It's almost luck running into some gems now and then while looking for something else,....i found the following patent quite interesting
feel it has merits , ......ofcourse this may be old news, but new to me, so i thought i say so.......java

Process of Preparing 1-phenyl -2-aminopropane  
Shinohara, Tamura. Hosoda
US Patent 3193581

@ Tasthoggua

Here are the pages from that mycology book we discussed. Nice diagrams for the claviceps lifecycle. Note the date of publication is 1952 but its interesting anyway.

Hope im not hijacking the thread too much

Addition of heterocycles to electron deficient olefins and alkynes catalyzed by gold(III)
Zigang Li, Zhangjie Shi, Chuan He
Journal of Organometallic Chemistry
2005,Volume 690, Issue 23,  Pages 5049-5054
doi:10.1016/j.jorganchem.2005.03.009


Abstract
A gold(III)-catalyzed hydroarylation of different olefins is reported here. AuCl3 works as an excellent catalyst to mediate reactions between various heterocycles and electron deficient olefins and alkynes under mild conditions. This gold(III)-based method tolerates different functional groups such as aldehyde, carboxylic acid, nitrile, and is highly efficient. We have shown that some of these reactions complete in minutes at room temperature.


[edit] Very interesting take a look, possibly relevant to indoles and JWH. And maybe even 2C/DOX.

THE SEARCH FOR MORPHINE SUBSTITUTES
Dodds
British medical bulletin 4(2) pp.88-91 1946

tag: alpha,beta-diphenylethylamine

Preparation of Alkyl Carbamate of 1-Protected Indole-3-methylamine as a Precursor of Indole-3-methylamine

In which they perform a Hofmann rearrangement on 1-protected indoles in incredible yield, using iodobenene diacetate as the oxidant.

Note:   I couldn't find too many accessible 1-acylations for indole; acetic anhydride with catalytic sodium acetate gives a 60% yield according to Studies on Acetylation of Indoles, MOHAMED N IBRAHIM . I thought I had saw a description for 1-acylation of indoles using acyl chloride and KF/Al₂O₃ as the catalyst/base but I could find it nowhere! Please post it or direct me to it if you have it.




3-Indolepropionic Acid
HERBERT E. JOHNSON AND DONALD G. CROSBY

"3-Indolepropionic acid has been prepared in 56% yield by the reaction of indole with acrylic acid in the presence of acetic anhydride... a-Acetamidoacrylic acid, however, reacts with indole in the presence of acetic anhydride to give acetyltryptophan."




3-Indolepropionic Acid. Some Reactions of Indole with Salts of Acrylic and Methacrylic Acids
HERBERT E. JOHNSON AND DONALD G. CROSBY

"Indole and sodium acrylate react at 250 deg. to give high yields of 3-indolepropionic acid. Methacrylate salts react similarly. The probable mechanism, origin of by-products, and limitations of this novel reaction are discussed."

Note: There is a patent for precipitating the indole-3-propionate as its calcium salt on formation, evidently being much less soluble.

That's Organic Reactions 59 (2002) 

EVALUATION OF COLUMN EXTRACTION: A NEW(Not quite- 1976) PROCEDURE FOR
THE ANALYSIS OF DRUGS IN BODY FLUIDS, (as well as aquarious solutions
specifically made.)


Principles of column extraction
An aqueous sample, such as urine, serum or blood, or aquarous solution of various
types is applied to and
absorbed by, a column packed with granular support material, and remains
on the column as the stationary phase. The column is then eluted with
organic, water-immiscible solvents (Fig. 1).
This causes lipophilic compounds such as drugs and their metabolites, to
become extracted from the aqueous phase into the solvent, so that they are
obtained in the eluate. The latter is free of emulsions. The eluate can either
be tested directly or evaporated down to a residue in which the substances
are then determined in concentrated form. It is not necessary to dry the
solution prior to evaporation.
Columns are prepared from 50 ml plastic syringes, filled with 70 ml of
granular diatomaceous earth (Extrelut@, E. Merck, Darmstadt). The
solvent flow is regulated by steel needles connected with the syringe outlet.
20 ml of the aqueous solution is applied onto the column and absorbed
by the support. After 10 minutes the column is eluted with organic
solvent - for urine samples 40 ml of solvent yield a total of 25 ml of eluate
within 5 to 15 minutes.

Now of course this is not limited to bodily fluids. This could be extremely advantageous to a myriad of
extraction requirements.
Also the pH of a solution may be changed on the column. So
the subsequent extraction of drugs from acid and alkaline media can be
performed on the column (Table I). The neutralization of the urine after acid
elution is achieved by drawing ammonia through the column, rendering the
pH of the absorbed solution from 2 to 10.
Basically, all soluents which are employed in liquid-liquid extractions may
be used for column extraction; for instance ether, ethyl acetate, chloroform,
or alcoholic mixtures such as a mixture of dichloromethane/isopropanol
(85:15).

Feldman et al. (2008)
Microb. Ecol. 56:742–750

I found these using google.

The Oxidation of 3-Aryl-1-propenes by Oxidative System of RuCl3-NaIO4-Phase Transfer Catalyst
 Synthetic Communications: An International Journal for Rapid Communication of Synthetic Organic Chemistry
 Volume 33,  Issue 22,  2003, Pages 3947 - 3952
Authors: Yoshifumi Yuasaa; Shiroshi Shibuyab; Yoko Yuasab
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface~content=a713940851~fulltext=713240930~frm=content

ozonation of gama-asarone
http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=CH9683001.pdf

Love Drugs 2005 - Otto Snow
Results 54 - 75 ... Ber., 41, 4148 (1908). 5. Ber., 39: 2933 (1906). ...... Source: Source 1934 Phenylacetaldehyde from Phenylglycidic acid or ester by Wilfred William Groves ..... of which safrole, myristicin and elemicin were identified. ...... Example 2 Ozone having a concentration of 5—8% is led into a well stirred ...
www.scribd.com/doc/44381376/Love-Drugs-2005-Otto-Snow

Readily Made Solvated Electrons
Jorge G. Ibanez, Francisco J. Guerra-Millan, Muhamad Hugerat, Jorge L. Vazquez-Olavarrieta, Ahmad Basheer, and Riam Abu-Much
J. Chem. Educ., 2011, 88 (5), pp 670–672 DOI: 10.1021/ed100179d

The existence of solvated electrons has been known for a long time. Key methods for their production (i.e., photoionization of reducing ions, water radiolysis, and the reaction between H· and OH?) are unsuitable for most school laboratories. We describe a simple experiment to produce liquid ammonia and solvated electrons using materials commonly available, without the dangers associated with the use of solid Na or K metal.

NICE - added another article on the preparation of anhydrous ammonia (which describes drying it using nothing more than flask/tube cooled to well below 0C in the train). Anyone got access to the article on the extraction of Li metal from the battery (final reference)