Good morning oh my dear friends!
Ever heard of Graf-Ritter reaction? There are many variants to it (AFAIUTFSE'd, the classic one uses HCN), but the one you're about to read is thus far the best. It was submitted to
HyperLab forum
(
http://www.voy.com/12987/) by our dear friend and comrade
Zhenya aka ChemTrip.
It uses MeCN in H2SO4 to make amphetamines directly from allylbenzenes, although the yields are low (circa 30-35%)
Well this process's applicability is certainly narrowed by the need for strongly acidic conditions, esp. during hydrolysis - however, in PiHKAL/DON Shulgin mentions that DON's N-formyl derivative was easily hydrolized w/3 N HCl. I don't know if the same will bee true for acetamides, but evidently methoxies may survive where amides don't. I also wonder if there are any other ways to cleave that amide bond...
Whatever - hope you liked it.
Antoncho