methcathinone via bleach query

[omnigrinder]

well, there it is up on rhodiums site. i just used the seach engine, and came up with diddly boo. curious, isnt it? leads one to think nobody uses this method because it probably doesnt work, hey? am i wrong?
has this been tried?

[mnmguy]

I read somewhere (sorry, don't have the ref handy) that the bleach route will work, but has the danger of producing toxic chlorinated byproducts that are difficult to separate from your product without a proper lab. BTW, when I dreamed about using the "cold cat" synthesis (oxidizing pseudo with KMnO4 under refrigeration), the product was found to be effective after bioassay. But you've gotta do an a/b extraction at the end, whatever they tell you in the FAQ; otherwise you will end up with a dirty (but still effective) product.

[311311311]

There have been some recent discussions about a dilute sulfuric acid solution being used to make CAT, but the reaction would probably be very difficult to predict and take several runs to get "correct."  Follow the path of the chromates for a first run.

[Chromic]

Use sodium, ammonium or potassium dichromate for making methcathinone from ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. These oxidants are not as OTC as potassium permanganate, however they are more selective and they are EASILY obtained. Permanganate works too, but why bother using it? Dichromates are cheap and higher yielding... and since ephedrine is a pricy reagent... one should ensure a high conversion of that reagent. Bleach is great as an oxygen source for a lot of reactions, unfortunately, in my very small amount of research on the subject, it seems that transition metal catalysts are often a part of the reaction so that the oxidation proceeds along a certain pathway.