if you can't do this... Post 323193 (https://www.thevespiary.org/talk/index.php?topic=8905.msg32319300#msg32319300)
(RoundBottom: "Chromic’s Methylamine.HCl", Methods Discourse) then you shouldn't be here. the MeAm from this method is 100% funtional in the Os/BS amination.
my mouth tastes like burning.
Yes, MeAm is the best. The Al/Hg/nitro is fine for getting your feet wet and gaining lab experience, but if you don't eventually move to MeAm, you will end up wasting so much time and chemicals in the long run.
Making it is easy, cheap, and OTC. Getting it clean and dry is a bit more time consuming, and can be frustrating if you live in a swamp (due to the hygroscopicity) but isn't rocket science or anything. And if you spent a week or so working on it, you could easily build a massive stockpile.
And once you have MeAm, you have many other options for reductive amination, not just Al/Hg. And you can usually process about 10 times as much ketone in the same flask you used to use for Al/Hg/nitro runs! I'll do 1 big reaction over 10 small ones any day!
I consider safrole to be the limiting reagent. I treat it as if it was worth its weight in gold.
Your first statement is very true, but I don't know about the "worth its weight in gold" part. I've done some calculations (using values from my part of the world) and would say its worth more like 10 times its weight in
And on a separate note:
Is chilly_willy as cool as frost? Or maybe ChemReack finally put out the fire from his last flaming and is now chillin' with a new name?