If you actually spent the time reading the document on the link I gave you would find that it's not very much pressure that I am talking about (3-4atm). And I haven't done the precursor experiments yet, but in my experimental process the methyl formate is manufactured from methanol. Nickel Chloride is easy to get in 'electro-less' nickel plating kits, more than enough to make heaps of very reusable nickel catalyst. And if the process works you barely even have to raise an eyebrow at the chem supply, all you need is methanol, which plenty of people use to make essential oils and plant extracts. The rest is just pool acid, glacial acetic acid can be used to make the U-Ni-AA catalyst, but it isn't neccessary to use it, though it makes catalyst recovery a bit simpler, and can be bought from a photographic supplies shop.
Esters are very easy to make, you almost don't even have to heat them (I remember it was just mix acid and alcohol, add HCl, cook for 5-10 minutes and voila, stinky ester). Ethyl acetate, for everyone out there, should be easy to make from ethanol and glacial acetic acid cooked with a HCl catalyst.
I figure if a strong acid can oxidise methanol into formic acid (dichromic acid is what they usually mention in chemistry books, but HCl is a stronger oxidising agent so should work faster). Formaldehyde is not easy to make in even lab conditions, but we see vinegar spoiling wine all the time, which is made via enzyme catalysis.
Anyway, if methanol can be turned into formic acid (a strong oxidiser is needed, formaldehyde can be made via a weaker oxidiser), and the very same catalyst makes acids and alcohols form esters, then doesn't it figure that while part of the mix goes to formic acid, the methanol will be joined to it by the same oxidiser?
I am not sure about the handling conditions or how to get the HCl out of the ester (since methyl formate is fairly soluble in water - possibly it could be separated using salty water to decrease its relative solubility).
I could follow the process you use, but if you'll follow my logic, it was a new idea not all that long ago, at least when used on DMT anyway. Stick to it if you're happy with it, but I want to try something new.
And from what I have worked out so far, the final product is in freebase form and only contaminated by methanol with a small amount of methyl formate, both of which will disappear into the atmosphere in very short order, or better still in the freezer after salting with anhydrous salts to remove the water, to leave behind nice big fat rocks of waxy pure DMT, no muss no fuss. Nothing that could ever be controlled (except for the tryptophan, but that is more likely to become uncontrolled when enough people realise that one of the most essential aminos is illegal to sell for human use). I might be a new bee, but I did high-school chemistry, and I've absorbed a lot of organic chemistry in the last month or so. I always try to be a person to do something a bit different from others, I like to be on the cutting edge. But that's an ego trip, and hell my idea might be completely screwy. But I'm going to keep looking for a new way to do the chemistry. This idea has been gestating for a few weeks now, and has changed several times to account for better information (ta rhodium).
I will shortly be testing the ester manufacturing idea on ethanol with hydrochloric acid, using an oil bath for heat and a sealed reaction vessel (champagne bottle). As for the rest of the process, that's illegal isn't it?
I'll TP my parallel self and his friends and they'll do it in their DMT friendly parallel world, so we can find out and tell y'all whether it works (and that parallel world has all the same rules of physics and chemistry my parallel self tells me, so it won't be bs if he says it works)
C
12H
16N
2