I will try to get the library to get it, but can you tell a little more about the conditions under which the reaction takes place? Do they use a catalyst?
The name of the author of that article was Goggins, there may be other articles/patents of interest to you. No further information is available presently :)
Could you oxidize styrene in a similar way to isosafrole, to give the phenyl-2-ethanone? Could the ethanone then be reductively aminated to phenethylamine?
Phenyl-2-ethanone would be phenylacetaldehyde, and it would aminate to phenethylamine. I guess the reaction conditions has to be pretty mild for the oxidation (like the buffered performic, or even better one of the epoxidation methods) as phenylacetaldehyde is prone to polymerize.
Another interesting thing to do with phenylacetaldehyde imines instead of reducing them is to react them with CH3MgI to form amphetamine or methamphetamine: https://www.thevespiary.org/rhodium/Rhodium/chemistry/meth.phenylacetaldehyde.html (https://www.thevespiary.org/rhodium/Rhodium/chemistry/meth.phenylacetaldehyde.html)
React a halobenzene grignard with ethylene oxide to get the phenethyl alcohol. This can either be oxidized to the phenylacetaldehyde and be reductively aminated to a PEA, or you could make the bromide (with PBr3) or the tosylate (with tosyl chloride) and react that with sodium azide followed by NaBH4 (the latter two PTC catalyzed) to get the PEA.
The general procedure for bromide/tosylate swap to the azide to the amine can be found at: https://www.thevespiary.org/rhodium/Rhodium/chemistry/mda.azide.html (https://www.thevespiary.org/rhodium/Rhodium/chemistry/mda.azide.html)