I don't mean to "knit pick" but the reaction mechanism looks a little different, I believe.
The production of aluminum hydroxide (a biproduct):
Hg++
4Al + 12H
2O -----> 4Al(OH)
3 + 2H
2 + 8H
+ + 8e-*
*The reality is that a great deal of that "H
+" will become H
2(g). I placed some of that in there. It's just a guess. I'm leaving out the production of H
2(g) in future equations and won't try to account for electrons. I don't know the status of the electronegativity in the reaction environment or how much H
+ ion (simply free electrons and protons) is actually available. I don't know. I probably wouldn't understand ther math if there was some so I'm not going to mention it.
It is in this environment that reductions occur. In organic chemistry a reduction is the addition of hydrogen or the removal of oxygen. That doesn't really apply above but I want to focus on the reduction of three (3) reactants (all organic). The ketone (3,4-Methylenedioxyphenyl-2-prpanone), nitromethane and the intermediary imine.
The reduction of the nitromethane and ketone occurs in the reaction environment created by the oxidation shown above, so we pick up there:
4Al(OH)
3 + 6H+ + CH3NO
2 -----> CH3NH
2 + 2H
2O*
*I'm cutting out several imtermediary steps. I was also not real careful to balence anything. Sorry
!
In much the same way:
2Al(OH)
3 + 6H
+ + CH
2O
2C
6H
5CH
2COCH
3 -----> CH
2O
2C
6H
5CH
2CH(NCH
3)CH
3+ + H
2O
Reduction of imine to amine:
2Al(OH)
3 + CH
2O
2C
6H
5CH
2CH(NCH
3)CH
3+ +3H
+ -----> MDMA
Correct me if I'm wrong but the reaction mechanism, though ol' Moriarty took the shortcuts, looks more like that than it did in the first post. I am only posting so that we may all better understand the process. I probably made errors and hope some smarter bee will correct me but a deaper understanding is what I desire and I believe we all need. So, was that shortcut description accurate? Let a bee know if you are in the know and have the time. Thanks
!
By the way, I don't believe Al
2O
3 is ever created in the amalgamation. That offends my understanding of the reaction.
Who wants to play cops and dope fiends?