METHYLTHIOPHENETHYLAMINE
SYNTHESIS: To an ice cold and well stirred solution of 15 g vanillin and 20 g sodium thiocyanate in 150 mL acetic acid there was added, dropwise over the course of 15 min, a solution of 16 g elemental bromine in 40 mL acetic acid. This was followed by the addition of 30 mL of 5% HCl and 300 mL EtOH, and stirring was continued for an additional 30 min. The mixture was heated to its boiling point, and filtered while hot. The mother liquor was diluted with an equal volume of H2O, which initiated the crystallization of crude 5-formyl-7-methoxy-2-oxo-1,3-benzoxathiole as a flocculant yellow solid. On filtration and air-drying, this weighed 12.5 g. After recrystallization from EtOH, the product was white and had a mp of 164 °C sharp.
A suspension of 12.5 g of crude 5-formyl-7-methoxy-2-oxo-1,3-benzoxathiole in 100 mL MeOH containing 28.4 g methyl iodide was treated with a solution of 12 g NaOH in 100 mL warm MeOH. The mixture was held at reflux for 1 h and then the solvents were removed under vacuum. A solution of 14.2 g methyl iodide in 100 mL DMSO was added and the mixture stirred for 1 h. An additional 2.4 g of NaOH and 16 g methyl iodide were added, and the stirring was continued for another 2 h. The reaction mixture was poured into 800 mL H2O, acidified with HCl, and extracted with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2. The pooled extracts were washed with 5% NaOH, then water, and the solvent removed under vacuum. Distillation at 110-130 °C at 0.4 mm/Hg gave 0.9 g 3,4-dimethoxy-5-(methylthio)benzaldehyde which had a mp of 57-58 °C after crystallization from EtOH. Anal. (C10H12O3S) C,H.
A solution of 0.9 g 3,4-dimethoxy-5-(methylthio)benzaldehyde in 100 mL nitromethane containing 0.5 g anhydrous ammonium acetate was held at reflux for 4 h. The excess nitromethane was removed under vacuum, and the deep brown residue was dissolved in 4 mL hot MeOH. On cooling, the yellow crystals were removed by filtration, washed with cold MeOH and air dried yielding 0.4 g yellow crystals of 3,4-dimethoxy-5-methoxy-'-nitrostyrene, with a mp of 119.5-120.5 °C after recrystallization from EtOH. Anal. (C11H13NO4S) C,H.
To a solution of 1.0 g LAH in 25 mL anhydrous THF under He, cooled to 0 °C and vigorously stirred, there was added, dropwise, 0.7 mL of 100% H2SO4, followed by a solution of 0.7 g 3,4-dimethoxy-5-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene in 10 mL anhydrous THF. The mixture was brought briefly to a reflux, cooled again, and the excess hydride destroyed with H2O in THF, followed by the dropwise addition of 15% NaOH until the solids became white and granular. The solids were removed by filtration, the filter cake washed with THF, the mother liquor and filtrates combined, diluted with an equal volume of Et2O, and extracted with 2x40 mL dilute H2SO4. The aqueous extracts were combined, washed with Et2O, made basic with aqueous NaOH, and extracted with 2x50 mL CH2Cl2. The solvent was removed from these extracts and the residue distilled to provide 0.4 g of a white oil boiling at 124-130 °C at 0.2 mm/Hg. This oil was dissolved in 8 mL IPA, neutralized with concentrated HCl, and diluted with 30 mL anhydrous Et2O. The white crystalline product was the monohydrate of 3,4-dimethoxy-5-methylthiophenethylamine hydrochloride (3-TM) which melted at 167-168 °C and weighed 0.29 g. Anal. (C11H18ClNO2SaH2O) C,H,N.
DOSAGE: 60 - 100 mg.
DURATION: 8 - 12 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 80 mg) I went into the experience with the question of whether it (3-TM) might be a writing aid. I found a considerable color enhancement (this was at the one hour point) and there seems to be no problem in writing physical words. But there is no urge to, as there are no new things. This is progressing into something more complex and there is an interesting shielding effect. I still have the desire to write and I sense that many things are going on underneath, but my conscious control suppresses their availability. It is now the third hour. Music. I would like to try this material at 100 milligrams. Now awareness seems much more pointed. I have need to build a writing table. This material is physically relaxing, insisting repose, but with conflicting energy. Seated in a chair, but I seem unable to find a comfortable position in order to write.
"Pine trees seem a good placeTo start. Notwithstanding this table
Of pine, unfinished, unruled,
The pulp upon which we reveal
The unnerved thoughts.
How casual we are at discarding
Our feelings, a rubble we
Leave behind for the living.
Who among us can absorb
The spiritual load we see as
What others carry."
This material is not poetic, I should say, does not enhance poetry, prose is much more comfortable. I think I should let the experience develop further. It is now the fifth hour. There is something of a violence (emotional) suppressed in all of us, a socially repressed vision of oneself in a direct conflict with oneself. The music has a lot to do with this material. And it changes with time. In the first part there is sublimity, peacefulness, mild intoxication. And a lot more tension in the part that followed the four hour point. There the territories seem much better defined, with the benign shielding of the first half largely dissipated. I have developed a slightly irritated view of myself, probably wanting once again to regain the serenity.
(with 80 mg) Delightful day. Not insight depth but persistent feeling of pleasant good humor. It is good-natured and very verbal. Everyone talked and the instinct was to express and comment on everything. There were no visuals during the first three to four hours Q with the eyes open one could barely detect the intoxication. Eyes closed Q quiet lovely window, no images. About +2. And then someone brought in a radio with music on, into the room. There was a tremendous eruption of closed-eyes visual images and fantasy. Bright colors, funny, rich and elaborate. Marvelous. I was suddenly at +3. Next day, no hangover. Pleasant feeling persisted.
(with 100 mg) I found the day had two halves. The first few hours were characterized by occasional defensiveness (paranoia) and irritability. In interpersonal interactions there was a guardedness, due to a feeling of vulnerability. I went off by myself, and with eyes closed, there was rich imagery and color synthesis to musical imput. And then things smoothed out, and I could express an easy flow of ideas and concepts without always watching my step. And then all too soon, the intensity of the experience began fading away.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: The amphetamine which would correspond with this base would be 3,4-dimethoxy-5-methylthioamphetamine (3-T-TMA) and should be an active compound. Its synthesis should be straightforward from the benzaldehyde described above, employing nitroethane rather than nitromethane. It is apparently an unknown compound.
#156 TM; 4-TM; 4-THIOMESCALINE; 3,5-DIMETHOXY-4-METHYLTHIOPHENETHYLAMINE
SYNTHESIS: A solution of 24.2 g N,N,NU,NU-tetramethylethylenediamine and 27.6 g of 1,3-dimethoxybenzene was dissolved in 400 mL anhydrous hexane. This was stirred vigorously under a N2 atmosphere and cooled to 0 °C with an external ice bath. There was added 125 mL of 2.0 M butyllithium in hexane. The stirred reaction mixture became yellow and sludgy, and was briefly warmed back to room temperature to allow easy stirring. After cooling again to 0 °C, there was added 18.8 g of dimethyl disulfide which converted the viscous yellow phase to a loose white solid. Stirring was continued while the reaction mixture was brought up to room temperature, and then all was added to 2 L of dilute H2SO4. There was the immediate formation of a white cystalline solid which was removed by filtration, sucked relatively free of water, and recrystallized from 50 mL of boiling MeOH. There was thus obtained 18.9 g of 2,6-dimethoxythioanisole as white crystals with a mp of 81-82 °C. Extraction of the aqueous filtrate with 2x50 mL CH2Cl2 and removal of the solvent under vacuum gave a residue which, when combined with the mother liquors from the MeOH crystallization, afforded an additional 3.3 g product with a mp 77-79 °C.
To a stirred solution of 18.9 g of 2,6-dimethoxythioanisole in 200 mL CH2Cl2 there was added 16 g elemental bromine dissolved in 75 mL CH2Cl2. The initial dark red color gradually faded to a pale yellow color and there was a copious evolution of HBr. The solvent was removed under vacuum leaving 27.5 g of a pale yellow residual oil. This was distilled at 118-121 °C at 0.25 mm/Hg to yield 3-bromo-2,6-dimethoxythioanisole as a white oil weighing 25.3 g. Crystallization from hexane provided white crystals with a mp of 30-30.5 °C. Anal. (C9H11BrO2S) C,H.
To a solution of 19.3 g diisopropylamine in 150 mL anhydrous THF that was stirred under a N2 atmosphere and cooled to -10 °C with an external ice/MeOH bath, there was added in sequence 83 mL of 1.6 M butyllithium in hexane, 4.4 mL of dry CH3CN, and 11.6 g of 3-bromo-2,6-dimethoxythioanisole (which had been dissolved in a little anhydrous THF). The turbid reaction mixture gradually developed color, initially yellow and progressively becoming orange and finally a deep red brown. Stirring was maintained for a total of 20 min, and then the reaction mixture was poured into 1 L H2O that containing 10 mL concentrated H2SO4. This was extracted with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2, these extracts pooled, washed with dilute H2SO4 followed by saturated brine, and the solvent was removed under vacuum yielding 8.7 g of a viscous oil as a residue. This was distilled at 0.11 mm/Hg yielded two fractions. The first boiled at 115-125 °C and weighed 3.8 g. This material set to an oily crystalline mass which was filtered, washed with cold MeOH and then recrystallized from MeOH. The white solids had a mp of 60-63 °C and were not the desired product. This material has not yet been identified. The second fraction came over at 150-180 °C, weighed 1.8 g and spontaneously crystallized. It was triturated under cold MeOH and filtered yielding, after air drying, 1.1 g 3,5-dimethoxy-4- methylthiophenylacetonitrile, which had a mp of 95-96.5 °C. Anal. (C11H13NO2S) C,H.
A suspension of 1.0 g LAH in 40 mL anhydrous THF under N2 was cooled to 0 °C and vigorously stirred. There was added, dropwise, 0.7 mL 100% H2SO4, followed by 1.2 g 3,5-dimethoxy-4-methylthiophenylacetonitrile in 10 mL anhydrous THF. The reaction mixture was stirred at 0 °C for a few min, then brought to room temperature for 1 h, and finally to a reflux for 30 min on the steam bath. After cooling to room temperature, there was added 1 mL H2O in 5 mL THF to destroy the excess hydride, followed by 3 mL of 15% NaOH to bring the reaction to a basic pH, and finally 2 mL H2O which converted the aluminum oxide to a loose, white, filterable consistency. This was removed by filtration, and washed with THF. The filtrate and washes were stripped of solvent under vacuum, the residue was dissolved in 200 mL CH2Cl2, and this was extracted with 3x100 mL diute H2SO4. These extracts were pooled, washed with CH2Cl2, made basic with 25% NaOH, and extracted with 3x100 mL CH2Cl2. After combining, the solvent was removed under vacuum providing 1.2 g of a colorless oil as a residue. This was distilled at 122-132 °C at 0.05 mm/Hg to give a colorless oil. This was dissolved in 8 mL of IPA, neutralized with concentrated HCl and, with continuous stirring, diluted with 100 mL anhydrous Et2O. The product was removed by filtration, washed with Et2O, and air dried to give 0.95 g. 3,5-dimethoxy-4-methylthiophenethylamine hydrochloride (4-TM) as spectacular white crystals with a mp of 193-194 °C. Anal. (C11H18ClNO2S) C,H.
DOSAGE: 20 - 40 mg.
DURATION: 10 - 15 h.
QUANTITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 25 mg) I was first aware of any effects as I was sitting in back of the house on a big fluffy pillow. The sun was warm and the grass tall and green, but I felt strange inside. There was distinct uterine cramping, and I could not find a comfortable position for sitting. The others had gone out to the garden leaving me here. It seemed that walking might relieve the physical discomfort, so I went to find them. Walking was easy, but I was a little light-headed and I had to watch my steps with care. They were not there (we had passed on opposite sides of the house) and I returned in some haste to my warm nest behind the house to find my pillow gone. A strange detail, but it perhaps gave me the flavor for my day. The pillow was for me. It was gone. My place was gone. Therefore I am gone. I am dead and yet I can see and think. The small touch of panic at finding myself dead dispelled any internal concerns and I ran inside to find the others; they had brought my pillow in. I was alive again, but the entire day balanced between the alive unreality and the illusion that I was something removed and merely watching the surrounding alive unreality. Everything that happened was completely unlikely.
RLike the soup scene. We decided that some hot soup would be welcome, and so R. brought out three cans of Campbell soup for the three of us. But one was cream mushroom, one asparagus, and one tomato. The discussion as to how to use two cans only, which two, without mixing, and even how to decide to decide was totally beyond any of us. The situation was hopelessly unresolvable, hilariously funny, and distinctly schizophrenic.
ROr like the kite scene. We were returning from a short walk to the back of the property, and I spotted a red thing in the parking area. It had not been there before. None of us could identify it from this distance, and we speculated wildly as to what it was, as we came closer. And at the last approach, we found that there was loose string everywhere about the driveway, all part of a downed kite. The red object had apparently fallen from the sky, right here in front of the garage. There had been no sounds of voices of kite-flyers, and there was no one to be seen in any direction. And then one of us spotted a sheet of paper, torn to the center where there was a small hole, and it was flattened up against the kite. There was a message. Apparently whoever had been flying it had put a message on the string, and let the wind take it up to the kite itself. I reached for the sheet of paper, and removed it. Nothing on either side. The message was that there was no message. Exactly out of Marshall McLuhan. Completely appropriate for this particular day.
RThat evening we were to be picked up by my friends for dinner. Choosing what to wear, how to dress myself, how to adjust my persona to fit other people, all this was chaotic. Somehow the dinner succeeded, but I was able to flip in and out of the immediate company easily, but not completely voluntarily. Sleep was com-fortable that night, and I feel that the entire day had been very intense, not too much fun, but somehow quite rewarding.
(with 30 mg) At the one and a half hour point, I was reminded more than anything of LSD, with a distinct feeling of standing just a few feet to the right of ordinary reality. There has been a mild tremor ever since the first effects were evident, but it doesnUt bother me except to make my handwriting uncertain. I would not want to double this level. Suddenly the concept of my 5:30's swept over me. I had a penetrating view of myself as a person who had become invested in a pattern of behavior that I had succumbed to, to come home and complete my day with a transition from the work-world to the home-world, by changing the inside clock at 5:30. My wife had been my 5:30 for nearly 30 years and this had been my tacit agreement with her. Never questioned, never challenged, and certainly never violated. And with her death, I have found myself imposing this same 5:30-ness on myself, as some form of an emasculating pattern that is comfortable and stable. No, it is not comfortable, it is simply the course of the least thought and the least disruption. If I were to meet someone else, would I have such a negative image of myself that I would expect her to become my 5:30 so as not to have to disrupt these tired and comfortable patterns? That would be completely unfair to this other person. And I can see where it is completely destructive to me. No new person should ever have to play my wife's old role. I need never again play my old role. And I won't.
(with 30 mg) At 2:20 PM I ingested 30 mg of TM. It had a mildly alkaloid taste. Since the afternoon was warm, I took a two mile walk with the dog, and with my two companions K.T. and T.T., both also with 30 mg. We talked without any difficulty even after the onset of the first signs of effect. The major emotional and physical effects came on very gradually and quite pleasantly as we sat in the patio. But soon we all grew chilled, and put on more clothing. Nothing really helped the inward chill, and we were to discover that it stayed with us throughout the ex-perience. At 3:30 we went inside where the room temperature was set at 70 degrees, and we all lay down. I launched into an engrossing, somewhat chaotic and erotic reverie, that followed no linear progression, but which lasted perhaps an hour. The ease of talking surprised me; the content was cogent and I felt myself to be articulate. It dawned on me after about two hours had gone by, that the height of the experiment had already passed without any real exhilaration on my part. But my companions suggested that my expectations from the past had been misleading me and, as time went on, they proved to be correct. The clarity and the continued ability to talk, especially with K.T. on a personally difficult topic, were for me the particular genius of this material. When I went inward, which I could do without effort, the sensations were neutral in affect but restful in some way. But coming out was entirely lucid and pleasant. I soon found that I preferred this. I enjoyed a light supper at 8:30 and found the dropoff gentle, and the conversation most amiable until we separated at 1:00 AM. Sleep did not come until 3:00 AM and then only after 10 mg Librium to quell the active mental processes. The next day I awoke around 8:30 AM feeling languid but cheerful.
(with 40 mg) For quite a while there was some physical concern. Not actual nausea but a generalized uneasiness, with a distinct body tremor. There was little urine produced (500 mL in 18 hours), and I felt the need to search out fluids. There was mild intestinal cramping. I found that my thoughts were able to go in several directions at once, but since they stayed nowhere long enough to structure anything, this was more annoying than constructive. I saw this as a reality shell about me like a Mbius strip, continuous, yet with no consistent side being presented. I was reminded of a similar place with DOB, some few years ago. While lying down with eyes closed, I found the imagery to be very impressive, but my thought processes were quite convoluted and disjointed. Some were most interesting, and some were ugly. I cannot see this as a party drug.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: The dosage range has been broadened to include the 20 milligram level, in that several subjects found that even with that small amount there was difficulty in walking and in keeping one's equilibrium. Walking was described as a floating procedure, and one could tilt to one side or the other if care was not taken. Anorexia was occasionally noted, and most people commented on some degree of anesthesia to touch.
All in all, this drug evoked a mixed bag of responses. The most startling and unexpected property was the dramatic increase in potency over the parent prototype, mescaline. The substitution of a sulfur atom for an oxygen atom increased the power of the drug some ten-fold, without any apparent decrease in complexity of action. As there were many materials that were outgrowths of mescaline with the studies of ethyl this and diethyl that, each and all of these would be interesting candidates for synthesis with this or that oxygen atom replaced with sulfur. Most of these have been made, and many of them have proven to be interesting.
What is meaning of the phrase, "sulfur-for-oxygen replacement?" Let me try to explain it for non-chemists.
One of the most exciting bits of architecture in science is the Periodic Table. The principles of electrons and orbitals and different counts of protons in a nucleus gets to be a complex story to try to explain the grid-like structure of the arrangements of atoms. It is easier to simply give the music. And this melody goes: As you look across a row, elements are simple in their binding arrangements on the left, become more complex towards the center where they kind of change polarity, and then get progressively simple again but with the opposite charge as you approach the right-hand side.
And when you look at a column from top to bottom, the bonding complexity stays pretty much the same but the atom gets more and more massive as you go down the column.
The combinations of atoms from the Periodic Table, by and large, is the province of the inorganic chemist. Take one of this, and two of that, and the combination is called a salt, or a complex, or an adduct, and probably has interesting colors, and may even be found in nature as part of a rock somewhere, or coming out of the vent of a volcano.
But if one were to look at just four elements, three in the middle right of the first row, namely carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, and the one up there at the top and the lightest of all, hydrogen, you would find quite a different story. These can be combined in an infinity of ways since there can be dozens of atoms hooked to one-another; this is the territory of the organic chemist, and this is the chemistry of life. With a few exceptions, every molecule within the body, and the food that maintains the body, and the drugs that affect the body, are made up of a bunch of carbons, and an occasional oxygen or two, usually a nitrogen somewhere, and all the remaining loose ends satisfied with hydrogen atoms.
Almost every drug that is to be found in this book is nothing more than a different arrangement of atoms of these four elements.
This compound, thiomescaline, is a byway that takes advantage of one of those vertical columns. Directly below the element oxygen, there is found sulfur, which has much the same binding complexity, but is twice as massive. The prototype of all the phenethylamine drugs being discussed in this book is mescaline, a very simple compound containing these basic four elements of life and pharmacology; it contains eleven carbon atoms, three oxygen atoms, one nitrogen atom, and there are a total of seventeen hydrogen atoms required to balance the books. One of the oxygen atoms holds a central position, and the other two are reflections of one another and cannot be distinguished chemically. The structure of thiomescaline is generated by plucking out that central oxygen atom of mescaline, and putting a sulfur atom back in its place. The definition of the term RthioS is quite simple Q it means a sulfur-in-place-of-an-oxygen, with everything else left alone. It is a little awe-inspiring to think that every oxy anything can have a thio something as a spatially similar analogue. And there are a lot of oxy things in the body and in the medicine cabinet. A number of them are discussed in this book.
#157 TMA; 3,4,5-TRIMETHOXYAMPHETAMINE
SYNTHESIS: To a solution of 39.2 g 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde in 30 mL warm EtOH there was added 15.7 g nitroethane followed by 1.5 mL n-butylamine. The reaction mixture was allowed to stand at 40 °C for 7 days. With cooling and scratching, fine yellow needles were obtained which, after removal by filtration and air drying, weighed 48 g. Recrystallization from EtOH gave 2-nitro-1-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)propene as yellow crystals with a mp of 94-95 °C. Anal. (C12H15NO5) C,H,N. Alternatively, a solution of 20 g of the aldehyde in 75 mL nitroethane was treated with 4 g anhydrous ammonium acetate and heated on the steam bath until a deep red color had been generated. Removal of the excess solvent/reagent under vacuum gave a red oil which was dissolved in an equal volume of boiling MeOH. On cooling, yellow crystals of the nitropropene separated. Recrystallization from MeOH gave, after air drying to constant weight, 13.0 g with the same mp.
Under an inert atmosphere, 38 g LAH was wetted with 100 mL anhydrous Et2O, and then suspended in 1 L dry THF. This was brought up to a gentle reflux, and there was added, slowly, a solution of 43.7 g 2-nitro-1-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)propene in 160 mL THF. Refluxing was continued for 36 h, and then the reaction mixture was cooled with an external ice bath. The excess hydride was destroyed by the cautious addition of 38 mL H2O, and this was followed by 38 mL 15% NaOH, and finally another 114 mL H2O. The inorganic salts which should have ended up as a loose, granular, easily filterable mass, looked rather like library paste, but they were filtered nonetheless. Washing with THF was attempted, but it was not efficient. The combined filtrate and washes were stripped of solvent under vacuum giving 31.5 g of the crude base as an amber oil. This was dissolved in 140 mL IPA, neutralized with concentrated HCl (15 mL was required), and diluted with 650 mL anhydrous Et2O. There was an initial oily phase which on continued stirring changed to pale pink solids. These were finely ground under CH3CN to give 15.2 g of 3,4,5-trimethoxyamphetamine hydrochloride (TMA) as white crystals that melted at 195-211 °C. All aluminum salts from everywhere were dissolved in dilute HCl, and 1 Kg of potassium sodium tartrate was added. There as added 25% NaOH allowed the pH to bring the pH to >9 without the precipitation of basic alumina. Extraction of this phase with CH2Cl2 was followed by removal of the solvent and salt formation as described above, allowed the isolation of an additional 6.4 g TMA. The product prepared in this manner contains some 10-15% 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxyamphetamine as an impurity. A solution of 20 g of the TMA made in this manner in 200 mL 5% NaOH was extracted with 2x200 mL CH2Cl2. The pooled extracts were washed with 4x100 mL 5% NaOH, and the aqueous washes were pooled with the original base phase. The organic phase was stripped of its CH2Cl2 under vacuum to give an oil that was dissolved in 40 mL IPA, neutralized with concentrated HCl, and diluted with 400 mL anhydrous Et2O. There was the immediate formation of spectacular white crystals of pure 3,4,5-trimethoxyamphetamine hydrochloride, weighing 15.4 g and having a mp of 220-221 °C. The aqueous phase was brought to neutrality, treated with 10 g potassium di-hydrogen phosphate, brought to pH 9.0 with the careful addition of NaOH, and extracted with 5x100 mL CH2Cl2. Evaporation of the solvent under vacuum gave an oil that spontaneously crystallized. This product, 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxyamphetamine could be further purified by sublimation at 130 °C at 0.2 mm/Hg. It was a white crystalline solid that slowly discolored in the air. The literature describes a picrate salt with a mp of 225 °C from EtOH.
DOSAGE: 100 - 250 mg.
DURATION: 6 - 8 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 135 mg) I had no nausea, although I always vomit with mescaline. Somehow my personality was divided and exposed, and this allowed me to understand my psychic structure more clearly. But maybe others could look in there, too. The psychiatric use of this drug would be interesting to pursue. It is not completely pleasant, maybe because of this personal intimacy.
(with 140 mg) There were not the color changes of mescaline there, but certainly a good humor and an over-appreciation of jokes. The images behind the eyes were remarkable and tied in with the music, and I became annoyed at other people's conversations that got in the way. I was out of it in eight hours. I would equate this to 300 or 350 milligrams of mescaline and I rather think that I would prefer the latter.
(with 225 mg) There was quite a bit of nausea in the first hour. Then I found myself becoming emotionally quite volatile, sometimes gentle and peaceful, sometimes irritable and pugnacious. It was a day to be connected in one way or another with music. I was reading Bernstein's 'Joy of Music' and every phrase was audible to me. On the radio, Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto on the radio put me in an eyes-closed foetal position and I was totally involved with the structure of the music. I was suspended, inverted, held by fine filigreed strands of the music which had been woven from the arpeggios and knotted with the chords. The commercials that followed were irritating, and the next piece, Slaughter on Fifth Avenue, made me quite violent. I was told that I had a, 'Don't cross me if you know what is good for you,' look to me. I easily crushed a rose, although it had been a thing of beauty.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: TMA was the very first totally synthetic psychedelic phenethylamine that was found to be active in man, for which there had been any attempt to describe such drug effects in any detail. This was the report of research done in Canada, and it appeared in 1955, six years before my own report on the material. There was an earlier report on TMPEA which is mentioned in the appropriate recipe, but there were few details given. Also there had been interest in reports that adrenalin that had become old and discolored seemed to elicit central effects in man. The oxidation products were identified as the deeply colored indolic compound adrenochrome and the colorless analogue adrenolutin. The controversy that these reports created just sort of died away, and the adrenochrome family has never been accepted as being psychedelic. No one in the scientific community today is looking in and about the area, and at present this is considered as an interesting historical footnote. But, in any case, they are not phenethylamines and so not part of this book.
The Canadian studies with TMA involved the use of a stroboscope as a tool for the induction of visual phenomena. These experiments used levels in the 50-150 milligram range, and generally employed pre-treatment with Dramamine for the successful prevention of nausea. There was reported giddiness and light-headedness, and some remarkable flash-induced visualizations. With higher levels, the visual syntheses are present without external stimulation. But there is a thread of negativity that seems to pervade the experience at these higher levels, and the appearance of a publication that emphasized the possible antisocial nature to TMA seemed to discourage further medical exploration. Military interest was maintained however, apparently, as TMA became a part of the chemical warfare studies where it was referred to with the code name EA-1319. It had been used in human trials with psychiatric patients, but no details of these experiments have been published.
The presence of a potentially active impurity in TMA deserves some comment. In the Canadian work, the material used was described as melting at 219-220 °C, which is the property given for the impurity-free material above. If this was the actual material used in those studies, this impurity (3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxyamphetamine) was probably not present. The Army studies use a material of unreported melting point. In my own studies, the lower melting product was used. There is an intriguing and unanswered question: what contribution did this phenolic component make to the nature of the observed effects of TMA? Assays on the isolated contaminant could answer that, but they have not yet been made.
There is an old saying that has gotten many people into trouble: "If one is good, then two is better." And if a statement of the measure of worth of a compound can be made from its potency, then TMA is a step in the right direction. And this was a chemically simple direction to follow further. Looking at mescaline as a compound with no carbons on its side-chain, and TMA as a mescaline molecule with one carbon on its side chain, then what about a compound with two carbons there, or three, or nine carbons?
Using this pattern of naming, TMA can be seen as alpha-methylmescaline, or AMM. And the two carbon homologue would be alpha-ethyl mescaline, or AEM. Its proper name is 2-amino-1-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)butane. It and its several higher homologues are discussed in a separate recipe entry called AEM (#1).
A final comment. But maybe a long one° Elsewhere, I have made comparisons between myristicin and MMDA, and between safrole and MDA. And here there is a similar parallel between elemicin and TMA. What are these relationships between the essential oils and the amphetamines? In a word, there are some ten essential oils that have a three carbon chain, and each lacks only a molecule of ammonia to become an amphetamine. So, maybe these essential oils, or "almost" amphetamines, can serve as an index for the corresponding real amphetamine counterparts. I had originally called this family the RnaturalS amphetamines, but my son suggested calling them the "essential" amphetamines, and I like that. At the time that I had synthesized TMA, back there in the '50s, I had the impulse to explore this body of Essential Amphetamines. As the old folk-wisdom says: RNature is trying to tell us something.
One of the banes of the archivist is having to choose one pattern of organization over another. The book store owned by a language scholar will have the German poets and playwrights and novelists here, and the French ones over there. Next door, the book store is run by a letters scholar, and the poetry of the world is here, and the plays of the world are there, regardless of the language of origin. The same obtains with spices, and essential oils, and amphetamines. The spice cabinet is a rich source of chemical treasures, each source plant containing a host of com-pounds, some of which are true essential oils. And the next spice from the next plant has some of the same components and some new ones. Does one organize by plant (spice or herb) or by essential oil (amphetamine)? Let's do it by the ring substitution pattern of the amphetamine, and gather the spices and oils as a secondary collection.
(1) The 4-methoxy pattern. The pivotal essential oil is 4-allylanisole, or methyl chavicol, or estragole (called esdragol in the old literature). This allyl compound is found in turpentine, anise, fennel, bay, tarragon, and basil. Its smell is light, and reminiscent of fennel. The propenyl analogue is called anethole, or anise camphor, and it is found in both anise and camphor. It is a waxy solid, and has a very intense smell of anise or fennel. At low concentrations, it is sweet, as in magnolia blossoms, where it is also found. The drinks that turn cloudy with water dilution (Pernod-like liqueurs, and ouzo and roki), are heavy with it, since it was the natural flavoring in the original absinthe. That drink was very popular in the last century, as an intoxicant which produced an altered state of consciousness beyond that which could be ascribed to alcohol alone. It contained wormwood, which proved to be neurologically damaging. The flavorings, such as anethole, are still big things in synthetic liqueurs such as vermouth. Old anethole, when exposed to air and light, gets thick and sticky and yellowish, and becomes quite disagreeable to taste. Maybe it is polymerizing, or maybe oxidizing to stuff that dimerizes. Whatever. These changes are why old spices in the cabinet are best discarded. And adding ammonia to any of these natural product oils produces, in principle, 4-methoxyamphetamine, 4-MA.
(2) The 3,4-dimethoxy pattern. The main actor here is methyleugenol, or 4-allyl-1,2-dimethoxybenzene. This is located in almost every item in the spice cabinet. It is in citronella, bay (which is laurel, which is myrtle), pimiento, allspice, pepper, tree-tea oil, and on and on. It has a faint smell of cloves, and when dilute is immediately mistaken for carnations. The propenyl analogue is, not unreasonably, methylisoeugenol, a bit more scarce, and seems to always be that little minor peak in any essential oil analysis. The compounds missing that methyl group on the 4-oxygen are famous. The allyl material is eugenol, 4-allylguaiacol, and it is in cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, sassafras and myrrh. You taste it and it burns. You smell it and think immediately of cloves. And its property as an anesthetic, in the form of a clove, is well known in the folk-treatment of toothaches. Actually, flowers of clove (the gillyflower, like the carnation) are the small, pointy things that decorate baked hams and, when stuck into apples, make pomander balls. This anesthetic property has recently led to a drug abuse fad, called clove cigarettes. Very strong, very flavorful, and very corrosive things from Southeast Asia. The eugenol that is present numbs the throat, and allows many strong cigarettes to be smoked without pain. The propenyl analogue is isoeugenol, with a smell that is subtle but very long lasting, used more in soaps and perfumes than in foods. The amine addition to the methyleugenol world produces 3,4-dimethoxyamphetamine, or 3,4-DMA. The isomer with the other methyl group missing is chavibetol (3-hydroxy-4-methoxyallylbenzene) and is found in the pepper leaf that is used with betel nut. A couple of positional rearrangement isomers of methyleugenol are known in the plant world. The 2,4-isomer is called osmorrhizole, and the conjugated form is isoosmorrhizole or nothosmyrnol; both are found in carrot-like vegetables. They, with ammonia, would give 2,4-DMA. And the 3,5-dimethoxyallylbenzene isomer from artemisia (a pungent herb commonly called mugwort) and from sage, would give rise to 3,5-DMA. This is an unexplored isomer which would be both an antidote for opium as well as a stimulant, if the classical reputation of mugwort is transferred to the amphetamine.
(3) The 3,4-methylenedioxy pattern. One of the most famous essential oils is safrole, or 4-allyl-1,2-methylenedioxybenzene. This is the mainstay of sassafras oil, and it and its conjugated isomer isosafrole have a smell that is immediately familiar: root beer° These are among the most widely distributed essential oils, being present in most of the spices, including the heavies such as cinnamon and nutmeg. I am not aware of the 2,3-isomer ever having been found in nature. Adding ammonia to either would give MDA.
(4) The 3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxy pattern. The parent compound is myristicin, 5-allyl-1-methoxy-2,3-methylenedioxybenzene, and the source of this is nutmeg (or the botanically parallel material, mace). The nutmeg is the seed of the tree Myristica fragrans and mace is the fibrous covering of the seed. The two spices are virtually identical as to their chemical composition. Myristicin and the conjugated isomer isomyristicin are also found in parsley oil, and in dill. This was the oil that was actually shown to be converted to MMDA by the addition of ammonia by passage through an in vitro liver preparation. So here is the major justification for the equation between the essential oils and the Essential Amphetamines. Care must be taken to make an exact distinction between myristicin (this essential oil) and myristin (the fat) which is really trimyristin or glyceryl trimyristate from nutmeg and coconut. This is the fat from myristic acid, the C-14 fatty acid, and these two similar names are often interchanged even in the scientific literature.
(5) The 2-methoxy-3,4-methylenedioxy pattern. This is the second of the three natural methoxy methylenedioxy orientations. Croweacin is 2-methoxy-3,4-methylenedioxyallylbenzene, and it takes its name from the binomial for the plant Eriostemon crowei from the worlds of rue and the citrus plants. It corresponds to the essential amphetamine MMDA-3a. This oil is found in plants of the Family Rutaceae. My memories of this area of botany are of Ruta graveolens, the common rue, whose small leaves smelled to me, for all the world, like cat urine. This plant has always fascinated me because of a most remarkable recipe that I was given by a very, very conservative fellow-club member, one evening, after rehearsal. He told me of a formula that had provided him with the most complete relief from arthritic pain he had ever known. It was a native decoction he had learned of many years eariler, when he was traveling in Mexico. One took equal quantities of three plants, Ruta graveolens (or our common rue), Rosmarinus officinalis (better known as rosemary), and Cannabis sativa (which is recognized in many households simply as marijuana). Three plants all known in folklore, rue as a symbol for repentance, rosemary as a symbol of remembrance, and pot, well, I guess it is a symbol of a lot of things to a lot of people. Anyway, equal quantities of these three plants are allowed to soak in a large quantity of rubbing alcohol for a few weeks. Then the alcoholic extracts are clarified, and allowed to evaporate in the open air to a thick sludge. This then was rubbed on the skin, where the arthritis was troublesome, and always rubbed in the direction of the extremity. It was not into, but onto the body that it was applied. All this from a very conservative Republican friend°
The methoxy-methylenedioxy pattern is also found in nature with the 2,4,5-orientation pattern. The allyl-2,4,5-isomer is called asaricin. It, and its propenyl-isomer, carpacin, are from the Carpano tree which grows in the Solomon Islands. All these plants are used in folk medicine. These two systems, the 2,3,4- and the 2,4,5-orientations, potentially give rise, with ammonia, to MMDA-3a and MMDA-2.
(6) The 3,4,5-trimethoxy pattern. Elemicin is the well studied essential oil, 5-allyl-1,2,3-trimethoxybenzene, primarily from the oil of elemi. It is, like myristicin, a component of the Oil of Nutmeg, but it is also found in several of the Oils of Camphor, and in the resin of the Pili in the Philippines. This tree is the source of the Oil of Elemi. I had found a trace component in nutmeg many years ago that proved to be 5-methoxyeugenol, or elemicin without the 4-methyl group; it is also present in the magnolia plant. The aldehyde that corresponds to this is syringaldehyde, and its prefix has been spun into many natural products. Any natural product with a syring somewhere in it has a hydroxy between two methoxys. The amphetamine base from elemicin or isoelemicin would be TMA, the topic of this very recipe.
(7) The 2,4,5-trimethoxy pattern. There is an essential oil called asarone that is 2,4,5-trimethoxy-1-propenylbenzene. It is the trans- or alpha-isomer, and the cis-isomer is known as beta-asarone. It is the isomerization analogue of the much more rare 1-allyl-2,4,5-trimethoxybenzene, gamma-asarone, or euasarone, or sekishone. Asarone is the major component of Oil of Calamus obtained from the rhizomes of Acorus calamus, the common Sweet Flag that grows wild on the edges of swamps throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. It has been used as a flavoring of liqueurs and, as almost every other plant known to man, has been used as a medicine. In fact, in Manitoba this plant was called Rat-root by the Cree Indians in the Lake Winnipeg area known as New Iceland, and Indian-root by the Icelandic pioneers. It was used externally for the treatment of wounds, and internally for most illnesses. There apparently is no report of central effects. The corresponding propanone, acoramone (or 2,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetone), is also present in Oil of Calamus. The styrene that corresponds to asarone is found in a number of plants, and is surprisingly toxic to brine shrimp. The older literature describes an allyl-trimethoxy benzene called calamol, but it has never been pinned down as to structure. The isolation of gamma-asarone or euasarone from Oil of Xixin (from wild ginger) has given rise to a potential problem of nomenclature. One of the Genus names associated with wild ginger is Asiasarum which looks very much like the name asarone, which comes from the Genus Acorus. And a second Genus of medical plants also called wild ginger is simply called Asarum. There is an Asarum forbesi from central China, and it is known to give a pleasant smell to the body. And there is Asarum seiboldi which is largely from Korea and Manchuria. It has many medical uses, including the treatment of deafness, epilepsy, and rheumatism. The amphetamine that would arise from this natural treasure chest is TMA-2.
(8) The 2,5-dimethoxy-3,4-methylenedioxy pattern. The parent allyl benzene is apiole (with a final "e") or parsley camphor, and it is the major component of parsley seed oil. Its conjugated isomer is called isoapiole, and they are valuable as the chemical precurors to the amination product, DMMDA. Whereas both of these essential oils are white solids, there is a green oily liquid that had been broadly used years ago in medicine, called green, or liquid apiol (without the final "e"). It comes from the seeds of parsley by ether extraction, and when the chlorophyll has been removed, it is known as yellow apiol. With the fats removed by saponification and distillation, the old term for the medicine was apiolin. I would assume that any of these would give rise to white, crystalline apiole on careful distillation, but I have never tried to do it. The commercial Oil of Parsley is so readily available.
(9) The 2,3-dimethoxy-4,5-methylenedioxy pattern. The second of the three tetraoxygenated essential oils is 1-allyl-2,3-dimethoxy-4,5-methylenedioxybenzene, commonly called dillapiole and it comes, not surprisingly, from the oils of any of the several dill plants around the world. It is a thick, almost colorless liquid, but its isomerization product, isodillapiole, is a white crystalline product which melts sharply. This, by the theoretical addition of ammonia, gives DMMDA-2.
(10) The tetramethoxy pattern. The third and last of the tetra-oxygenated essential oils, is 1-allyl-2,3,4,5-tetramethoxybenzene. This is present as a minor component in the oil of parsley, but it is much more easily obtained by synthesis. It, and its iso-compound, and the amination product, are discussed under the last of theTen Essential Amphetamines, TA.
One must remember that the term "essential" has nothing to do with the meaning of needed, or required. The word's origin is essence, something with an odor or smell. Thus, the essential oils are those oils that have a fragrance, and the Essential Amphetamines are those compounds that can, in principle, be made from them by the addition of ammonia in the body.
There were a few interesting experimental trials that were based on these natural oils. Methoxyeugenol was assayed up to a 10 milligram level, and asarone at up to a 70 milligram level, and neither had any effects at all. And, in an attempt to challenge the "oil-to-amphetamine" concept, I made up a mixture of 1 part MDA, 2 parts TMA and 5 parts MMDA. A total of 100 milligrams of this combination (which I had named the "Pseunut Cocktail" for pseudo-nutmeg) should be equivalent to the safrole, elemicin and myristicin that would be in 5 grams of nutmeg. And 100 milligrams indeed produced quite a sparkle and considerable eye-dilation. But then, I have never taken 5 grams of nutmeg, so I cannot make any comparisons.
#158 TMA-2; 2,4,5-TRIMETHOXYAMPHETAMINE
SYNTHESIS: To a solution of 50 g 2,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde in 175 mL nitroethane there was added 10 g anhydrous ammonium acetate and the mixture was heated on the steam bath for 2 h. The excess nitroethane was removed under vacuum, and the deep orange oily residue was drained out into a beaker, and the flask washed with 3x60 mL boiling MeOH. On stirring the combined decantation and washings, there was a spontaneous formation of crystals. After cooling, these were removed by filtration, washed sparing with MeOH, and air dried to constant weight to yield 35.1 g of 2-nitro-1-(2,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)propene as yellow crystals with a mp of 98-99 °C. Recrystallization from MeOH increased the mp to 101-102 °C.
A suspension of 31.6 g powdered LAH in 1 L anhydrous THF containing a little anhydrous Et2O was brought to a gentle reflux, and then there was added a solution of 40.0 g of 2-nitro-1-(2,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)propene in 200 mL anhydrous THF over the course of 4 h. The mixture was held at reflux temperature for 24 h, cooled to 0 °C with external ice, and the excess hydride destroyed by the addition, in sequence, of 32 mL H2O (which had been diluted with a little THF), 32 mL 15% NaOH, and finally with 96 mL H2O. The white inorganic solids were removed by filtration, and the filter cake was washed with THF. The combined filtrate and washings were stripped of solvent under vacuum to give 48 g of an impure amber oil. This was dissolved in 180 mL IPA, neutralized with 30 mL concentrated HCl, and the mixture diluted with 1500 mL anhydrous Et2O. After a short induction period, an oily precipitate separated, which on stirring changed into a loose crystalline phase. This was removed by filtration, washed with Et2O, and air dried to yield 29.0 g of 2,4,5-trimethoxyamphetamine hydrochloride (TMA-2) as fine white crystals with a mp of 188.5-189.5 °C. Anal. (C12H20ClNO3) C,H,N. A 4.0 g sample of the free base was dissolved in 15 mL pyridine, treated with 2.5 mL acetic anhydride, heated on the steam bath for 20 min, added to 400 mL H2O, acidified with HCl, and extracted with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2. After washing with H2O the pooled extracts were stripped of solvent under vacuum to give 4.5 g of flakey, off-white solids which, on recrystallization from MeOH, were white, weighed 2.3 g, and had a mp of 132-133 °C. Recrystallization from this acetamide from MEK did not improve its quality. Anal. (C14H21NO4) C,H,N.
DOSAGE: 20 - 40 mg.
DURATION: 8 - 12 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 20 mg) I took it in two 10 milligram doses, spaced by two hours. There was a slight movement of surface textures, my hearing was deepened and spatially defined. The body was relaxed and stretching seemed necessary. The further I got into it the more I realized that I was totally lazy. Very lethargic, to the point of laughter. At the sixth hour, I was seeing more life in the woodwork, and the wooden angel hanging on the ceiling was flesh and feathers when I stared at it. Great vision. But by no means overwhelming. Sleep was fine.
(with 20 mg) The first two hours seemed like an eternity, with time passing slowly. Then it settled into a very calm and enjoyable event (not that it wasn't already). The material seemed somewhat hypnotic. I suspect that I would believe suggestions, or at least not challenge them too much. I had a little confusion but it was not troublesome. On reflection, the material was quite good. It was benign in the sense that there appeared to be no dark spots. I would try it again, perhaps at 30 milligrams. Almost base-line after 12 hours, but not quite.
(with 24 mg) I took the dosage in two halves, an hour apart. Initially, I was a little nauseous, with light tremors and modest eye dilation. But after another hour, there was the entire package of mescaline, missing only the intense color enhancement. The world is filled with distorted. moving things. Then my little fingers on both hands got periodically numb. And there was an occasional light-headedness that hinted at fainting. The two phenomena alternated, and never got in each other's ways. Both passed, once I realized that I would recover from this experience. Then the humor and joy of the world returned. The drop-off was quite rapid from the fifth to eighth hour, and no effects remained at all by the twelfth hour.
(with 40 mg) Very slow coming on. Didn't feel it for an hour, but then at a full +++ in another hour. Beautiful experience. Erotic excellent. Eyes-closed imagery and fantasy to music. No dark corners. Benign and peaceful and lovely. There were brief intestinal cramps early, and a little diarrhea, but no other problems. I was able to sleep after eight hours, but had guarded dreams.
(with 40 mg) Beautiful plus 3. Some visuals, but not intrusive. Moderate, good-mannered kaleidoscopic imagery against dark. Music superb. Clear thinking. Calmly cosmic. This is a seminal, or archetypal psychoactive material. A very good experience and good for repeats. About 10-12 hrs. Sleep difficult but OK.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: There was absolutely no reason to suspect that the simple rearrangement of the methoxy groups of TMA from the classic 3,4,5-positions to this new, 2,4,5-orientation, would dramatically increase potency like this. Mescaline, 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine, is an extraordinary compound, but it is not particularly potent, requiring hundreds of milligrams for a trip. And going from its 3,4,5-pattern to the 2,4,5-pattern of TMPEA makes the compound even less potent. There was essentially nothing reported in the scientific literature about central activity of 2,4,5-substituted stuff, so there could not have been any logical preparation for the activity of TMA-2. My very first trials were with a rather liberal 400 micrograms, and the levels being explored leaped up in fairly large steps, mostly on separate days. On November 26, 1962, at 6:00 AM, when 12 milligrams proved to be inactive, another 12 milligrams went in and down an hour later. This was the 24 milligram discovery experiment, a fragment of which is given above. The anxiety of being thrust into the unknown certainly played a role in what can now be seen as obvious psychosomatic difficulties.
The unexpected ten-fold increase of effectiveness uncovered by the simple relocation of a single methoxy group of TMA gave the further juggling of methoxy groups a very high priority. There are a total of six arrangements possible for the three groups, namely, 3,4,5- (the original TMA), 2,4,5- (the present TMA-2), and then and in systematic sequence, 2,3,4-, 2,3,5-, 2,3,6-, and 2,4,6. These compounds were totally unknown at that time, and they could and would be assigned the sequential names TMA-3, TMA-4, TMA-5 and TMA-6, respectively. I made them all, and they are all included in this book.
Having found the treasure of 2,4,5-ness, it is instructive to look back at nature, to see what its plant equivalents might be. There are indeed a few essential oils that have their methoxy groups in this arrangement. TMA-2 is thus one of the Essential Amphetamines, and most of the botanical connections are discussed under TMA. The natural skeleton is found in asarone, with alpha-asarone being trans-propenyl, beta-asarone the cis-propenyl and gamma-asarone (also called euasarone) being the allyl-isomer. I had mentioned, in the spice cabinet discussion under TMA, the tasting of asarone at up to 70 milligrams without any effects.
A couple of additional experiments involving TMA-2 had been set up and started, but somehow never had enough fire to get completed. Studies on the optical isomers had gotten up to assays of 6 milligrams on each of the separate isomers, but had never been taken higher. The RRS isomer is much the more potent in rabbit assays, but the human comparisons remain unknown at present. Also, a study of the 14C labeled racemate (5 microcuries in 40 milligrams) was conducted with a view to metabolite analysis, but again, the project was abandoned before any results were obtained. In the rat, the 4-methoxyl carbon appeared as expired carbon dioxide to the extent of about 20%. And this is some four times the amount seen from either of the other two methoxyl carbon atoms.
One final memory in the TMA-2 area. About twenty years ago I co-authored a rather thorough review article in the British journal Nature, that described the structure-activity relationships between the simpler one-ringed psychotomimetics. It also quietly served as a vehicle for mentioning a number of newly-discovered compounds and their human activities. But as a magnificent attestment to youth and brashness, we proposed a complex compound that embraced each and every clue and hint that might tie it to the neurological process. This hybrid monster was 2,'-dihydroxy-4,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine. It had everything. The 6-hydroxydopamine hydroxy group and the rest of the dopamine molecule intact as represented by the two methoxyl groups. And the beta-hydroxy group gave it the final "norepinephrine" touch. And, with due modesty, we proposed that it might be "an endogenous psychotogen." Why not "the endogenous psychotogen?" And then, to compound the picture, what should arrive in the mail a month or two later, and from a most respected scientist, but a sample of just this stuff, synthesized for our investigations. I must have bought a little of my own promotion, as I noted that even after my first four graded dosages with the compound, I was still only up to a 250 microgram dose. And then, as the sample became increasingly brown and was clearly decomposing, the project was finally abandoned.
A sad note on how things have changed since that time. I recently queried the editors of Nature, about their thoughts concerning a twenty year retrospective of this area, written by the three authors of the original review. We had each followed quite divergent paths, but each of us was still keenly the researcher. It would have been a marvelous paper to put together, and it would have delighted the reading audience of Nature, had it been the audience of twenty years ago. But not today. The journal is now dedicated to neutron stars and x-ray sources. The respected old English journal of interdisciplinary interests is not the grand and curious lady she used to be. The Editor's reply was polite, but negative. "Such an article would be unsuitable for publication in Nature at present," they said. And, I am sad to say, they're right.
And I am afraid that the American counterpart journal, Science, has suffered a similar deterioration. It, too, has abandoned multidisciplinary interest, but in a different direction. They are now dedicated to chromosomes, and nucleotide identification, and are totally captivated by the attention paid to, and the apparent importance of, the human genome project. There is where you automatically go to publish, now, if you have unraveled some DNA sequence from the Latvian cockroach.
#159 TMA-3; 2,3,4-TRIMETHOXYAMPHETAMINE
SYNTHESIS: To a solution of 12.4 g 2,3,4-trimethoxybenzaldehyde in 45 mL glacial acetic acid, there was added 7 mL nitroethane and 4.1 g anhydrous ammonium acetate, and all was held at reflux temperature for 1.5 h. To the cooled and well stirred reaction mixture, H2O was added slowly, dropping out an oily crystalline solid mass. This was separated by filtration, and ground under a quantity of 50% aqueous acetic acid, and re-filtered. The 6.5 g of crude product was recrystallized from boiling MeOH to give, after air drying to constant weight, 5.0 g of 2-nitro-1-(2,3,4-trimethoxyphenyl)propene, with a mp of 56-57 °C. Anal. (C12H15NO5) C,H.
To a gently refluxing suspension of 3.0 g LAH in 300 mL anhydrous Et2O under a He atmosphere, there was added 3.65 g 2-nitro-1-(2,3,4-trimethoxyphenyl)propene by allowing the condensing Et2O drip into a shunted Soxhlet thimble containing the nitrostyrene and effectively adding a warm saturated solu-tion of it dropwise. Refluxing was maintained for 5 h following the completion of the addition of the nitrostyrene. The milky reaction mixture was cooled and the excess hydride destroyed by the addition of 200 mL 10% H2SO4. When the aqueous and Et2O layers were finally clear, they were separated, and 75 g of potassium sodium tartrate was dissolved in the aqueous fraction. NaOH (25%) was then added until the pH was >9, and this was then extracted with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2. Evaporation of the solvent under vacuum produced 2.5 g of a nearly colorless clear oil that was dissolved in 300 mL anhydrous Et2O which was saturated with anhydrous HCl gas. The product, 2,3,4-trimethoxyamphetamine hydrochloride (TMA-3) separated as a fine white solid. This was removed by filtration, Et2O washed, and air dried to constant weight. The yield was 1.65 g of a product which, after recrystallization from IPA, had a mp of 148-149 °C. Anal. (C12H20ClNO3) C,H.
DOSAGE: greater than 100 mg.
DURATION: unknown.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 100 mg) There were no effects at all. No eye dilation, no believable diversion from complete normalcy. Appetite was normal, as well.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: There is a small lesson to be learned from this completely inactive compound. There is no way of saying that it is or is not in-active. All that can be said is that trials were made (in this case using three separate individuals) at an oral level of 100 milligrams. And, at this level, nothing happened. And since a bottom threshold for mescaline would be perhaps 200 milligrams, it can be honestly said that the activity of this compound, if expressed relative to mescaline (using mescaline units) is less than 2 M.U. Had 200 milligrams been inactive, it would have been less than 1.0 M.U. If 2 grams had been inactive, it would have been less than 0.1 M.U. But the actual printed form, activity < 2.0 M.U. was accepted by many readers as indicating that TMA-3 was active, but at dosages greater than 100 milligrams. All that can be said is, if there is activity, then it will be at oral levels greater than 100 milligrams At the moment, as far as I know, this compound is not active in man, but then I know of no trials in excess of 100 milligrams.
This admonition applies to all the published M.U. values that are preceded by the "less than" sign, the R<.
#160 TMA-4; 2,3,5-TRIMETHOXYAMPHETAMINE
SYNTHESIS: To a solution of 68 g 2,4-dimethoxybenzaldehyde in 250 mL glacial acetic acid that had been warmed to 25 °C and well stirred, there was added, dropwise, 86 g of a 40% peracetic acid solution (in acetic acid). The reaction was exothermic, and the rate of addition was dictated by the need to maintain the internal temperature within a few degrees of 28 °C. External cooling was used as needed. The addition took 1 h, and when the reaction had clearly been completed (no further temperature rise) the entire reaction mixture was added to 3 volumes of H2O. The excess acid was neutralized with solid K2CO3 (283 g were required). This was extracted with 3x100 mL Et2O, the extracts pooled, and stripped of solvent under vacuum to give 66 g of crude 2,4-dimethoxyphenyl formate. This was suspended in 125 mL 10% NaOH, and the mixture heated on the steam bath for 1.5 h. On cooling, the reaction mixture set to a heavy black solid. This was removed by filtration, washed with H2O, and dissolved in 250 mL CH2Cl2. The organic phase was washed with dilute HCl, and then with aqueous NaHCO3, which removed much of the color. Removal of the solvent under vacuum gave a deep red goo that was dissolved in 200 mL anhydrous Et2O and filtered through paper. The resulting clear solution was stripped of solvent, yielding 34.4 g of 2,4-dimethoxyphenol as a red oil that crystallized on cooling. A 1.0 g sample in 4 mL pyridine was treated with 0.9 g benzoyl chloride and heated on the steam bath for a few min. The addition of H2O gave a pasty solid that was isolated by pressing on a porous plate. The yield of crude 2,4-dimethoxyphenyl benzoate was 1.1 g. Recrystallization from cyclohexane gave a white product with a mp of 86-87 °C. A second recrystallization from cyclohexane raised this to 89-90 °C, which is in agreement with the literature value.
To a solution of 31.0 g crude 2,4-dimethoxyphenol in 60 mL absolute EtOH there was added a solution of 11.25 g KOH in 90 mL boiling EtOH. To this, there was then added 28 g allyl bromide which produced an immediate white precipitate of KBr. The mixture was held at reflux for 2 h and then quenched in 3 volumes of H2O. Sufficient 10% NaOH was added to make the reaction strongly basic, and this was extracted with 3x100 mL Et2O. Removal of the solvent under vacuum gave 33.2 g of 1-allyloxy-2,4-dimethoxybenzene, shown to be free of phenol starting material by GC analysis. Analyses must be carried out at low column temperatures (below 180 °C) on an ethylene glycol succinate substrate. If a silicone column is used, even at these low temperatures, there is considerable Claisen rearrangement taking place on the column. Low temperature distillation can be used for further purification (107-110 °C at 1.0 mm/Hg).
A 31.0 g sample of 1-allyloxy-2,4-dimethoxybenzene was gently heated with a soft flame until the internal temperature reached 215 °C. An exothermic reaction took place, with the temperature rising to 270 °C. The residue left in the flask was largely 2-allyl-4,6-dimethoxyphenol, that contained perhaps 10% of 2,4-dimethoxyphenol which resulted from the pyrolytic loss of the allyl group. This mixture was methylated without further purification.
To a solution of 30 g impure 2-allyl-4,6-dimethoxyphenol in a little absolute EtOH there was added a boiling solution of 8.7 g KOH in 75 mL absolute EtOH followed, immediately, by 22.4 g methyl iodide in a little EtOH. The mixture was held at reflux for 3 h, then added to 4 volumes of H2O. Sufficient 10% NaOH was added to make the mixture strongly basic, and this was extracted with 4x100 mL Et2O. Removal of the solvent gave 28 g of 1-allyl-2,3,5-trimethoxybenzene. GC analysis showed some 10% of the expected impurity, 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene.
To a solution of 26 g crude 1-allyl-2,3,5-trimethoxybenzene in an equal weight of absolute EtOH there was added 52 g of flaked KOH. The mixture was heated on the steam bath overnight, and then quenched with much H2O. This was extracted with 3x100 mL Et2O which, on removal under vacuum gave 24.6 g of product. This contained, by GC analysis, largely cis- and trans-1-propenyl-2,3,5-trimethoxybenzene and the expected 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene. This mixture was dissolved in an equal volume of pentane, and cooled in dry ice. Quick filtration gave 9.2 g of an amber solid which had a melting point of 39-41.5 °C. Recrystallization from hexane provided pure trans-1-propenyl-2,3,5-trimethoxybenzene with a mp of 44-45 °C. Evaporation of the original pentane mother liquor provided an impure sample of mixed cis- and trans- isomers.
A solution of 7.2 g trans-1-propenyl-2,3,5-trimethoxybenzene in 41 g dry acetone was treated with 3.3 g dry pyridine and, with good stirring, cooled to 0 °C. There was then added 6.9 g of tetranitromethane over the course of 1 min, and the reaction mixture was allowed to stir for an additional 2 min. The reaction mixture was then quenched with a solution of 2.2 g KOH in 40 mL H2O. After the addition of more H2O, the product was extracted with 3x50 mL CH2Cl2. Removal of the solvent under vacuum yielded 7.0 g of an impure product which would not crystallize. This was distilled under vacuum to give four fractions, all of which crys-tallized spontaneously. Cuts #1 and #2 (bp 100-120 °C and 120-130 °C at 2 mm/Hg) were combined, weighed 0.8 g, and after crystallization from hexane yielded white crystals with a mp of 62-63 °C. The NMR spectrum (in CDCl3) was in agreement with 2,3,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde, and the literature mp has been reported as being 62-63 °C. Cuts #3 and #4 (bp 130-170 °C and 170-175 °C at 2 mm/Hg with the bulk coming over in the latter fraction) were combined to give 3.0 g of yellow crystals. These were triturated under a little cold MeOH, and then recrystallized from MeOH to give 1.15 g of yellow crystals of 2-nitro-1-(2,3,5-trimethoxyphenyl)propene, with a mp of 87-88 °C. The forerun of the distillation contained considerable unreacted trans-1-propenyl-2,3,5-trimethoxybenzene and some 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene, by GC analysis.
To a refluxing and stirred suspension of 1.1 g LAH in 150 mL anhydrous Et2O and under an inert atmosphere, there was added a solution of 1.1 g 2-nitro-1-(2,3,5-trimethoxyphenyl)propene in 50 mL anhydrous Et2O. The creamy mixture was held at reflux for 4 h, cooled, and then the excess hydride cautiously destroyed by the addition of 1.5 N H2SO4. There was then added 20 g potassium sodium tartrate followed by sufficient aqueous NaOH to raise the pH to >9. The Et2O phase was separated, and the remaining aqueous phase extracted with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2. The organic phase and extracts were combined, and the solvent removed under vacuum yielding 0.9 g of a colorless oil. This was dissolved in 200 mL anhydrous Et2O which was saturated with anhydrous HCl gas. There was generated a thick oil that did not crystallize. The Et2O was decanted from this, and allowed to stand for several days in a sealed container at room temperature. There was the deposition of fine white needles of 2,3,5-trimethoxyamphetamine hydrochloride (TMA-4) weighing, after Et2O washing and air drying, 0.31 g. The mp was 118-119 °C. Anal. (C12H20ClNO3) C,H. The residual oil was dissolved in H2O, made basic with NaOH, and extracted with CH2Cl2. Evaporation of the solvent gave 0.40 of a white oil which was dissolved in a little MeOH containing 0.22 g oxalic acid. There was the immediate deposition of crystals of the oxalate salt of 2,3,5-trimethoxyamphetamine, with a mp of about 110 °C.
DOSAGE: greater than 80 mg.
DURATION: perhaps 6 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 80 mg) I was concerned about life issues, with much introspection, for about 6 hours. There were no subjective physical symptoms. It was comparable to about 50 micrograms of LSD, or to 120 milligrams TMA, for me.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: That is the sum total of the knowledge of subjective effects that exist. There was such a precious small amount of the final hydrochloride salt that, by the time the needed build-up of dosage had been completed, there was just enough left for this single trial, which was conducted in South America. Based upon the volunteered comparisons to LSD and TMA, a potency for this compound has been published that states that it is 4x the potency of mescaline, or 4 M.U. The material must be re-synthesized, and re-evaluated with the now-accepted protocol.
In the future re-synthesis, there will be a considerable improvement made with the several steps that are described above. The products from the preparations of the phenol, the allyl ether, the Claisen rearrangement, the methylation of the new phenol, and the isomerization to the mixture of cis- and trans-propenylbenzenes were all conducted without the benefit of a Kugel-Rohr apparatus. The products became progressively thick and blacker, and it was only by the grace of getting a solid at the trans-propenyl stage that some degree of purity could finally be obtained. All of the intermediates are certainly white oils, and when this preparation is repeated, they will be distilled at each and every stage.
This 2,3,5-orientation of the methoxy groups on the aromatic ring is far and away the most difficult tri-substitution pattern known to chemists. There just isn't any simple way to put it together. The 2-carbon phenethylamine (2,3,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) had been synthesized quite a while ago. Its role as a substrate for liver amine oxidase in in vitro studies has been explored, but it has never been tried in man. Even more bizarre is the amphetamine with this oxygenation pattern, in which a methylenedioxy ring has replaced the two adjacent methoxyl groups. This is the material 2,3-methylenedioxy-5-methoxyamphetamine, or MMDA-4. Despite its theoretical appeal (being one of the six possible MMDA derivatives) and it's synthetic challenge (as with the 2,3,5-trimethoxy things above, everything is simply in the wrong position) the compound is of unknown pharmacology. This follows, quite logically, from the fact that it has never been synthesized. No one has yet put together a workable procedure that would make it. In the course of making all possible positional isomers of MMDA explicitly Schedule I drugs, the DEA has named this compound, and since it was specifically named, it was entered into the Chemical Abstracts. So it is listed in the literature, at least it is in the Chem. Abstracts. But it is in reality completely unknown. Some day, some one somewhere will have a light bulb go on over his head, and find a synthetic process that will make it. Of course, the moment it is made, an illegal act will have occurred, at least in the United States as long as the present laws remain unchanged, as it is currently a Schedule I drug.
Needless to say, the 2-carbon analog of MMDA-4, 2,3-methylenedioxy-5-methoxyphenethylamine (would 2C-MMDA-4 be a reasonable name?) is also unknown.
#161 TMA-5; 2,3,6-TRIMETHOXYAMPHETAMINE
SYNTHESIS: A solution of 100 g 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene in 1 L hexane was cooled to 15 °C and treated with 400 mL of a 15% solution of n-butyllithium in hexane. A white precipitate formed immediately, and stirring was continued for an additional 2 h while the reaction returned to room temperature. There was then added a solution of 40 g freshly distilled propionaldehyde in 100 mL hexane. The reaction was exothermic and, as the stirring was continued, the precipitate gradually dissolved. Stirring was continued overnight at room temperature. There was then added 1 L H2O, and the reaction was acidified with HCl. The hexane phase was separated, and the remaining aqueous phase was extracted with hexane, then with Et2O. The pooled organic extracts were stripped of solvent under vacuum, and the residue distilled to give 60 g ethyl 2,3,6-trimethoxyphenyl carbinol, with an index of refraction nD20 = 1.5192. Anal. (C12H18O4) C,H. From the Et2O extracts above, additional carbinol was obtained, containing a small amount of the starting 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene. The two materials were readily separated by vacuum distillation, providing an additional 21 g of carbinol.
The above alcohol, 60 g of ethyl 2,3,6-trimethoxyphenyl carbinol, was stirred without solvent and cooled to 0 °C with an external ice bath. There was then added 80 g PBr3 at a rate that maintained the temperature below 60 °C. At the end of the addition, there were added quantities of chipped ice, followed by H2O. The reaction mixture was extracted with 3x100 mL Et2O, and removal of the solvent provided 60 g of 1-bromo-1-(2,3,6-trimethoxyphenyl)propane which was used in the following dehydrobromination step without further purification.
A solution of the above 60 g of 1-bromo-1-(2,3,6-trimethoxyphenyl)propane in an equal weight of EtOH was treated with 120 g of flaked KOH. The exothermic reaction was allowed to run its course with stirring continued overnight. The mixture was then quenched in H2O and extracted with 3x200 mL CH2Cl2. Removal of the solvent from the pooled extracts gave a crude product which contained no starting bromo material, but which was contaminated with an appreciable quantity of the ethoxy analogue, 1-ethoxy-1-(2,3,6-trimethoxyphenyl)propane. This impure product was heated briefly to 80 °C with 50% H2SO4. Cooling, dilution with water, and re-extraction with 3x100 mL CH2Cl2 gave, after removal of the volatiles under vacuum, 1-(2,3,6-trimethoxyphenyl)propene. This was distilled to provide 7.0 g of a clear oil that was a 12:1 ratio of the trans- and cis-isomers.
A well-stirred solution of 6.8 g of the mixed isomers of 1-(2,3,6-trimethoxyphenyl)propene in 40 g of dry acetone was treated with 3.2 g pyridine and cooled to 0 °C with an external ice bath. There was then added 6.5 g tetranitromethane over the course of 1 min, the stirring was continued for an additional 2 min, and then the reaction mixture was quenched by the addition of 2.2 g KOH in 40 mL H2O. There was additional H2O added, and the organics were extracted with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2. The solvent from the pooled extracts was removed under vacuum, and the 5.3 g residue distilled at 0.2 mm/Hg. A fraction boiling at 150-170 °C proved to be largely 2,3,6-trimethoxybenzaldehyde. A second fraction (170-200 °C at 0.2 mm/Hg) also spontaneously crystallized to a yellow solid. This was recrystallized from MeOH to provide, after drying to constant weight, 2.8 g of 2-nitro-1-(2,3,6-trimethoxyphenyl)propene with a mp of 73-74 °C. Anal. (C12H15NO5) C,H.
To a refluxing and stirred suspension of 2.4 g LAH in 300 mL anhydrous Et2O and under an inert atmosphere, there was added a solution of 2.4 g 2-nitro-1-(2,3,6-trimethoxyphenyl)propene in 100 mL anhydrous Et2O. The mixture was held at reflux for 4 h, cooled, and then the excess hydride cautiously destroyed by the addition of 1.5 N H2SO4. There was then added 40 g potassium sodium tartrate followed by sufficient aqueous NaOH to raise the pH to >9. The Et2O phase was separated, and the remaining aqueous phase extracted with 3x100 mL CH2Cl2. The organic phase and extracts were combined, and the solvent removed under vacuum yielding 1.8 g of a colorless oil. This was dissolved in 200 mL anhydrous Et2O which was saturated with anhydrous HCl gas. There was generated a thick oil that slowly crystallized. The resulting white crystalline solid was removed by filtration, providing 2.2 g 2,3,6-trimethoxyamphetamine hydrochloride (TMA-5). The mp was 124-125 °C. Anal. (C12H20ClNO3) C,H.
DOSAGE: 30 mg or more.
DURATION: 8 - 10 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 20 mg) There appeared to be a slight stimulation. Modest eye dilation, but normal pulse. If this is the marginal edge of intoxication, then it is not a psychotomimetic, but a stimulant. Go up with care.
(with 30 mg) Intense introspection. Comparable to about 75 micrograms of LSD, or more.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: TMA-5, as was the case with TMA-4, has only been superficially explored. The above two quotations are from two different people, and together no more than hint at the possibility that it might be active in the several tens of milligrams.
Pharmacologists have developed quite an art in the design and evaluation of animal behavior models for the study of psychedelic drugs. They have always faced two formidable tasks, however. There is the qualitative question: is the drug a psychedelic? And there is the quantitative question: how potent is it?
The first question is addressed by taking a number of known psychedelic drugs, and searching for some animal responses that are common to all. Since there is little logic in the argument that animals can experience, let alone reveal, altered states of consciousness or fantasy fugues or colored imagery, the investigator must look for objective signs such as conditioned responses to stimuli, or unusual behavior. If one explores ten drugs that are known psychedelics, and all ten produce, say, bizarre nest-building behavior in mice, and an eleventh drug of unknown pharmacology does exactly the same thing, then the eleventh drug can be suspected of being a psychedelic drug.
And the second question, how potent, is answered by seeing how much of the drug is required to evoke this standardized behavior. This is called the dose-response curve, in which the more drug you give, the more response you get. This curve gives confidence that the drug is indeed responsible for the activity that is seen, as well as giving a quantitative measure of that activity.
But this entire discipline depends on the acceptance of the fact that the first ten drugs are indeed psychedelic materials. And these inputs can only come from human trials. What is the validity of these assumptions with TMA-5? Not very good. The statement that it is psychedelic has actually been published in reviews solely on the basis of the above two studies; the potency has been put at some ten times that of mescaline. Mescaline is certainly an effective psychedelic drug in the 300-500 milligram range, and this factor of ten implies that TMA-5 is also a psychedelic drug and is active in the 30-50 milligram range. And indeed, both statements may be true, but confidence in these conclusions must await more extensive trials.
The two-carbon analogue of TMA-5 is 2,3,6-trimethoxyphenethylamine (or 2C-TMA-5 or 2,3,6-TMPEA). This is a known material, although there has been some controversy as to its physical properties. It has been studied in monoamine oxidase systems, and appears to be either a competitive substrate or an inhibitor of that enzyme. But as far as I know, no one has nibbled it, so its human activity is unknown.
#162 TMA-6; 2,4,6-TRIMETHOXYAMPHETAMINE
SYNTHESIS: To a solution of 100 g phloroglucinol dihydrate in 320 mL MeOH there was added 55 mL of concentrated H2SO4, and the clear solution held under reflux conditions overnight. After cooling, there was added 500 mL H2O, and the bulk of the MeOH was removed under vacuum. The residual oil was extracted with Et2O, and the removal of this left 60 g of a red oil as residue. This was dissolved in 300 g methyl sulfate (caution, this is extremely toxic through skin contact, and any exposure must be flushed thoroughly with dilute ammonium hydroxide). With good stirring, this was cautiously treated with 500 g of 40% aqueous KOH, and the exothermic reaction allowed to run its course. Extraction with 3x100 mL Et2O gave, after evaporation of the solvent from the pooled extracts, an oil that became largely crystalline. This was suspended in 100 mL hexane, and filtered through a coarse fritted funnel. With evaporation there was obtained 57 g of 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene as a pale amber solid that melted at 44-50 °C. A sample purified by recrystallization from EtOH had the proper mp of 54-55 °C.
A mixture of 62.9 g N-methylformanilide and 71.3 g of POCl3 was allowed to stand for 0.5 h producing a light claret color. There was then added 30.9 g of 1,3,5- trimethoxybenzene and the mixture heated on the steam bath for 2 h. The reaction mixture then was poured into chipped ice, and allowed to stir for several h. The dark gummy mess was extracted with 2x100 mL Et2O (this was discarded) and then with 4x200 mL CH2Cl2. The latter extracts were pooled, and stripped of solvent under vacuum yielding 14 g of an amber solid. This was recrystallized from 80 mL boiling MeOH (with decolorizing charcoal employed and filtration of the boiling solution through paper) to give 10.0 g of 2,4,6-trimethoxybenzaldehyde as a white crystalline solid with a mp of 115-116 °C. The literature values are generally one-degree ranges, and they are reported as high as 121 °C. The malononitrile adduct was prepared from a solution of 0.5 g aldehyde and 0.5 g malononitrile in 10 mL warm MeOH treated with a drop of triethylamine. There was an immediate formation of a yellow crystalline mass which was removed by filtration, washed with EtOH, and air dried. The yield of 2,4,6-trimethoxybenzalmalononitrile was 0.5 g and the mp was 174-175 °C. Anal. (C13H12N2O3) N.
A solution of 5 g 2,4,6-trimethoxybenzaldehyde in 20 g nitroethane was treated with 1.0 g of anhydrous ammonium acetate and held on the steam bath for 24 h. The excess solvent/reagent was stripped from the deep-red colored solution under vacuum yielding a residue that spontaneously set to a crystalline mass. This was well triturated under 5 mL MeOH, filtered, and washed with 3 mL additional MeOH to give 5.4 g of 2-nitro-1-(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)propene as yellow crystals. The mp of the crude material was 135-142 °C which could be raised to 147-148 °C by recrystallization from EtOH. The use of an alternate procedure for the synthesis of this nitrostyrene, using acetic acid as solvent and a stoichiometric amount of nitroethane (and ammonium acetate as catalyst), gave very poor yields. The use of butylamine as catalyst gave considerably better results.
A suspension of 50 g LAH in 1 L anhydrous THF was placed under an inert atmosphere, stirred magnetically, and brought to a gentle reflux. There was added a total of 56.9 g 2-nitro-1-(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)propene as a saturated solution in THF. This was achieved by letting the condensed THF drip through a Soxhlet thimble containing the nitrostyrene with direct addition to the reaction mixture. The solubility was extremely low. The stirred mixture was maintained at reflux for 36 h, generating a smooth creamy gray color. After being brought to room temperature, the excess hydride was destroyed by the patient addition of 50 mL H2O, followed with 50 mL 15% NaOH (still some heat evolved) and then 150 mL additional H2O. Stirring was continued until the insoluble salts were white and loose. These solids were removed by filtration, and the filter cake washed with additional THF. The combined filtrate and washes were stripped of solvent under vacuum, and the 73 g of pale amber residue dissolved in 200 mL IPA, neutralized with approximately 50 mL concentrated HCL, and diluted with 2 L anhydrous Et2O. A lower, oily phase separated slowly set up as a crystalline mass. This was removed by filtration, Et2O washed, and allowed to air dry to constant weight. The weight of 2,4,6-trimethoxyamphetamine hydrochloride was 41.3 g and the color was an off-white. There was a tendency to discolor upon air exposure. The mp was 204-205 °C which was increased to 207-208 °C upon recrystallization from IPA. The literature gives a mp of 214-215 °C for this salt after isolation and purification as the picrate salt (with a mp 212-213 °C from EtOH).
DOSAGE: 25 - 50 mg.
DURATION: 12 - 16 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 25 mg) I was outside at the California-Washington State football game, which was completely nutty. As was I. With the crowd activity, it was impossible to separate the drug's action from the environment. Later I simply sat in the car, and tried to define what the effects really were. Things were completely benign, there was ease with concepts, and writing was good and smooth. At twelve hours, comfortably down. Maybe a plus two.
(with 35 mg) My body was tingling all over, and there were times when walking was unsteady. Thinking was a little difficult, as I was quite intoxicated most of the day (all of the day, now that I think that over). To accomplish anything, such as toasting the toast in the toaster, was difficult. And things were so funny most of the time. Setting the table for supper, six hours later, proved to be hilarious. I like to think of the day as a mixture of the mad hatter's tea party, and a trip to the moon. We were all still intoxicated at bedtime, whatever time that was. Had difficult time sleeping. If I were to repeat, would go lighter in dosage, I feel.
(with 40 mg) This experiment was begun at noon of a cool rainy day. Almost all of the day had to be spent indoors, without benefit of sunshine, This is worth mentioning because there was, for the first eight hours of the experiment, a decided feeling of inner chill which might not have occurred so strongly had it been a warm day. Most, if not all, of the other eight subjects also reported the same chill. There was some visual sparkle which persisted throughout. At the two hour point a minor but persistent stomach queasiness came on, preceded by a diarrhea-like bowel movement. There was no impairment of speech, but there was some halting quality to all thought processes. It was easy to talk about personal matters, but there did not seem to be a significant insight increase. Appetite for food was lessened. Sleep was decidedly difficult after the effects of the material seemed otherwise gone.
(with 40 mg) As the experience grows in intensity for the first four hours, I feel a strange mixture of plateaus, exuberance, and strong negative feelings, all replacing each other. I found myself inside a stout, hemispherical shell, curled up in the solid part, thoroughly walled off but absolute master within the shell, calling all shots, making all decisions, in complete control. Moving beyond the half-shell meant becoming vulnerable, which I refused to do. Consequently my difficulty in hearing what other people say, becoming involved in their perceptions and lives. I keep relationships shallow, pull away inside my shell rather than become involved. I like to be by myself. This was a great revelation; I had never seen it before. This material had an enormous drive. I feel extremely grateful for exposing a very deep personal problem.
(with 50 mg) My previous try at this level produced a record that said, 'alteration of consciousness, but no visual, no anything,' and oh my, surprise° It was very, very active, visual, colorful, etc., etc. Good talking, clear and steady control of body, despite intense energy flow. Extremely funny Q great humor, wonderful laughter.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: Here is a simple and easily made compound that might well bid fair to be one of the most rewarding and pleasurable of the methoxylated amphetamines. It is fully as potent as its counterpart, TMA-2. This latter compound, with its 2,4,5-trisubstitution pattern, has served as a template from which an immense family of very active and fascinating drugs have arisen. The 2,5-dimethoxy aspect has been kept intact, and modifications in the 4-position have given rise to treasures such as DOM, DOB, DOET, DOI, and the Aleph compounds. And, of course, the entire world of the 2C-X's has exploited this same orientation.
Here, there is the blatant, parallel call from TMA-6. It can serve, as the 2,4,6-counterpart, as a similar template compound. And the first indicators are that, in keeping the 2,6-dimethoxy aspect intact, a completely analogous series could be made, again with modifications of the 4-position. These have been named the psu-series, or psi-series, as an abbreviation for the prefix, pseudo, and can be differentiated from the 2,4,5-things with the use of the Greek letter RYS. Thus there is the Y-DOM (called Z-7 in this book, and certainly an active compound), and Y-DOB, Y-DOET, Y-DOI, and the Y-ALEPH compounds. And, of course, the Y-2C-X counterparts. I would expect all of them to be active and, certainly, some of them interesting. They will be considerably more difficult to synthesize. However, some of them, specifically things such as Y-2C-T-4, have already been prepared, and are being evaluated.
One of the guiding premises of this Book II was to make all recipes employ commercially available materials as starting materials. And in the case of TMA-6, the required benzaldehyde (2,4,6-trimethoxybenzaldehyde) is an easily obtained trade item from any of several supply houses. Why not start the recipe there? Why tell how to make it from 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene (also presently available from commercial sources) and how to make the ether in turn, from phloroglucinol? This simply reflects a valid paranoia of our times. Today the aldehyde is available (at $2/g) and can be easily purchased. But tomorrow? What about in the year 2003? Who can tell what will, or will not, be easily available then? There might be a world-wide acknowledgment that the "war on drugs" is more destructive than any drug itself could ever be, and every law that had been written in the attempt to dictate human behavior will have been transformed into a force that truly educates and allows choice. This might really happen. But maybe, on the other hand, no fine chemicals may be permitted to be held in any hands, at any price, except for those of licensed chemists and in authorized laboratories. The black market price for the aldehyde might be $1000/g with another $1000 for protection.
But, it will be impossible to remove phloroglucinol from availability. It is available as a natural component in the free form, in sources as diverse as the cones of the Sequoia sempervirens (the coast redwood tree) and species of Camillia (that provides the leaves of our morning tea). And combined with a molecule of glucose in the form of its glucoside, it is called phlorin, and it is present in the discarded rinds of almost all citrus fruits as well as the resins from many of the Eucalyptus species. And one step yet further back into nature, there is a dihydrochalcone glucoside called phloridzin which practically drips out of all parts of the apple and pear trees except for the apple or pear itself. It, on base hydrolysis, gives phlorin, which on acid hydrolysis gives phloroglucinol, which when dissolved in methanol and sulfuric acid gives Q. Nature is indeed most bountiful.
The phenethylamine homologue of TMA-6 is well known, but is virtually unexplored pharmacologically. The above benzaldehyde with nitromethane in glacial acetic acid containing ammonium acetate gave the appropriate beta-nitrostyrene as yellow crystals with a mp 177-177.5 °C. This, with LAH in ether, gave 2,4,6-trimethoxyphenethylamine (2,4,6-TMPEA, or 2C-TMA-6) as the picrate salt (mp 204-205 °C) or the hydrochloride salt (mp 234-235 °C). It has been shown not to be a substrate to the soluble amine oxidase from rabbit liver, a property it shares with mescaline, but whether it is or is not active in man is at present unknown.
#163 3-TME; 3-THIOMETAESCALINE; 4,5-DIMETHOXY-3-ETHYLTHIOPHENETHYLAMINE)
SYNTHESIS: A solution of 13.0 g of 3-bromo-N-cyclohexyl-4,5-dimethoxybenzylidenimine (see under MP for its preparation) in 125 mL anhydrous Et2O in a He atmosphere was cooled with an external dry ice acetone bath to -80 °C with good stirring. To this clear pale yellow solution there was added 32 mL 1.55 M butyllithium in hexane (about a 25% excess) which was stirred for 10 min producing a fine white precipitate. There was then added 7.0 g diethyl disulfide. The dry ice bath was removed and the reaction stirred as it came to room temperature. This was then added to 300 mL dilute HCl and the aqueous phase separated and heated on the steam bath for 45 min. A yellow oil was formed with a nearly colorless aqueous overhead. This was removed by decantation, and the remaining oil was diluted with a little MeOH and additional concentrated HCl. After further heating on the steam bath, this was added to the separated phase, all was cooled and extracted with 2x50 mL CH2Cl2. Removal of the solvent from these pooled extracts gave 11.8 g of a residue that was distilled. The product, 3-ethylthio-4,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde boiling at 106-125 °C at 0.4 mm/Hg and was an almost colorless oil weighing 8.3 g. Anal. (C11H14O3S) C,H.
To a solution of 8.2 g 3-ethylthio-4,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde in 125 mL nitromethane, there was added 1.0 g of anhydrous ammonium acetate and the mixture was heated on the steam bath for 1.5 h. The reaction mixture was stripped of nitromethane under vacuum, and the residual red oil was dissolved in 20 mL of boiling MeOH. This was decanted from a small amount of insolubles, and allowed to cool to room temperature. After considerable manipulation of a small sample with dry ice cooling, a seed of crystal was obtained, which successfully promoted crystallization of the entire MeOH solution. After standing for 1 h, the product 3-ethylthio-4,5-dimethoxy-'-nitrostyrene was removed by filtration and, after air drying, weighed 3.2 g with a mp of 96-98 °C. Upon recrystallization from MeOH, the mp was tightened to 98-99 °C. Anal. (C12H15NO4S) C,H.
AH was prepared in the usual manner from a suspension of 2.0 g LAH in 75 mL anhydrous THF, cooled to 0 °C and well stirred in an inert atmosphere of He, and treated with 1.33 mL of 100% H2SO4 added dropwise. There was added, dropwise and over the course of 10 min, a solution of 3.1 g 3-ethylthio-4,5-dimethoxy-'-nitrostyrene in 15 mL anhydrous THF. At the end of the addition, the reaction mixture was returned to room temperature, and finally heated on the steam bath for 10 min. After cooling again, there was added enough IPA to decompose the excess hydride and sufficient 10% NaOH to convert the aluminum oxide to a white, easily filterable mass. This was removed by filtration, the filter cake washed with additional IPA, and the filtrate and washes combined and the solvent removed under vacuum. This was dissolved in 100 mL of dilute H2SO4, which was washed with 2x50 mL CH2Cl2. The aqueous phase was made basic with NaOH, extracted with 2x50 mL CH2Cl2, and the extracts pooled and the solvent removed under vacuum to yield a residue of a colorless oil. This was distilled at 160-170 °C at 1.0 mm/Hg yielding 2.6 g of a colorless liquid. This was dissolved in 12 mL IPA, neutralized with 24 drops of concentrated HCl and diluted with 25 mL anhydrous Et2O. The clear solution was decanted from a little solid material, and the decantings diluted with a further 50 mL anhydrous ether. The still clear solution became cloudy after a few min, and then there was the slow formation of 3-ethylthio-4,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine hydrochloride (3-TME) as a fine white crystalline product. Removal by filtration, washing with Et2O, and air drying yielded 2.8 g of white gran-ular solids that melted at 171-172 °C. Anal. (C12H20ClNO2S) C,H.
DOSAGE: 60 - 100 mg.
DURATION: 10 - 15 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 60 mg) As important as the experience was, itself, I feel that it was in the two or three days that followed that it had the most profound impact on me. It was at the time of the death of my wife's mother, and I found that I could look directly towards death and its ramifications. Including my own death. I felt very close to the Higher Powers that seemed to make their presence felt all around. And there was still the deep internal strength that was the direct product of the 3-TME experience. I feel it very strongly, still, but I have no desire to repeat the experience right away. It is almost as if the effects are still in evidence, and one should take one's time in letting it manifest all its ramifications. But it is certainly an experience one should have once a year, if not oftener.
(with 100 mg) I was aware of the development quite early, and by the end of an hour and a half, I was in quite a remarkable state. I was extremely disinhibited, with easy verbal play and easily self-revealing, but not at too deep a level. There was great fun with a set of water colors but, when a used Kleenex became my canvas, the others failed to share my humor. I drove home at midnight with considerable care and was unable to sleep for another two hours. I would be very willing to repeat this experiment, at this level, to see if the good humor of it all was a consistent property.
(with 100 mg) I had a sudden revelation Q what I called the wet-paint theory of Christ. How does one find and identify the Messiah? It is most simple. All of life is nothing more than a freshly painted fence separating us from the rest of the world. And the fence has many, many signs on it that say: Beware. Don't Touch. Wet Paint. And if you touch too soon, indeed you get a dirty finger because the paint really is still wet. But the very first man to touch it and find it dry? There is your natural leader, your Son of God, and all those who touch later than He are the followers of the leader who first touched and found the paint dry.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: A short unraveling of the codes used here for the various materials is very much needed. There are 3's and 4's and M's and I's and incipient confusion. Mescaline is mescaline. That much is simple. All homologs are the first letter of the homolog. Escaline is E, Proscaline is P, etc. If the group is at the three-position, then the term RmetaS is used and an M preceeds the name of the homolog, i.e., ME is Metaescaline. The number (3- or 4- or 5-) gives the position of the sulfur, which is represented by the prefix "Thio" so this compound, 3-TME, has the sulfur at the 3-position, and by chance, the ethyl group there as well.
Here is a brief presentation of the needed Rosetta Stone:
Number of all three are One oxygen is re-
ethyl groups oxygen atoms placed with sulfur
none M 3-TM
4-TM
one E 3-TE
4-TE
ME 3-TME
4-TME
5-TME
two SB 3-TSB
4-TSB
ASB 3-TASB
4-TASB
5-TASB
three TRIS 3-T-TRIS
4-T-TRIS#164 4-TME; 4-THIOMETAESCALINE; 3-ETHOXY-5-METHOXY-4-METHYLTHIOPHENETHYLAMINE
SYNTHESIS: A solution of 5.1 g N,N,NU,NU-tetramethylethylenediamine and 6.8 g of 3-ethoxyanisole was dissolved in 80 mL hexane. This was stirred vigorously under a He atmosphere and cooled to 0 °C with an external ice bath. There was added 27.5 mL of 1.6 M solution of butyllithium in hexane. The stirred reaction mixture deposited a fine white precipitate. It was warmed to room temperature and stirred for 15 min. After cooling again to 0 °C, there was added 4.6 mL of dimethyl disulfide which converted the precipitate to a creamy white material. Stirring was continued while the reaction mixture was brought up to room temperature, and continued for an additional h. All was then added to 200 mL dilute H2SO4. The solids dissolved and there was the formation of two phases. These were separated, the aqueous phase extracted with with 2x75 mL Et2O, the organic phases combined and evaporated under vacuum. The residue weighed 11.1 g and set up to a waxy solid. This was ground under 1 mL of hexane, filtered, washed sparingly with hexane, and air dried yielding 7.6 g of 3-ethoxy-2-(methylthio)anisole as white crystals. The mp was 35-36 °C which was not improved following recrystallization from hexane. Anal. (C10H14O2S) C,H.
To a stirred solution of 7.6 g of 3-ethoxy-2-(methylthio)anisole in 100 mL CH2Cl2 there was added 6.2 g elemental bromine dissolved in 50 mL CH2Cl2. The initial dark red color gradually faded to a pale yellow and there was a steady evolution of HBr. An added crystal of iodine did not appear to increase the rate of reaction. After 4 min the color was a pale orange. The reaction mixture was extracted with H2O containing sufficient dithionite to remove most of the residual color. The solvent was removed under vacuum leaving 12.2 g of a pale yellow fluid oil. This was distilled at 100-110 °C at 0.3 mm/Hg to yield a mixture of 4-bromo-3-ethoxy-2-(methylthio)anisole and 6-bromo-3-ethoxy-2-(methylthio)anisole as a pale yellow, highly refractory oil that was used as such in the following reaction. Anal. (C10H13BrO2S) C,H.
To a solution of 12 mL diisopropylamine in 75 mL anhydrous THF that was stirred under an N2 atmosphere and cooled to -10 °C with an external ice/MeOH bath, there was added in sequence 35 mL of 1.6 M butyllithium in hexane, 1.8 mL of dry acetonitrile, and 5.0 g of 4-bromo- (and 6-bromo)-3-ethoxy-2-(methylthio)anisole. The reaction mixture changed color from yellow to red to reddish brown. Stirring was maintained for an additional 0.5 h, and then the reaction mixture was poured into 80 mL of dilute H2SO4. The phases were separated, and the aqueous phase was extracted with 100 mL CH2Cl2. The organic phases were combined, and the solvent was removed under vacuum. The oily residue was distilled at 0.2 mm/Hg yielded two fractions. The first fraction boiled at 90-115 °C and weighed 1.7 g. This material proved to be largely the unreacted bromo starting materials. The second fraction came over at 140- 170 °C, weighed 1.7 g, and it crystallized when seeded with a small crystal obtained externally with dry ice. This fraction was recrystallized from 10 mL MeOH, filtered, and washed sparingly with cold MeOH. After air drying, there was obtained 0.5 g 3-ethoxy-5-methoxy-4-methylthiophenylacetonitrile which had a mp of 65-66 °C. Anal. (C12H15NO2S) C,H.
A suspension of 0.5 g LAH in 50 mL anhydrous THF under N2 was cooled to 0 °C and vigorously stirred. There was added, dropwise, 0.35 mL 100% H2SO4, followed by 0.45 g 3-ethoxy-5-methoxy-4-methylthiophenylacetonitrile in 10 mL anhydrous THF. The reaction mixture was stirred at 0 °C for a few min, then brought to a reflux for a few min on the steam bath. After allowing the mixture to return to room temperature, there was added IPA sufficient to destroy the excess hydride followed by 10% NaOH to bring the reaction to a basic pH and to convert the aluminum oxide to a loose, white, filterable consistency. This was removed by filtration, and washed with 50 mL IPA. The filtrate and washes were stripped of solvent in vacuo, and the residue suspended in dilute H2SO4. This was washed with 2x75 mL CH2Cl2, made basic with aqueous NaOH, and the product extracted with 2x75 mL CH2Cl2. After combining these extracts, the solvent was removed under vacuum providing 1.2 g of a residue which was distilled at 132-140 °C at 0.4 mm/Hg to give 0.35 g of a colorless oil. This was dissolved in 7 mL of IPA, neutralized with 7 drops of concentrated HCl and diluted with 3 volumes of anhydrous Et2O. The product was removed by filtration, washed with Et2O, and air dried to give 0.30 g 3-ethoxy-5-methoxy-4-methylthiophenethylamine hydrochloride (4-TME) as white crystals with a mp of 164-165 °C. Anal. (C12H20ClNO2S) C,H.
DOSAGE: 60 - 100 mg.
DURATION: 10 - 15 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 60 mg) There was a strange off-baseness for several hours in the middle of the day, which was replaced by a mild gastric upset in the evening. The mild mental disturbance is neither visual nor particularly interesting.
(with 100 mg) A benign and gentle altered state became progressively sad and morbid. Nothing went together well Q I could not empathize with anyone, and trying to write at the typewriter was useless. So were efforts to sleep at midnight, but this was totally relieved with 200 milligrams of Miltown. In the morning I seemed still to be off baseline, and I was extremely sleepy, with much lethargy. Even several days later there were problems trying to integrate my emotions and feelings. I am not yet completely at peace.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: Sometimes things work well in their mysterious ways. The reports with 4-TME were more to the toxic than to the joyous side, and this by chance with a compound that could only be obtained in an atrociously small yield.
#165 5-TME; 5-THIOMETAESCALINE; 3-ETHOXY-4-METHOXY-5-METHYLTHIOPHENETHYLAMINE
SYNTHESIS: A solution of 10.4 g of 3-bromo-N-cyclohexyl-4-methoxy-5-ethoxybenzylidenimine (see under ME for its preparation) in 150 mL anhydrous Et2O in a He atmosphere was cooled with an external dry ice acetone bath to -80 °C with good stirring. The addition of 52 mL 1.6 M butyllithium in hexane produced a thick precipitate which was stirred for 5 min. There was then added 8.5 mL of dimethyl disulfide and the reaction mixture gradually became thinner and lighter. The dry ice bath was removed and the reaction allowed to come to room temperature over the course of 15 min. This was then added to 400 mL of dilute HCl. The two phases were separated, and the aqueous phase was heated on the steam bath for 1 h which generated a separate yellow oily phase. On cooling, this set to a yellow solid, which was removed by filtration, washed with H2O, and sucked relatively free of H2O. These yellow solids weighed 14.4 g and were ground under 20 mL of cold cyclohexane which removed almost all the color and, after filtering and air drying, there remained 12.9 g of an off-white crystalline solid that melted at 83-84 °C. Recrystallization from cyclohexane produced 3-ethoxy-4-methoxy-5-(methylthio)benzaldehyde as a white fluffy crystalline material with a melting point of 84-85 °C. Anal. (C11H14O3S) C,H.
To a solution of 8.0 g 3-ethoxy-4-methoxy-5-(methylthio)benzaldehyde in 100 mL nitromethane, there was added 0.5 g anhydrous ammonium acetate and the mixture was heated on the steam bath for 1.5 h, at which time most of the aldehyde had disappeared and there was a sizeable quantity of nitrostyrene as well as a cascade of wrong things down to the origin, as seen by TLC on silica gel, with CH2Cl2. The excess nitromethane was removed under vacuum, and the residual red oil was dissolved in 25 mL of hot MeOH and decanted from a small amount of insoluble material. With cooling in an ice bath for 20 min, bright yellow crystals were formed which were removed by filtration, washed with MeOH and air dried, producing 4.1 g 3-ethoxy-4-methoxy-5-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene which melted at 80-82 °C. This sample, on resolidification and remelting, melted at 109-110 °C. This higher-melting polymorphic form was also produced by recrystallization of the product from cyclohexane. The two polymorphs were chromatographically and analytically identical. Anal. (C12H15NO4S) C,H.
AH was prepared in the usual manner from a suspension of 3.0 g LAH in 100 mL anhydrous THF, cooled to 0 °C, well stirred in an inert atmosphere of He, and treated with 2.0 mL of 100% H2SO4 added dropwise. There was then added a solution of 2.4 g 3-ethoxy-4-methoxy-5-methylthio-'-nitrostyrene in 20 mL anhydrous THF. The reaction was exothermic, and had come nearly to a boil at the half-addition point. The reaction was cooled again to 0 °C and the remaining nitro-styrene then added. This was brought to a reflux briefly on the steam bath, then cooled again and stirred for an additional 1 h. IPA was carefully added to decompose the excess hydride followed by sufficient 10% NaOH to convert the aluminum oxide to a white, easily filterable mass. This was filtered, the filter cake washed with additional IPA, and the filtrate and washes combined and the solvent removed under vacuum. This was dissolved in 100 mL of dilute H2SO4, which was washed with 2x50 mL CH2Cl2. The aqueous phase was made basic with sodium hydroxide, extracted with 2x50 mL CH2Cl2, and the extracts pooled, dried over anhydrous K2CO3, and stripped of solvent under vacuum to yield a nearly colorless residue. This was distilled at 125-135 °C at 0.3 mm/Hg producing 2.0 g of a water-white oil. This was dissolved in 8 mL IPA, neutralized with 23 drops of con-centrated HCl and, with good stirring, diluted with 20 mL anhydrous Et2O. The product 3-ethoxy-4-methoxy-5-methylthiophenethylamine hydrochloride (5-TME) was removed by filtration, washed with Et2O, and air dried to provide a white solid that weighed 2.0 g and melted at 168-169 °C. Anal. (C12H20ClNO2S) C,H.
DOSAGE: greater than 200 mg.
DURATION: unknown.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 200 mg) There was a noticeable tinnitus, but then that comes and goes at odd times without any reason needed. There was perhaps a brush of light-headedness at the third hour point, but other than that, nothing. No effect that can be ascribed to today's drug trial.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: Nothing comes to mind. This, along with most of the di- and triethylated thiomescaline analogues, represents a lot of synthetic effort without useful qualitative data. If there is any activity, it would only be seen with monster dosages, and why put the body through such potential impact?
#166 2T-MMDA-3a; 3,4-METHYLENEDIOXY-2-METHYLTHIOAMPHETAMINE
SYNTHESIS: A solution of 30 g piperonal in 25 mL cyclohexylamine was brought to a boil on a hot plate, until there was no more water apparently being evolved. The resulting melt was distilled giving 45 g of N-cyclohexyl-3,4-methylenedioxybenzylideneimine boiling at 114-135 °C at 0.2 mm/Hg as a light yellow oil.
In 400 mL anhydrous Et2O there was dissolved 40.3 g N-cyclohexyl-3,4-methylenedioxybenzylidenimine and 30 mL N,N,NU,NU-tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA). This solution was put under an inert atmosphere, and with good stirring brought to -78 °C with an external dry ice/acetone bath, which produced a light white crystalline precipitate. There was then added 120 mL of 1.55 M butyllithium, which produced an immediate darkening and a dissolving of the fine precipitate. After 10 min stirring, there was added 20 mL of dimethyl disulfide. The color immediately vanished and there was the formation of a white precipitate. The temperature was allowed to return to ice bath temperature, and then all volatiles were removed under vacuum. The residue was poured into 500 mL H2O and acidified with HCl. After heating for 1 h on the steam bath, the reaction mixture was cooled, producing a gummy solid that was shown to be a complex mixture by TLC. But there was a single fluorescent spot that was the product aldehyde and it was pursued. Extraction with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2 gave, after pooling and stripping of the solvent, a residue which was extracted with four separate passes, each with 75 mL boiling hexane. The deposited crystals from each were separated, and all recrystallized from boiling MeOH to give 3.3 g of 3,4-methylenedioxy-2-(methylthio)benzaldehyde, with a mp of 77-80 °C.
To a solution of 3.0 g 3,4-methylenedioxy-2-(methylthio)benzaldehyde in 25 mL IPA there was added 2 mL nitroethane, 0.11 mL ethylenediamine and 0.1 mL acetic acid. This was held at reflux temperature for 18 h, and the solvents removed under vacuum. The residue showed a total of eight spots on TLC analysis, extending from the origin to the spot of the product nitrostyrene itself. Trituration of this residue under 25 mL MeOH gave a crude nitrostyrene which was, after separation, recrystallized from 20 mL of boiling MeOH. The final isolation of 1-(3,4-methylenedioxy-2-methylthiophenyl)-2-nitropropene gave 0.5 g of a product that had a mp of 94-95 °C. The mixed mp with the nitrostyrene from piperonal (mp 97-98 °C) was soundly depressed (mp 67-79 °C).
A solution of AH was prepared by the treatment of a solution of 0.5 g LAH in 10 mL THF, at 0 °C and under He, with 0.32 mL 100% H2SO4. A solution of 0.45 g 1-(3,4-methylenedioxy-2-methylthiophenyl)-2-nitropropene in 10 mL THF was added dropwise, and the stirring was continued for 1 h. After a brief period at reflux, the reaction mixture was returned to room temperature, and the excess hydride destroyed by the addition of IPA. The salts were converted to a filterable mass by the addition of 5% NaOH, and after filtering and washing with IPA, the combined filtrate and washings were stripped of solvent under vacuum. The residue was dissolved in dilute H2SO4 which was washed with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2. After alkalinification with 25% aqueous NaOH, the product was extracted with 2x75 mL CH2Cl2. The extracts were pooled, and the solvent removed under vacuum. Distillation of the residue gave a fraction that boiled at 137-150 °C at 0.3 mm/Hg and weighed 0.3 g. This was dissolved in 1.6 mL IPA, neutralized with 6 drops of concentrated HCl, warmed to effect complete solution, and diluted with 4 mL of anhydrous Et2O. The formed crystals were collected by filtration, and after Et2O washing and air drying to constant weight, gave 0.3 g 3,4-methylenedioxy-2-methylthioamphetamine hydrochloride (2T-MMDA-3a).
DOSAGE: greater than 12 mg.
DURATION: unknown.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: And visions of sugar-plums danced through their heads. There are many trisubstituted amphetamine analogues that have been documented with varying degrees of activity. There are six TMA's and if one were to systematically make every possible thio-analogue of each of these, there would be a total of sixteen thio-analogues of the TMA. Let's go for it, said I to myself. Let's get the 16 thio analogues in hand. That is where the action's at. But hold on a minute. Each and every MMDA isomer has, by definition, three possible thio analogues, so there are eighteen more possible thio compounds just with them. Sure, let's make them all° It will be an unprecedented coup for students of structure-activity relationships. Let's whip out some 34 compounds, and test them all, and maybe we will begin to understand just why those which are active are, indeed, active. And maybe not.
Anyway, this was the most manic of all manic programs ever, involving thio-analogues. And it was totally compelling. Another synthetic clue stemmed from the fact that vanillin also formed the cyclic carbonate with sodium thiocyanate and it could, in principle, be brought around in time to 3-methoxy-5,4-methylenethiooxyamphetamine, or 5T-MMDA. That made two of the magic analogues, and only some 32 to go. What a marvelous task for a graduate student. (What a horribly dull task for a graduate student.) But in any case there was no graduate student, and this appeared to be the end of the line. Some day, let's make all these possibilities. A magnificent tour-de-force, but at the present time, not worth the effort. Other directions are more exciting and more appealing.
A last note of simple humor. One of the compounds used in this preparation was N,N,NU,NU-tetramethylethylenediamine, which has been abbreviated TMEDA. There is a pattern, within any active inner clique of research chemists intently pursuing a goal, to begin condensing complex comcepts into deceptively simple terms. We "MOM-ed the hydroxy group of the T-BOC-ed amine." I have recently heard the above tetramethyl monster referred to in the chemist's jargon as a pronounced, rather than a spelled out, word. It sounds very much like "tomato" spoken by a native of the Bronx.
#167 4T-MMDA-2; 6-(2-AMINOPROPYL)-5-METHOXY-1,3-BENZOXATHIOL; 2-METHOXY-4,5-METHYLENETHIOOXYAMPHETAMINE
SYNTHESIS: To a well-stirred solution of 120 g thiourea in 800 mL 2N HCL, there was added a solution of 100 g benzoquinone in 500 mL acetic acid over the course of 15 min. Stirring was continued for an additional 0.5 h at room temperature, and then the reaction mixture was heated on the steam bath for 1 h. With cooling in ice water, a heavy crop of crystals separated. These were removed by filtration and air dried to provide 90.1 g of 5-hydroxy-1,3-benzoxathiol-2-one (2-mercaptohydroquinone cyclic carbonate ester) with a melting point of 170.5-172.5 °C.
To a suspension of 100 g finely powdered anhydrous K2CO3 in 400 mL acetone containing 50 g methyl iodide there was added 41 g 5-hydroxy-1,3-benzoxathiol-2-one, and the mixture stirred overnight at room temperature. The solids were removed by filtration, and the solvent removed under vacuum. The residue was distilled to give a fraction subliming over as a solid at an oven temperature of 110 °C at 0.1 mm/Hg. This was a yellowish solid, weighing 27.4 g and having a mp of 66-72 °C. Recrystallization from MeOH gave 5-methoxy-1,3-benzoxathiol-2-one as a white solid with a mp of 75.5-76.5 °C.
To a solution of 30 g 85% KOH in 75 mL warm H2O, there was added an equal volume of warm MeOH followed by 16 g 5-methoxy-1,3-benzoxathiol-2-one, and the mixture was held under reflux conditions for 2 h. After cooling to room temperature, the mix was acidified with HCl and extracted with 2x100 mL CH2Cl2. Removal of the solvent from the pooled extracts gave a yellow oil that crystallized on standing. The product, 2-mercapto-4-methoxyphenol, weighed 14 g and had a mp of 56-57 °C.
A solution of 10 g 2-mercapto-4-methoxyphenol in 100 mL MEK was added over the course of 1 h to a vigorously stirred suspension of 25 g finely powdered anhydrous K2CO3 in 200 mL MEK that contained 14 g methylene bromide. The reflux was maintained for 48 h. After cooling, the mixture was freed of solids by filtration and the filter cake washed with 50 mL additional MEK. The combined washes and filtrate were stripped of solvent under vacuum, and the product distilled to give 3.3 g of 5-methoxy-1,3-benzoxathiol as a yellowing oil that had a bp of 110-120 °C at 1.7 mm/Hg. There was considerable residue in the pot, which was discarded. The NMR spectrum was excellent, with the methylene protons a two-hydrogen singlet at 5.6 ppm.
To a mixture of 3.2 g POCl3 and 2.8 g N-methylformanilide that had been heated briefly on the steam bath (to the formation of a deep claret color) there was added 2.3 g 5-methoxy-1,3-benzoxathiol, and steam bath heating was continued for an additional 5 min. The reaction mixture was poured into 100 mL H2O, and after a few minutes stirring, the insolubles changed to a loose solid. This was collected by filtration, H2O washed and, after sucking as dry as possible, recrystallized from 30 mL boiling MeOH. This provided 1.9 g of 6-formyl-5-methoxy-1,3-benzoxathiol as brownish needles that melted at 119-120 °C.
A solution of 1.5 g 6-formyl-5-methoxy-1,3-benzoxathiol in 50 mL nitroethane was treated with 0.3 g anhydrous ammonium acetate and heated on the steam bath for 5 h. Removal of the solvent under vacuum gave a residue that crystallized. This was recrystallized from 110 mL boiling EtOH providing, after fil-tering and air drying, 1.3 g 5-methoxy-6-(2-nitro-1-propenyl)-1,3-benzoxathiol as San Francisco Giants-orange-colored crystals.
A solution of AH was prepared by the treatment of a solution of 1.3 g LAH in 10 mL THF, at 0 °C and under He, with 0.8 mL 100% H2SO4. A solution of 1.1 g of 5-methoxy-6-(2-nitro-1-propenyl)-1,3-benzoxathiol in 25 mL THF was added dropwise, and the stirring was continued for 1 h. After a brief period at reflux, the reaction mixture was returned to room temperature, and the excess hydride destroyed by the addition of IPA. The salts were converted to a filterable mass by the addition of 5% NaOH and, after filtering and washing with IPA, the combined filtrate and washings were stripped of solvent under vacuum. The residue was dissolved in dilute H2SO4 which was washed with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2 and then, after being made basic with 25% NaOH, the product was extracted with 2x75 mL CH2Cl2. The extracts were pooled, and the solvent removed under vacuum. Distillation of the residue gave a fraction that boiled at 140-155 °C at 0.3 mm/Hg which weighed 0.7 g. This was dissolved in 4 mL IPA, neutralized with 14 drops of concentrated HCl, heated to effect complete solution, then diluted with 10 mL of anhydrous Et2O. The white crystals that formed were removed, Et2O washed, and air dried to give 0.6 g 6-(2-aminopropyl)-5-methoxy-1,3-benzoxathiol hydrochloride (4T-MMDA-2).
DOSAGE: greater than 25 mg.
DURATION: unknown.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 25 mg) At three hours after having taken the material, I felt that there might have been a little exhilaration. And maybe a hint of tremor and of teeth clench. Perhaps this is a threshold dose.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: There is no logical way to try to guess where the active level of this might be. In a comparison of 4-oxy with 4-thio- and with 4-alkyl (as, for example, TMA-2, PARA-DOT and DOM) the analogue with the sulfur atom lies intermediate in potency between the oxygen atom and the carbon atom. Then, perhaps, 4T-MMDA-2 should be somewhat more potent than MMDA-2. Which is where the trials have gone to, and the absence of effects therefore declares that line of reasoning invalid. What else could be used for clues? The whole benzofuran project, which had the same cyclic nature, was without activity. They had a carbon where the sulfur was of 4T-MMDA- 2, so, by that reckoning, this compound should be even less active. Maybe that is the formula to follow. The bottom line is inescapable. None of these extrapolations can hold a candle to the only experiment that can give believable findings, the actual trial of a new compound in man.
The positional isomer of the heterocyclic carbonate used here is also known. Instead of using benzoquinone as a starting material with thiourea as the sulfur source (giving the 1,4- oxygen orientation), one can start with resorcinol in reaction with ammonium thiocyanate as the sulfur source (in the presence of copper sulfate) and get the positional isomer with a 1,3- oxygen orientation. This material (also known as thioxolone, or tioxolone, or 6-hydroxy-1,3-benzoxathiol-2-one, and which is commercially available) should follow the same chemistry shown here for the 5-hydroxy analogue, and give 5T-MMDA-2 (5-(2-aminopropyl)-6-methoxy-1,3-benzoxathiole or 2-methoxy-5,4-methylenethiooxyamphetamine) as a final product. I would guess, based on the findings that compare 5-TOM with DOM, that this would be a relatively low-potency compound. At least it should be an easy one to make°
#168 TMPEA; 2,4,5-TRIMETHOXYPHENETHYLAMINE
SYNTHESIS: To a solution of 39.2 g 2,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde in 160 mL nitromethane there was added 7.0 g anhydrous ammonium acetate, and the mixture was heated on the steam bath for 2 h. The excesssolvent/reagent was removed under vacuum, leaving a deeply colored residue that spontaneously crystallized. This was mechanically removed and triturated under 60 mL cold MeOH. Filtration, washing with cold MeOH and air drying, gave 49.3 g of bright orange crystals. Trial recrystallizations from EtOAc gave a mp of 132-133 °C; from CH3CN, 130.5-131.5 °C. The entire product was recrystallized from 1.1 L boiling IPA to provide, after filtration, IPA washing, and air drying, 34.5 g of '-nitro-2,4,5-trimethoxystyrene as yum-yum orange crystals with a mp of 132-133 °C. Literature values are usual one-degree ranges, anywhere in the area of 127-130 °C.
To a suspension of 30 g powdered LAH in 800 mL of well stirred and refluxing anhydrous THF there was added a solution of 34.9 g '-nitro-2,4,5-trimethoxystyrene in 200 mL anhydrous THF. The mixture was maintained at reflux for an additional 36 h, cooled, and the excess hydride activity destroyed by the addition of 30 mL H2O followed by 30 mL 15% NaOH, and finally with another 90 mL H2O. The solids were removed by filtration, washed with THF, and the pooled mother liquor and washings stripped of solvent under vacuum. The residue was dissolved in CH2Cl2, washed with both 5% NaOH and then H2O, removing much of the color. It was then extracted with 3x75 mL N HCl. The pooled red-colored acid extracts were washed with CH2Cl2, made basic with 25% NaOH, and extracted with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2. Removal of the solvent gave some 25 g of residue which was dissolved in 100 mL IPA and neutralized with concentrated HCl. The crystalline mass that formed was diluted with an equal volume of Et2O, and the solids removed by filtration. Washing with cold IPA, followed by Et2O and air drying, gave 17.7 g of 2,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine hydrochloride (TMPEA) as a white product. The reported melting point was 187-188 °C.
DOSAGE: greater than 300 mg.
DURATION: unknown.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with less than 300 mg) Since it was not easy, however, to judge the extent of a 'Rausch'-action from experiments on animals, some injections of beta-2,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine were administered to the author, and finally a control test was carried out with an equal quantity of mescaline. The action of both these substances in these experiments agreed only to a limited extent with the effects described for mescaline by, for example, Beringer. It must be remembered, however, in this connection, that the quantities used by Beringer were larger than the doses administered in these experiments. Nevertheless, it may be concluded that the pharmacological action of beta-2,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine agrees to a large extent with that of mescaline. However, the new compound had more unpleasant secondary effects (nausea) and did not bring about the euphoristic state caused by mescaline.
(with 300 mg) Under double blind conditions, I was unable to distinguish this from a placebo. Both were without any of the changes described after the ingestion of psychotomimetic drugs.
(with 200 mg, followed after 45 minutes, with 100 mg mescaline) RThe normally modest effects known to be due to mescaline alone at this level, were strongly potentiated with the earlier taking of 2,4,5-TMPEA. The effects were stronger as well as longer lived.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: The code letters used for this drug are not as ambiguous as they might seem at first glance. A large number of the 2-carbon homologues are given names based on the code for the 3-carbon compound. On that basis, this should be 2C-TMA-2, since it is the 2-carbon counterpart of TMA-2. But since the first of the trimethoxyphenethylamines already had a trivial name, mescaline, the code TMPEA was unassigned. So, here is the logical place to use it.
There have been just two reports published of self-experimentation with TMPEA, and these comments are taken from them.
The first is presented here, word for word, as it was originally published (this was in 1931). It leaves much to be desired. The administration was by injection (intramuscular injection?). The dose was not given, but it was less than those reported by Beringer in his studies with mescaline, and this latter experimenter's published levels were all between 300 and 500 milligrams. What can one conclude from all this? Only that TMPEA apparently did not measure up to mescaline in his comparisons.
The second, reported some 40 years later, is not really contradictory. Here the TMPEA was administered orally, and the subject surrounded himself with a battery of psychological tests. This might allow statistics to provide an aura of validity to the observations. But the comments are pretty self-explanatory. The drug was not active in its own right, but when employed preliminary to mescaline, greatly enhanced the effects of the latter.
This is an area of research that deserves more attention. The simple compound that results from the stripping of all three of the O-methyl groups from TMPEA is the extremely potent neurotoxin, 6-hydroxydopamine. When it is ad-ministered to an otherwise intact experimental animal, it produces sympathectomy, effectively destroying the sympathetic nervous system. And some of the methyl groups of TMPEA are known to be stripped off through the normal metabolic processes that occur in the liver. There are many fascinating psychedelics that have a signature of methoxyl groups para to one-another. It is known that they, too, can lose a methyl group or two. It would be intriguing to see if there was some biochemical overlap between the metabolism of some of these centrally active drugs and the metabolic fate of 6-hydroxydopamine. But in a test animal, of course, rather than in man.
