Alright, this is about the 50th time SWID has sat down and tried to write this post. Everytime he does, he ends up answering his own damn questions with a little bit of research, which would be cool if it weren't so fucking annoying. >_<
Ok, so these questions remain:
a. Can the 3,4,5-TriMeoBenzaldehyde be made (from Elemicin) without KMnO4, or any other difficult to obtain ingredient? What other chemical agents perform similiarly?
b. LAH and NaBH4 are out of the question. What are some other possabilities for the reduction of the nitro group to an amine?
c. Finally, although SWID is pretty sure of the answer already, is there no way to exploit the double bond near the end of the aliaphatic chain in such a way as to add an amine group, thus creating the ethylamine directly? SWID is guessing that either an N-methyl analogue (which PhIKAL says is highly biologically inactive) or an extended chain (propylamine?) would result. Is there then no way, in the case of the N-methyl, to remove the methyl group? (SWID is thinking not, since something which would break that particular carbon-carbon bond might reek havoc elsewhere.)
So, the only route to phenethylamine from elemicin is to first break the chain forming a benzaldehyde, then condensing with nitroethane, then reducing the nitro group to an amine group? SWID supposes this is just how things work, although he does find it a bit annoying that one cannot simply swap CH2 group on the end chain with an amine group. So close, yet so far away.