Looking at recent information on phenylalanine --> amphetamine synthesis it rather seems to me the nearest to a fully otc rxn. Here's my summary of how it proceeds, not doing the stochiometry as yet because i want to get some opinions from the bees about it:
Starting with phenylalanine, using sodium hypochlorite and, because i don't have easy access to benzene or toluene, would xylene or an aliphatic hydrocarbon solvent work? The description of the rxn talks about a starch test to monitor the rxn, i presume slices of potato could be substituted. It says 'starch iodine' paper, so does that mean i should make some HI to stain it in the first instance, and that the rxn will be complete when it reacts with the stained starch. I am not much in a state of processing information at the moment, so i apologise if that's completely wrong.
From there the formed p2p is extracted and purified with recrystallisation in the freezer - is this the right way to do it? Is there any issues with using a copper condenser to distill it? A glass condenser seems to be needed, and is required in the second step, but making the p2p in the first instance, seeing as p2p is quite stable it makes sense to me to start with small rxns, collect p2p and refine the rxn for optimal yield and from there the p2p could prolly sit semi-polymerised in a jar for many years without any special protection.
So the next step is to put an amine group on the newly formed ketone. My understanding that the most readily accessible method is via al/hg amalgamation and using nitromethane as a methylamine source. I haven't bothered to pop into my local photo shop anytime recently but ppl tell me it's easy enough to get mercuric cloride. I am aware that there is more information i need to know to do this thing properly, but i guess what i want to know is, is there other methods for aminating that are as OTC or relatively simple? Like, electrolytic for example?
Would other oxidisers work better, potassium dichromate for example?
I was also considering the non-substituted amine product. The production of formic acid seems simple enough so a leuckart is possible relatively otc too. I'm not all that sure i am a greater fan of the nonsubbed vs subbed product, however there is some possibility that the substited amine is more toxic, in part due to the methyl group protecting the chemical for a lot longer when it's stuck in the receptors. Also the idea of using mercury i find a litte unsettling, whereas ammonium formate is less nasty.
My idea with posting this is to get some discussion going. I see this route as a definite viable route for someone only intending to produce for their own use who is not a chemist by profession, a route to DIY psychostims.
