I never said that the above methods will replace rp/i2. I was merely thinking aloud sorta.
This is your suggestion for replacing the rP/I rxn? Grignard, completely dry conditions
Nope, SWIM tries to stear clear of Grignards.
dichromates, etc? Forgive me for saying so, but it seems like you don't understand why the rP/I rxn became popular to begin with.
As for the dichromates, hell yeah SWIM is going to tinker with that. Fuck the rp/i2, and toying with gakked pills. Don't get SWIM wrong, SWIM still imploys the rp/i2 himself, esp. cause the majority of his equipment isn't with him right now. SWIM already has ~80% of the required chems for many different phenylacetone routes (plus for routes to many other exciting things SWIM wants to fuck with in the future, hrmmm theres hydroquinone for 2C-B and DOB, got a couple of kilos of eugenol laying around for future ether cleavage and methyleneation for those beloved methylenedioxy derivatives, need I go on?) just laying around.
Also I am not a dumbass, the rp/i2 is put forth in such a way so the non-chemist crowd could make speed, which is why it's so popular. Most people don't wanna sit and teach themselves advanced concepts and theory's of organic chemistry. SWIM himself eats and sleeps and breathes O Chem., and plans to make it his life long career (legally that is, R&D baby!). Since SWIM is fortunate enough to know how to pretty much search around and find things on his own (can't remember the last time SWIM asked a real question on any of the boards he visits), and has accumulated thousands of greenbacks worth of glassware (never send me a catalogue, SWIM'll go broke), not to mention the required technique and igenuity, so you are damn right the idea of much much larger scale production for a fraction of the cost of rp/i2 methods. Trust me, SWIM has done the math and even figures in for fuck-ups/errors etc.
Even for those meth freaks who have to scrape matchbooks and extract from tincture, I imagine your method posted here would not be considered an improvement to them. I doubt they could even pull it off, and just might need to have some nice iodine crystals anyway to kick-off their less than shiny Mg from a lighter and their not so dry BzCl and homemade Et2O. (If they didn't scratch out their eyes from the BzCl before they even got to the Grignard.)
SWIMS speculations were definitly not intended for newbee's or non-chemists at all, but only for those skilled properly in the art. SWIM STRONGLY suggests these methods for those only with the proper experience/equipment/knowledge. Otherwise your right, a lot of non-chemist people will end up botching and or hurting/killing themselves or others. Esp. if attemtping less traveled routes to p2p and they don't know shit about things like quantitative/qualitative analysis or even something simple like proper fractionation technique. Anyways, let me end this tangent and say my last rebuttal.
True though, as you mentioned, if you can't get the pseudo you will need alternatives. If you have the skills etc. to go this way then you can probably do the hydrogenations, which are way cooler (IMHO) if you want to 'do some real chem'.
Have fun and try not to kill yourself.
Damn right! Fuck pseudo, SWIM enjoys the buzz of good ole prope dope anyway. Your also right about hydrogenations being cooler, esp. the internal type ran on a certain imine.
As for killing himself, SWIM has plenty of experience, reads Vogel and others like it was a holy bible and such. Plus SWIM has used other routes to acquire p2p before, and has tinkered with a couple of red. admins. SWIM has had the joys of the associated paranoia when working with those lachyromators like benzyl halides, and also things like cyanides (better beleive SWIM totally re-vamped ventilation issues for that last one, as well as stocking up on amyl nitrate poppers for antidote purposes, just in case).
SWIM is carefull, does plenty of the right research, doesn't rush anything and has known limits of things SWIM will not do with current lab setup due to health/safety risks etc. SWIM takes great pride in quality of synthesized products. If there is anything worth doing, it's worth doing RIGHT!