I managed to purchase reagent grade 5-meo-dipt. It was of remarkable quality; the shimmering white crystals were visually stunning. The most prevalent effect seems to be a type of CNS similar to an amplified psilocybin "body buzz". While this feeling could be mistaken as a MDMA type effect by a novice experimenter it is actually quite a bit different. Additionally there is notable auditory activity that shares a similarity with MDMA, but the similarities end there. In low to medium dosages there is little to no visual activity although it seems to cause a mild sensitivity to light. In higher dosages visual activity varies greatly from person to person. Typically glowing halos or fuzzy visual distortions were reported, but mild LSD like hallucinations weren't unheard of.
Although it has serious potential the impressive aphrodisiac qualities seemed nowhere to be found.
While I was looking for a place to pick that up I found a really nifty place in China that sells melatonin for $400 a kilo. I also found most of the other precursors for Shulgin's synth to be readily available at affordable prices. So allow me to reiterate:
42g melatonin is taken up in 300g isobutanol. Add 30g NaOH and 3g sodium dithionite. Reflux 2h @ 105 deg. under N2. Cool mixt. ext with 500g water. Aqueous phase contains sodium acetate and excess NaOH-separate. Acidify isobutanol phase to pH 2 with 32% HCl. Concentrate solution to induce crystallization of 36g crude product. Recrystallize from 96% EtOH to obtain 30g white crystals of 5-methoxytryptamine of 98.5% purity.
30g 5-methoxytryptamine is taken up in 200ml sulfolane. Add 82g diisopropylethylamine and 107g 2-idopropane. Agitate 3h @ 100 deg. Stir 16h @ room temp. Vacuum distillation produces 300g residue that is diluted with 1000ml H2O to produce a clear solution. Add 100ml 5% aqueous NaOH to produce a cloudy suspension that is extracted with 3x400ml hexane. 10g of colorless oil is recovered via distillation of solvent. Bulk of product is distilled at 140-150 deg @ 0.01mm/Hg to give 8g of freebase.
Freebase is dissolved in 35ml IPA and neutralized with HCl. Crystallization is instigated with Et2O. Product is removed by filtration. Crystals washed with 4:1 IPA / Et2O mixture. Product is air dried to yield 8.5g 5-methoxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine hydrochloride.
Couldn't you use the 10g crude extract in place of the 8g freebase to avoid the need for a fractional distillation? Hopefully the residual sulfolane and non-polar intermediates are going to stay in the IPA.
Additionally what if we don't vacuum distill the sulfolane, thereby completely eliminating the need for vacuum. Wouldn't it be removed during one of the acid/base phases anyways?
-Zen
