Yup, when the nitroethane has to be synthed by yourself, it may be advisable to avoid going via nitropropene->ketone->amine and probably easier to start with propenylbenzenes instead - but I would at any time prefer mescaline over MDMA
..
And vanillin hasn't only drawbacks (besides of requiring NE to arrive at amphetamines) - it usually is sold in "very pure" grade AT LEAST, whereas eugenol has to be distilled (several times maybe) to get a pure starting compound...
But your idea of first making the dihydroxy secondary amine and THEN methylenating it is pretty cool, dare I say - I would guess that my proposed "x-nitropropene -> x-nitropropane -> methylenation of x-nitropropane / reductive amination" will work too? Or is the nitro group more easily attacked (espcially with Zn/Ni), compared to the secondary amine protection you suggest?
Look people, methyleneation isn't the problem. It's easy and OTC, and according to several patents SWIM has looked at you don't even need DMSO or DMF. Methyleneation can be done with alkali metal hydroxides in plain ol' H2O. Beleive it or not.Actually it is hard to believe, because you didn't back up your statement with any facts or details..
(heaven can be coloured red by throwing open cans of red paint into the air - believe it or not!
)
And yes, now it has been posted several times that the methylenation is well covered and no problem (why did some bee ask about it then?) - amalgum: how about sharing some of your knowledge by
giving the patent numbers instead of just
talking about having read'em!? Just writing down vague details isn't exactly what helps - and referencing to patent numbers is the simplest of all things!! Espacenet!
I mean: you know about a patent dealing with exactly the problem several bees seem to have (OTC and easy methylenation) - and
don't share this knowledge??
...égoiste...
A