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Setlrets of Methampbetamine Manufacture, 8tb Edition Uade Fester
Including Recipes for MDA, Ecstasy, and Otber Psycbedelir Amplietamines
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SECllTSOF
MEfllAMPIiET AMINE
MANUFACTURE Including Recipes for MOA, Ecstasy,
and Other Psychedelic Amphetamines
Revised and Expanded
BIH EDITION
by Uncle rester
Festering Publications
Green Bay, Wisconsin
www.unclefesterbooks.com
This book is sold for informational purposes only. Neither the author nor the publisher intend s fiJ,. any
of the information in this book to be usedfor criminal pwposes.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Including Recipes for MDA, Ecstacy, and Other Psychedelic Amphetamines
Revised and Expanded, Eighth Edition
© 2009 by Uncle Fester
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in any form whatsoever without
the prior written consent of the publisher. Reviews may quote brief passages without the written consent
of the publisher as long as proper credit is given.
Published by:
Festering Publications
826 S. Baird SI.
Green Bay, WI. 54301
Drawings by Donald B. Parker and Ray Bosworth
ISBN: 978-0-9701485-9-9
Library of Congress Catalog Number 205900622
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. i
Chapter One
Chemical. and Equipment ................................................................................................... 1
Chapter Two
The Leuckardt-Wallach Reaction: An Overview ............... ............ . ....................... .. . .................. 9
Chapter Three
Prepar.tion of Phenylacetone ............................................................................................. 10
Chapter Four
Prepar.tion of N-Methylformamide ...................................................................................... 2 1
Chapter Five
M.king Methamphetamine ................................................................................................ 25
Chapter Six
Industrial Sc.le Production ................................................................................................3 7
Chapter Seven
Phenyl.cetone from B - Keto Esters ............................................................... ..... ............... .40
Chapter Eight
Phenylaeetone via theTuhe Furn.ce ..................................................................................... 45
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone .............................................................................. 52
Chapter Ten
Psychedelic Phenyl.cetones from Essenti.1 Oil ........................................................................ 75
Chapter Eleven
The Way of the Bomb ... . ......................................... ................. ......................................... 87
Chapter Twelve
Reductive Alkylation with out the Bomb .............................................................................. 100
Chapter Thirteen
Methylamine ................................................................................................................ 112
Chaptfr Fourteen
The Ritter Reaction: Amphet.mines Directly from Allylbcnzene .............................................. 115
Chapter Fifteen
Methamphetamine from Ephedrine or P.eudephedrine, Amphetamine from PPA ......................... 1 19
Chapter Sixteen
Methcatbinone: Kitchen improvised Crank .......................................................................... 177
Chapter Seventeen
Brewing Your Own Ephedrine ...................................................................................... .... 180
Chapter Eighteen
Cooking Your Own Ephedrine .............. ............... . . ................... . . . . . . . . . . .............................. 184
Chapter Nineteen
MDA. Ecst.cy (XTC). and other Psychedelic Amphet.mines ............................................. ........ 188
Chapter Twenty
Ice .......................................... ......................................................... ..................... ...... 195
Chapter Twenty One
Calibrating the Vacuum .............................................................................. ..................... 196
Chapter Twenty Two
Production from AJlylchloride and Benzene .......................................................................... 197
Chapter Twenty Three
Phenyl.cetone from Benzene and Acetone ................................................................ . . . . ...... .. 206
Chapter Twenty Four
Last Resort: Extracting 1- Methamphetamine from Vicks Inhalers .................................... . .......... 209
Chapter Twenty FIve
Keeping out of Trouble ........................................................................................... .......... 210
Chapter Twenty Six
Legitim.te Uses of some Chemicals ...................................... ...... . . . . . . . . . ........................ 216
Chapter Twenty Seven
Web Sites ........ . . . . .................. ................... . ..................................................... .... 217
Introduction
i
SECRETS OF M ETH 8th EDITION
Introduction
Welcome to the Eighth Edition of Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture. Beyond any doubt, this
is the best book ever written on the subject of clandestine chemistry, by anyone, anywhere, anytime,
period! Your humble and gracious Uncle has been training champions for over 20 years now, and this
tour de force of clandestine ingenuity is living testament to the fact that the game hasn't passed me by.
What this work reveals, even more than my other books, is the utterfutilitv of the so-called "War on
Drugs." Of course, there can be no such thing as a "war" on inanimate objects - there can only be a war
on people. Endlessly adding more common chemicals to lists to be watched by America's secret police
has done nothing to stem this nation 's voracious appetite for illegal drugs. Any laws against victimless
crimes can be easily evaded - "criminals" are just plain smarter than the Drug Clowns. Even the most
cursory reading of this text shows that most of my references are from common standard chemical
literature - that's right, folks, "drugs" are merely chemicals, and knowledge of how they are produced can
never be removed from the body of civilized knowledge. So grow up, "Drug Warriors," and get a life'
Try to do something useful for the society you feed on instead of destroying our freedoms.
So what new treats do we have in the Eighth Edition? Since I wrote the Seventh Edition of this book in
2004, all ephedrine and pseudoephedrine pills have been pulled off the shelves and are now a "show ID"
item. 1 have uncovered a very simple and effective method of cooking your own ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine on potentially large scales using hardware store and health food store materials. I have
also added new meth cooking procedures which totally eliminate the need to obtain iodine or red
phosphorus or anhydrous ammonia. I have also revamped the previous recipes to allow the use of the
weaker or adulterated materials now found on shelves. How about forgetting all about those pills and
cooking crank from cinnamon oil? I know you'll like that! Or maybe setting up shop using common
flavoring ingredients') Or any number of most common and easily available industrial chemicals that can
never be put under any sort of effective sales scrutiny?
The police state goon squads and their lowest common denominator, pandering-politician masters,
have once again been exposed for what they are with this Eighth Edition of Secrets of Methamphetamine
Manufacture. They have bitten off more than they can chew, and it's going to be my pleasure to jam it
right to them! Public ridicule and a practical demonstration of their impotence are the only things which
politicians and police-staters dread: This Eighth Edition will heap both upon their heads in liberal
portions. If they thought they were getting their butts kicked before, well, they haven ' t seen anything yet'
Let us pray they take their newfound humility well.
Enjoy this latest installment of the Journal for Clandestine Cookers. It will educate, entertain, and
shake pillars all at the same time. You'll be quite pleased, I ' m sure!
Fester
Chapter One
Chemicals and Equipment
Chapter One
Chemicals and Equipment
1
The heart of the chemical laboratory is the set of glassware collectively called "the kit." It consists of
several round bottom flasks, a claisen adapter, a still head with thermometer holder, a thermometer, a
condenser, a vacuum adapter and a separatory funnel (sep funnel, for short). These pieces each have
ground glass joints of the same size, so that the set can be put together in a variety of ways, depending on
the process being done. For the production of a quarter to a third of a pound batches, 24/40 size ground
glass joints are used. Also necessary are one each of the following sizes of round bottom flasks: 3000 ml,
2000 011 and 500 011; and two each of 1000 011 and 250 011. Two condensers are also required, both of the
straight central tube variety, one about 3 5 cm in length, the other about 50 cm in length.
The standard taper glassware kit suitable for use in doing distillations and reactions has become very
risky and difficult to obtain by any method other than theft or diversion from a friendly source. We can
take this as further evidence of the creeping police state we are caught in. The aim of the system is to
produce a disarmed and dumbed-down populace, a goal which is being achieved to an alarming degree.
The very thought that home chemical experimentation might have some purpose other than drug
manufacture has been banished from the general consciousness. In keeping with this, the suppliers of
glassware keep their purchase records open for regular inspection by agents of the police state. Further,
most of the suppliers will not do business on a "cash-and-carry" basis. Rather, they insist upon setting up
an account, whereby they compile a dossier on their customer before doing business.
Fortunately, this is not a real obstacle to production. The chemical manufacturing industry gets along
just tine without using standard taper glassware in which to cook their chemicals. They rightly view it as
expensive, and very prone to breakage. Instead, they construct their reaction vessels and distillation
apparatus from materials like stainless steel and Teflon. The only thing lost from the use of these
materials versus glass is that you can't watch the batch cook or distill, and magnetic stirring is prevented.
The inability to stir magnetically is quite easily circumvented by use of a mechanical stirrer. These are
available commercially, or may be constructed at home. The preferred construction materials are a
stainless-steel shatt, and a Teflon paddle. Teflon-coated steel is also acceptable. A typical stirrer is
shown in Figure 1.
Figure I
Construction of stainless-steel cooking apparatus is simplified if the necks of cooking vessels and
condensers are made wide enough for the shaft of the stirrer to fit down into them, and yet have enough
tree space for the condensation of vapors and their easy return to the cooking pot.
The inability to see what is going on inside the apparatus is more troublesome. An oil bath must be
used to heat the vessel, so that by tracking the bath temperature, one can guard against overheating the
contents
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
2
beyond the ability of a condenser to return the reflux. During distillations, both the oil bath temperature
and the thermometer reading at the still head must be used to keep track of what is going on inside the
vessel. For those with lots of practice doing distillations, this is an easy transition. For those who are less
experienced, some practice filled with trial-and-error will be required before completely getting the hang
of it.
The actual construction of a stainless-steel "kit" is a fairly easy and low-profile operation, thanks to the
widespread knowledge and use of the metal working arts. A good glassblower is almost impossible to
find, but good welders and metal workers are a dime a dozen. Let's start with the items which comprise
the majority of parts in the kit: round bottom flasks of various sizes. Figure 2 is the typical round bottom
tlask. Figure 3 is its stainless-steel counterpart.
---
Figure 2 Figure ]
This is merely a stainless-steel (preferably 304 or 3 1 6 alloy) cylindrical canister with a round hole cut
in the top. To that round hole is then welded a %-inch-Iong section of stainless-steel pipe with fine
threads on the inner surface. A series of pots with different volumes are constructed, each with the same
size stainless-steel threaded-pipe neck welded to the top.
Construction of a condenser is similarly straightforward. Note the standard glass condenser in Figure
4.
Figure 4
A stainless-steel condenser is made by taking a section of stainless-steel pipe 1 y, to 2 feet long, and
cutting fine threads on the outside at the "male" end and inside at the "female" end. The pipe's diameter
should be chosen so that it will screw into the top of one's stainless-steel cooking vessels. Then a pipe of
larger diameter is overlaid around the central section of the pipe to fonn the water jacket. It should cover
at least'!. of the length of the inner pipe. Welding the two together, and then drilling in a couple of nipple
adapters for water tlow in and out of the j acket, completes the construction.
Making a claisen adapter, as shown in Figure 5, is self-explanatory.
Figure 5
For distillations, two additional pieces are required:
I.
I · '.,
FlglITt 6 Figun 7
Chapter One
Chemical .• and Equipment
3
Note the drip tip inside the delivery end of the vacuum adapter ( Figure 6). This is very i mportant, as the
drip tip prevents the product from being sucked down the vacuum line during vacuum distillation. The
stillhead ( Figure 7) can be used for vacuum distillations as shown by plugging the top with a one-hole
stopper into which is inserted a thermometer. The thermometer should be pushed through to the usual
depth for monitoring the temperature of the distilled vapors.
There are some applications where stainless steel isn't enough to stand up to the chemicals being used.
For instance, strong hot acids will dissolve even 3 1 6 stainless. This means that a stainless pot and reflux
column isn't suitable for use i n the H I and red P reduction of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or
phenylpropanolamine to meth or dexedrine. I n other reactions in this book, boiling hot hydrochloric acid
is used. A stainless-steel reaction vessel and reflux condenser will be eaten away here as well.
For these conditions, another alternative should be the first choice. That alternative is to construct the
reaction pot and reflux condenser from copper, and then coat the inside surfaces of these two pieces with
either Teflon or a Teflon-loaded paint such as Xylan 1 006. Of these two, the latter is preferable because
the Teflon paint doesn't require that a primer first be applied to the metal surface. The basic procedure is
to thoroughly clean the metal surface to remove all dirt and grease. Then the surface of the metal is
roughened, either by sandblasting the metal, or by scouring it with a wire brush. This roughening makes
footholds for the Teflon paint to grip onto. Then a thin coat of Teflon paint is applied to the inner
surface, and after allowing any excess to drip back into the paint container, the coated piece is bake-cured
at about 3000 F. This is followed by a second coat, applied the same way, and bake-cured at 3000 F. If
one can
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
4
follow this second bake with a third bake at around 5000 F, even better results are obtained as the Teflon
in the paint will melt throughout the coating. See Vest Busters for complete details on how to order and
apply either Teflon or a Teflon-based paint such as Xylan 1006.
Your Uncle works as a chemist in an electroplating and metal finishing shop. I have personally seen
Teflon and Teflon-based paints in action. Once applied properly, nothing is going to touch these
coatings. The only way to remove these coatings is to either bum them off, or mechanically scrape them
off. A regular check of the inside of the coated reaction vessels with a flashlight and dentist's mirror is
all the maintenance they need.
That is all there is to making one's own organic glassware "kit." With it, another layer of
snoopervision is rendered useless, and the shop can be set up with a far greater degree of the safety to be
found in anonymity.
For some simple meth production methods, clandestine operators like to turn everyday household
items into reaction vessels. For example, the HI and red P reduction of ephedrine to meth requires that
the mixture be boiled, and the vapors which rise up ofTthe boiling mixture be cooled, condensed back to
liquid, and returned to the reaction vessel. To accomplish this, some people put the reaction mixture into
a Pyrex casserole dish, then put the lid on upside down, and put ice cubes into the lid. As the ice melts,
they will remove the meltwater with a turkey baster and add more ice.
For the lithium metal in liquid ammonia reduction of ephedrine to meth, a plastic pail works just fine
as a reaction vessel. A countryside location where the fumes of ammonia won't be noticed is required
with this crude setup, but it works nonetheless. Similarly, a pressure cooker can be used to steam the
􀽾ctive ingredients out of the new formulation ephedrine pills.
Using household items as " cookware" when possible has the advantages of easy acquisition and super
stealthiness, Friends, snoopy landlords and even police can look at a Mr. Coffee pot, and see just that
rather than the boiling reaction vessel it really is.
Wotwn
I
I IVIa cJJuum J
An ASpill1il!
'---J WDIIl
Figure 8
Another necessary piece of equipment is a source of vacuum for vacuum distillation and filtering the
crystal product. Here there are two choices, each with its advantages and disadvantages.
One choice is the aspirator, also called a water pump. It works by running tap water through it under
good pressure, producing a vacuum in the side arm theoretically equal to the vapor pressure of the water
being run through it (see Figure 8). For this reason, the best vacuum is obtained with cold water, since it
has a lower vapor pressure. The vacuum is brought from the side ann to the glassware by an automotive
type vacuum hose such as can be purchased at an auto parts store.
The vacuum adapter and filtering flask each have nipples to which the other end of the hose is attached,
making it possible to produce a vacuum inside the glassware. The top end of the aspirator is threaded so
it
Chapter One
Chemicals and Equipment
5
can be threaded into the water source. Alternatively, the threaded head can be pushed inside a section of
garden hose and secured by a pipe clamp. The hose can then be attached to a cold water faucet. The
bottom end of the aspirator, where the water comes out, is rippled and can also be pushed and clamped
inside a section of garden hose leading to the drain. The aspirator is kept in an upright position and at a
lower level than the glassware it serves. This is because water has a habit of finding its way into the
vacuum hose and running into the batch. Keeping the aspirator lower forces the water to run uphill to get
into the glassware. The aspirator has the disadvantage that it requires constant water pressure flowing
through it, or the vacuum inside the glassware draws water from it inside to make a mess of the batch.
For this reason, only city water is used. And, unless the vacuum line is disconnected from the glassware
before the water flow through the aspirator is turned off, the same thing will happen. The aspirator has
these advantages: it flushes fumes from the chemicals down with the water flow, costs only about $10,
and produces no sparks. A well-working aspirator produces a vacuum of IOta 20 torr (2 to 3% of nornml
air pressure). (The unit '"torr" means one millimeter of Mercury pressure. Nonnal air pressure is 760
torr.) A good aspirator is getting hard to find these days.
The other choice for a source of vacuum is an electric vacuum pump, which costs about $200, not
including the electric motor, purchased separately. To avoid the danger of sparks, the motor must be
properly grounded. The pump has the advantage that it can be used in the country, where steady water
pressure is not available. It also produces a better vacuum than the aspirator, about 5 torr, for faster and
lower temperature distillation. It has the disadvantage of exhausting the chemical fumes it pumps into the
room air, unless provision is made to pump them outside. The oil inside the pump also tends to absorb
the vapors of ether or toluene it is pumping, thereby ruining the vacuum it can produce and making it
necessary to change the oil.
Another necessary piece of equipment is a single-burner element buffet range with inlinite temperature
control. It is perfect for every heating operation and only costs about $20 at a department store. Finally, a
couple of ring stands with a few Fisher clamps are used to hold the glassware in position.
Since I wrote the first edition of this book 25 years ago, a whole slew of new restrictive laws have been
enacted in a futile attempt to prevent clandestine cookers from practicing their craft. Restrictions on the
sale and possession of glassware have already been mentioned. Many chemicals are also subject to the
reporting of their sale as a result of the Chemical Diversion Act. The chemicals subject to reporting are
given later in this chapter. All of this is just a waste of time on the part of those posing, pandering
politicians. It is the purpose of this book to expose them, and hold them up to the ridicule they deserve. If
there is one thing a politician can'l stand, it is ridicule and a practical demonstration of their impotence.
An even more noxious, yet similarly futile law has been enacted in California. Since this is bound to be
the model for similar laws enacted throughout the country, let's examine it more closely.
The most easily defeated part of the law concerns the sale of chem lab equipment and chemicals. The
law states that purchasers of equipment andlor chemicals in excess of $100 must present proper ID, and
that the seller must save the bill of sale for inspection by officers of the law. Since most individual pieces
of chern lab equipment go for less than $100, this law is gotten around by keeping one's equipment
purchases under $100, and splitting up one's business between various suppliers. The five finger discount
method while attending college chern lab courses is another option. Similarly, transfers between friends,
and the old-fashioned heist from well-stocked labs are other ways around this law.
The most stringent section of the law is aimed primarily at production of meth, LSD, MDA and
MDMA, PCP, and the barbiturates. Of those chemicals relevant to this book, it lists: phenyl acetone,
methylamine, phenylacetic acid, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norpseudoephedrine,
phenylpropanolamine, isosafrole, safrole, piperonal, benzyl cyanide, chlorephedrine, thionyl chloride,
and N-methyl derivatives of ephedrine.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
6
This section of the law states that anyone wishing to purchase these chemicals must obtain a permit.
Anyone wishing to obtain such a permit must submit two sets of his ten fingerprints to the authorities.
A third, and less restricted, class of chemicals deals mainly with meth and PCP. The chemicals of
interest here are: sodium and potassium cyanide, bromobenzene, magnesium turnings (the last two also
have PCP implications), mercuric chloride, sodium metal, palladium black, and acetic anhydride. For this
class of chemicals. the law requires presentation of proper !D (i.e., state-issued photo !D) and calls for
the seller to record said !D. The obvious ways around this section of the law are to do business in less
nosy states, or to obtain false identification.
Clandestine operators also keep in mind that the law allows the central scrutinizers to add chemicals to
the lists without warning or approval. So the new precursors mentioned in this book could go on the lists
of restricted chemicals at any time.
Waste Exchanges
A really great source of chemicals which has appeared in recent years is the surplus market. This
market has arisen because of increasingly stringent environmental laws which prohibit the haphazard
dumping of surplus chemicals. To avoid having to pay exorbitant fees to hazardous waste disposal
companies. universities and firms list their surpluses with waste exchanges who act as matchmakers to
pair one firm's waste with another firm's need. This second-hand market seems to be, at the time of this
writing, completely un policed and full of eager sellers. It looks like all one needs to do is get some fake
company letterhead printed up, send it to the waste exchanges and ask to get on their mailing list. The
desired chemicals listed can then be obtained, usually at no charge other than shipping.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has released a new publication entitled. Review of
Industrial Waste Exchanges. Copies are available, free of charge, from the RCRA Hotline. Call 800-424-
9346 or TDD (hearing impaired) 800-4 1 2-7672 and request publication number EPA-53-K-94-003 .
There is some information which is contained in the Chemical Diversion and Traffi cking Act (21 CFR
part 1 300 onward) that is essential for those who are interested in the chemicals which are required for
many of the processes outlined in this book. The government has listed many precursor and essential
chemicals, and provided threshold amounts for them. Any transactions which equal or exceed these
threshold amounts must, by law, be reported. This list was established 411/98, and will never get smaller.
It can only grow larger, as the feds become aware of additional chemicals that can be used for drug
syntheses. A careful reading of the Chemical Diversion and Trafficking Act would be a wise course of
action for those who wish to acquaint themselves with the subject matter at hand.
Listed Precursor Chemicals:
I. Anthranilic acid and its salts (30 kg)
2. Benzyl cyanide ( I kg)
3. Ergonovine and its salts ( 1 0 gr)
4. Ergotamine and its salts (20 gr)
5. N-Acetylanthranilic acid and its salts (40 kg)
6. Norpseudoephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers (2.5 kg)
7. Phenylacetic acid, its esters (like ethylphenylacetate ! ) and its salts ( 1 kilo)
8. Phenylpropanolamine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers (2.5 kg)
9. Piperidine and its salts (500 gr)
1 0. Pseudoephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers (all sales!)
I I . 3, 4-Methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone (4 kg)
Chapter One
Chemicals and Equipment
7
1 2. Methylamine and its salts ( I kg)
1 3 . Ethylamine and its salts (I kg)
1 4. D-Iysergic acid, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers ( 1 0 gr)
1 5. Propionic anhydride ( I gr)
1 6. Isosafrole (4 kg)
1 7. Sa fro Ie (4 kg)
1 8. Piperonal (4 kg)
1 9 . N-Methylephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers ( I kg)
20. N-Ethylephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers ( I kg)
2 1 . N-methylpseudoephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers ( I kg)
22. N-ethylpseudoephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers ( I kg)
23. Hydriotic acid (57%) ( 1 .7 kg or I liter by volume)
24. Ephedrine; with no threshold, i.e., all sales are reported
25. Benzaldehyde (4 kg)
26. Nitroethane (2.5 kg)
27. GBH (all sales!)
2B. Red Phosphorus (all sales ! )
29. White or Yellow Phosphorus (all sales!)
30. Hypophosphoric Acid, and its salts (like sodium hypophosphite ! ) «All sales I»
3 1 . Iodine (Tinctures 01'2% or less exempted) «All sales!»
32. N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP) «All sales!»
Listed Essential Chemicals:
I . Imports and Exports:
A. Acetic anhydride (250 gal or 1 ,023 kg)
B. Acetone (500 gal or 1 ,500 kg)
C. Benzyl chloride (4 kg)
D. Ethyl ether (500 gal or 1 ,364 kg)
E. Potassium permanganate (500 kg)
F. 2-Butanone ( MEK) (500 gal or 1 ,455 kg)
G. Toluene (500 gal or 1 ,591 kg)
2. Domestic sales:
A. Acetic anhydride (250 gal or 1 ,023 kg)
B. Acetone (50 gal or 1 50 kg)
C. Benzyl chloride (I kg)
D. Ethyl ether ( 50 gal or 1 35.8 kg)
E. Potassium permanganate ( 5 5 kg)
F. 2-Butatone ( M EK) (50 gal or 1 45 kg)
G. Toluene (50 gal or 1 59 kg)
H. Iodine
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
8
The most low-profile method of obtaining chemicals is to make a run to the hardware store or
grocery store, and subvert the common place items found there to our needs. Solvents such as tol uene,
xylene, acetone or naptha, or even Coleman camper fuel are easily obtained and work very well for
making meth. Toluene is getting harder to find on hardware store shelves because it is so useful, but
xylene is still universally available and it substitutes well for toluene. Similarly, Liquid Fire drain opener
substitutes well for concentrated sulfuric acid, and hardware store muriatic acid is almost as good as lab
grade hydrochloric acid. Lithium batteries are a good source of lithium metal. The ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine so widely used for making meth is easy to get in the form of Sudafed pills or the
ephedrine "bronchodilator" pills sold in gas stations.
Internet sites catering to hobbyists are another wonderful source of useful chemicals. I'm not talking
about lab supply companies here, as even the smallest of them may have been bludgeoned into
"cooperation". Rather, I'm referring to sites such as soap making hobby shops which can be a good
source of potassium hydroxide. This cousin of lye is used to make soft soaps, and is VERY useful in
breaking up the polymers which infest the present day sudafed and ephedrine pills.
The more one can stock and operate a meth lab with ordinary materials, the more clandestine it will
be. Care, however, should be taken in disposing the empty containers of these household items. Search
warrants can be obtained if the heat examines the trash ofa suspect and finds empty
Sudafed boxes, the remains of disassembled lithium batteries, or solvent cans. Materials discreetly tossed
into a dumpster are not traceable to clandestine chemists.
Chapter Two
The Lellckardt-Wallach Reaction: An Overview
9
Chapter Two
The Leuckardt-Wallach Reaction: An Overview
A good way to produce batches of up to Y, pound in size is by the Leuckart-Wallach reaction. Back
when I was a "producer," this was the method I liked to use, so it has a strong sentimental attachment to
me. It tends to be a touchy reaction that i f not done correctly will instead give you a bunch of useless red
tar. I still love it nonetheless, as it brings back fond memories. Other methods for converting
phenyl acetone to meth are covered in Chapters I I and 1 2.
A variation on the standard Leuckart procedure is very popular in Europe, and is used to make
benzedrine from phenylacetone reliably. Their batch sizes using this European variation can work up to
over a pound. We'll talk more about this European variation later. A Russian Advance which uses nickel
in the mixture as catalyst is also worth checking out, as is aluminum salts in the reaction mixture.
The Leuckart-Wallach reaction involves reacting a ketone with two molecules of a formamide to
produce the formyl derivative of an amine, which is then hydrolyzed with hydrochloric acid to produce
the desired amine. In this case, the reaction is shown in the diagram below.
There are several reviews of this reaction in the scientific literature, the best of them by Crossley and
Moore in the Journal of Organic Chemistry (I 949}.
The conditions which favor the production of high yields of fine-quality products are as follows. There
should be a small amount of formic acid in the reaction mixture, because it acts as a catalyst. It should be
butTered by the presence of some free methylamine, to prevent the pH of the reaction mixture from
falling too low (becoming too acidic). The presence of water i n the reaction mixture is to be avoided at
all costs, because this really messes up the reaction. It prevents the phenylacetone from dissolving in the
N-methylformamide, leading to low yields of purple-colored crystal. The recipe I give in a later chapter
for making N-methylformamide makes a product which is perfect for this reaction.
It is also important that the reaction be done at the lowest temperature at which it will proceed
smoothly, and that the heating be continued for as long as the reaction is still going. In this way nearly all
the phenylacetone is converted to methamphetamine.
R1 any lec eton e
o cHz-l-CH3 + 2
N-Methytforrren'ide
H-C9- N ,'HC H
C􀀪 tH
;5 •
􀀫N'
OCH2-CH-CH3 + CO2 + CH;5NHZ
Fornyl enid. of methlrrphetenin. HCI CIi:3 H + H 0 'N'
__ -= 2 :....... OCHiCH-CH3 Hydrochloric; .cld Metharrphetarrine
There is one stumbling block in the path of underground chemists: in 1 979, the DEA made
phenyl acetone illegal to purchase or possess. N-methylformamide i s also risky to obtain, although it is
not i llegal and is used in industries as a solvent.
However, they are both easy to make. And, because of these restrictions, the street price of
methamphetamine has gone above $ 1 00 per gram, while it costs only $ 1 or $2 per gram to make.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
10
Chapter Three
Preparation of Phenyl acetone
Phenyl acetone, also known as methyl benzyl ketone, or l -phenyl-2-propanone, is easy to make if one
can get the chemicals. In this reaction, phenylacetic acid reacts with acetic anhydride with pyridine
catalysts to produce phenylacetone plus carbon dioxide and water. In chemical writing:
o OCH 2- C-CH 3
Rienjlicelone
+
c,) ----+» +
pyridine
caalyst
A Russian journal tells of using sodium acetate instead of pyridine. For nearly two decades now, I have
let one sour experience with this reaction convince me it is useless, and an example of lying commie
science. I have been convinced that my judgment on this Russian variation was premature, and it really
does work. We'll talk more about that method at the end of this chapter, but first let's cover the version
using pyridine. I have done this reaction many times.
The reaction is done as follows: Into a clean, dry 3000 011 round bottom flask is placed 200 grams of
phenylacetic acid, 740 ml of acetic anhydride and 740 ml of pyridine. This is done on a table covered
with a sheet of newspaper. because phenylacetic acid, once it is exposed to the air, smells like cat urine,
and the smell is next to impossible to get rid of. Pyridine also smells awful. The pyridine and acetic
anhydride are measured out in a large glass measuring cup.
AU9geo
vacuum
nipple 􀄆
Figure 9
The flask is then gently swirled until the phenylacetic acid is dissolved. The flask is then assembled
with the 50 em condenser and the vacuum adapter, as shown in Figure 9. Before assembly, the joints are
lightly greased with silicone based stop cock grease. This prevents the pieces from getting stuck together.
All pieces should be clean and dry. The vacuum nipple of the vacuum adapter is plugged with a piece of
tape. In the rounded section of the vacuum adapter is a plug of cotton, then about two teaspoons of
Drierite
Chapter Three
Preparation of Phenylacetolle
1 1
(anhydrous calcium sulfate), then another plug o f colton. This makes a bed of Drierite which i s prevented
from falling into the flask by a ball of cotton. The purpose of this is to keep moisture from the air away
from the reaction.
Now the underground chemist is ready to begin heating the tlask. Notice that in Figure 10, the flask is
in a large pan which sits on the buffet range. The pan is filled about half-full of cooking oil (Wesson
works fine). This is so that the tlask is heated evenly. The heat is turned about half way to maximum, and
the tlow of cold water through the condenser is begun. A length of plastic or rubber tubing runs from the
cold-water faucet to the lower water inlet of the condenser. The cold water runs through the condenser
and out of the top water exit, through another length of tubing to the drain. In this way, the rising vapors
from the boiling pyridine are condensed and returned to the tlask. A rate of water flow of about one
gallon per minute is good.
VICUi.l1'l
Id.􀌻'
. .,
[)i,rite + Water out
L "'" 300J rrl flask
Pan wih oi
I 0 I atfetra!)Je
Figure 10
Within a half hour, the flask is hot enough to begin boiling. The heat is then turned down to stabilize
the flask at a gentle rate of boiling. This is called a retlux. The boiling is allowed to continue for 7 hours.
During this time, the reaction mixture turns from clear to brownish-red in color. Periodically, the rate of
water tlow coming out of the condenser is checked, because faucet washers tend to swell after a while
and slow down the rate of water flow.
Aller 7 hours, the heat is turned off. Twenty minutes after the boiling stops, the glassware is set up as
shown in Figure I I. The colton and Drierite are removed from the vacuum adapter. Then 4 pea-sized
pieces are broken off a pumice foot stone (purchased at the local pharmacy). These are called boiling
chips, because they cause liquids to boil faster and more evenly. They are added to the flask with the
reaction mixture in it. But they are not added until 20 minutes after the boiling stops; otherwise they
could produce a geyser of hot chemicals.
,.-.... ---'.. ... SUff.. t..
range
Figure II
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
1 2
Now tum the heat back on a little hotter than when ret1uxing the reaction mixture. Water t10w to the
condenser is resumed. The mixture soon begins boiling again and the vapors condense in the condenser
and t10w to the collecting round bottom t1ask. What is being boiled off is a mixture of pyridine and acetic
anhydride. The phenylacetone remains behind in the distilling round bottom flask, because its boiling
point is about 1 00 degrees Celsius higher than the pyridine and acetic anhydride. This process is called
simple distillation. Distillation continues until 1 300 ml has been collected in the collecting round bottom
flask, then the heat is turned off. The 1 300 ml is poured into a clean dry glass jug about one gallon in size
which is then stoppered with a cork. Later in this chapter, I will describe a process by which this pyridine
is recycled for future use. Since pyridine is so expensive, this cuts production costs considerably.
What is left in the distilling round bottom tlask is a mixture of phenylacetone, some acetic anhydride
and pyridine, and a high-molecular-weight tarry polymer which is reddish-brown in color. The next step
is to isolate and purify the phenylacetone.
The flask is taken out of the hot oil and allowed to cool down. Three-quarters of a gallon of 1 0%
sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH) is needed. So a gallon-size glass jug is filled three-quarters full of
cold water and about 1 0 ounces of sodium hydroxide pellets are added to it. A good quality lye, such as
Red Devil or Hi-Test. is a substitute that saves a good deal of money and works tine. Eye protection is
always worn when mixing this up. It is mixed thoroughly by swirling, or by stirring with a clean, wooden
stick. The dissolution of NaOH in water produces a great deal of heat. It is al lowed to cool off before the
chemist proceeds.
About 500 ml of the 1 0% NaOH is put in a 1 000 ml sep funnel, then the crude phenylacetone mixture
from the round bottom flask is poured in the sep funnel also. The top of the sep funnel is stoppered and
mixed by swirling. When the funnel gets hot, it is allowed to set for a while. Then the mixing is
continued, with the underground chemist working his way up to shaking the sep funnel, with his linger
holding in the stopper. What he is doing is removing and destroying the acetic anhydride. Acetic
anhydride reacts with the sodium hydroxide solution to produce sodium acetate, which stays dissolved in
the water, never to be seen again. Some of the pyridine and red-colored tar also goes into the water. The
destruction of the acetic anhydride is what produces the heat.
Arter it has cooled down, about 1 00 ml of toluene is added to the sep funnel and shaken vigorously for
about 1 5 seconds. The sep funnel is unstoppered and allowed to sit in an upright position for about one
minute. The liquid in the funnel w i l l now have separated into two layers. On top is a mixture of toluene,
phenyl acetone, and red tar. On the bottom is the water layer, which has some phenyl acetone in it.
Pyridine is in both layers.
Two 500 ml Erlenmeyer flasks are placed on the table, one marked "A," the other marked "B." The
stop cock on the sep funnel is opened, and the water layer is drained into B. The top layer is poured into
A. B is poured back into the sep funnel, and 50 ml of benzene is added. The funnel is shaken for 15
seconds, then the water layer is drained back into B. The top layer is poured into A. The purpose of this
is to get the phenylacetone out of the water. Once again the water in B is put in the sep funnel. Fitiy ml of
toluene is added. and shaken. Xylene is for almost all purposes substitutable for touene, and is at present
easier to get at the hardware store. The water is drained into B and the toluene layer poured into A. The
water in B is poured down the drain and the contents of A put into the sep funnel along with 400 ml of
1 0'10 NaOH solution trom the jug. After shaking, the water layer is drained into B and the toluene layer
poured into A. The contents of B are put back in the sep funnel and 50 ml of toluene added. After
shaking, the chemist drains the water layer into B and pours it down the drain. The contents of A are
added to the funnel again. along with 400 ml of 1 0% NaOH solution; the funnel is shaken again. The
water layer is drained into B and the toluene layer poured into A. The contents of B are returned to the
sop funnel, along with 50 ml
Chapter Three
Preparation of Phenylacetone
\3
toluene, and shaken again. The water layer is poured into B and poured down the drain. The toluene layer
is poured into A. The sep funnel is washed out with hot water.
Now the last traces of pyridine are removed from the phenyl acetone. For this purpose, some
hydrochloric acid is needed. Hardware stores usually have the 28% strength sometimes called muriatic
acid. A bottle in which the acid seems clear-colored is used; the ones with a green tint have been sitting
around too long.
The contents of A are returned to the clean sep funnel. Then 1 0 ml of hydrochloric acid, mixed with 1 0
ml of water, is added to the sep funnel and shaken for 30 seconds. The stopper is pulled out to check
whether or not the odor of pyridine has disappeared. If not, another 20 ml of the acid-water mix is added
and shaken. The odor should now be gone, but if it is not, some more of the mix is added and shaken.
Now 200 ml of water is added and shaken. Flask A is rinsed out with hot water; the water layer is drained
into B and poured down the drain. The toluene layer is poured into A. What has just been done is to
conven the pyridine into pyridine hydrochloride, which dissolves in water, but not in toluene. It is now
down the drain.
Finally, for one last time, the contents of A are returned to the sep funnel, along with 200 ml of the
1 0% NaOH solution. This is shaken and the water layer drained into B. The toluene layer is allowed to
stay in the sep funnel for the time being; more water will slowly fall out to the area of the stop cock,
where it can be drained out. It is now ready to be distilled, and stray water must be removed beforehand.
A (/ass pa:lod
Ir"aonating counn
Figure /2
Figure 1 2 shows a glass-packed fractionating column which an underground chemist can make
himself. The claisen adapter is checked to make sure it is clean and dry. A clear glass beer bottle is
washed out with hot water, then smashed on the cement floor. A few pieces are picked out that are small
enough to fit i n the lower opening of the claisen, yet big enough that they will not fal l out of the bottom
opening of the claisen adapter. Pieces of the broken bottle are dropped in the lower opening until that
section of the claisen adapter is filled to about the level shown in the drawing. The chemist tries to get it
to land in a jumbled pattern, as shown in the drawing. Then more similarly-sized pieces of glass are
dropped in the upper opening of the claisen adapter until it is filled to the level shown. Again a jumbled
pattern is striven for. The lower opening is then stoppered with the proper size of glass or rubber stopper.
Finally, the outside is wrapped with a layer or two of aluminum foil, except for the ground glass joint.
The underground chemist will now distill the phenyl acetone. First, here is some information on the
process to be performed. The crude phenylacetone the underground chemist has is a mixture of toluene,
phenyl acetone, red tarry polymer, some water and maybe some dibenzyl ketone. These substances all
have very different boiling temperatures. By distilling this mixture through a fractionating column, the
chemist can separate them very effectively and get a high-purity product. The way it works is easy to
understand. The vapors from the boiling mixture in the distilling flask rise up into the fractionating
column and come into contact with the pieces of glass inside. Here the vapors are separated according to
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
14
The boiling point. substance in the mixture with the lowest boiling point is able to pass on through, while
the other substances are condensed and flow back into the distilling flask. This is why the pieces of glass
in the column can't be tightly packed, as that would interfere with the return flow, leading to a condition
called flooding. Once all of the lowest-boiling substance has been distilled, the substance with the next
higher boiling point can come through the fractionating column. In the distillation process to be
described, the order is as follows: toluene-water azeotrope, 85° C; toluene, 1 1 0° C; phenyl acetone, 1 20-
1 30' C (under a vacuum of about 20 torr).
Why must the phenylacetone be distilled under a vacuum') Because its boiling point at normal pressure
is 2 1 6' C, which is much too hot. Distilling it at that temperature would ruin the product. By distilling it
under a vacuum, it boils at a much lower temperature. The exact temperature depends on how strong the
vacuum is; the stronger the vacuum, the lower the temperature. For example, at a vacuum of 1 3 torr, the
boiling point goes down to about 1 05° C.
Sopper􀃮
BuffetO
range
lherl!Dl1'eter -
250 ml flask
(collaclng)
Figure 13
The glassware is set up as shown in Figure 1 3 . The distilling flask is no more than 2/3 full. If the
underground chemist has more crude phenyl acetone than that, he has to wait until some of the toluene
has distilled off, then turns off the heat, waits until the boiling stops and adds the rest of it to the distilling
flask.
The glassware should be clean and dry. A fast way to dry glassware after washing is to put it in the
oven at 400° F for 20 minutes. Rubber stoppers do not go in the oven. Water tends to stay inside round
bottom flasks dried in this way. So, while they are still hot, the chemist takes a piece of glass tubing and
puts it inside the flask. He sucks the moist air out of the flask with the glass tubing before it has a chance
to cool down and condense. For the distillation, two 250 ml round bottom flasks are needed, one to
collect the toluene in, the other to collect the phenyl acetone in. Five boiling chips are put in the distilling
flask.
The heat source is turned on, to the low range, about \I, maximum. Water must be flowing through the
shorter condenser at about one gallon per minute. When the mixture has begun boiling, the heat is
adjusted so that about one or two drops per second drip into the collecting flask. The temperature on the
thermometer should say about 68° C. For accurate temperature readings, the tip of the thermometer
extends into the stillhead to the depth shown in Figure 1 4 .
,-Tt,ermometer
rJhermomNr
holder
Fig"r􀌼 14
Chapter Three
Preparation of Phenylacetone
15
The material distilling at 85° C is the toluene-water azeotrope. It is about 80% toluene and 20% water.
It is milky white from suspended droplets of water. Once the water i s all gone, pure toluene is distilled at
about 80° C. It is clear in color. If the liquid in the collecting flask is not clear or white in color, then
undistilled material is being carried over from the distilling flask. This is caused either by having the
distilling flask too ful l or by having the heat turned too high. In either case, the chemist must correct
accordingly and redistill it. Once the temperature reaches 1 1 5° C on the thermometer, or the rate of
toluene appearing in the collecting flask slows to a crawl, the heat is turned off because the chemist is
ready to vacuum distill the phenylacetone.
There is a problem that is sometimes encountered while distilling off the toluene. Sometimes the
toluene in the distilling flask will foam up in the distilling flask instead of boiling nicely. These bubbles
refuse to break and they carry undistilled material along with them to the collecting flask, leaving a red
liquid over there. This cannot be allowed to happen. One effective method of dealing with this is to turn
on the water supply to the aspirator at a slow rate so that a weak vacuum is produced. Then the vacuum
hose is attached to the vacuum adapter and a weak vacuum produced inside the glassware. This causes
the bubbles to break. Every few seconds, the vacuum hose is removed, then reattached. In a while, the
toluene begins to boil normally and the vacuum can be left off.
After it has cooled off, the collected distilled toluene is poured into a labeled glass bottle. It can be
used again in later batches of phenylacetone. The same 250 ml round bottom flask is reattached to the
collecting side, and the vacuum hose attached to the vacuum adapter. The vacuum source is turned on. If
an aspirator is being used, the water is turned all the way on. All the pieces of glassware must be fitted
snugly together. A strong vacuum quickly develops inside the glassware. The heat is turned on to about
1 /3 maximum. The boiling begins again. At first, what distills over are the last remnants of toluene and
water left in the distilling flask. Then the temperature shown on the thermometer begins to climb. The
phenylacetone begins to distill. When the thermometer reaches 1 00° C, the vacuum hose is removed and
the collecting 250 ml flask is replaced with the clean, dry 250 ml flask, then the vacuum hose is
reattached. If a good vacuum pump is being used, the flasks are changed at about 800 C. This flask
changing is done as fast as possible to prevent the material in the distilling flask from getting too hot
during the change over. If it gets too hot, it distills too rapidly when the vacuum is reapplied, resulting in
some red tar being carried over along with it.
The vacuum is reapplied, and the phenylacetone is collected. With a properly working aspirator, the
phenylacetone will all be collected once the temperature on the thermometer reaches 1 40- 1 50° C. With a
good vacuum pump, it will all come over by the time the temperature reaches I I O- l J 5° C. Once it is all
collected, the heat is turned off, the vacuum hose is removed from the vacuum adapter and the vacuum
source is turned off.
Secrets of Methamphetamine M anufacture
Eighth Edition
16
The yield is about 1 00 ml of phenyl acetone. It should be clear to pale yellow in color. It has a unique
but not unpleasant smell. The flask holding this product is stoppered and stored upright in a safe place.
Although phenyl acetone can be stored in a freezer to keep it fresh, the chemist now proceeds to making
N-methylformamide, as described in the next chapter.
Thermometer
􀁉
Water out
, C9ndenser J (tNoJ.or
Fractionating
column
(vigr.ux type
orgl ... pack.
edwith
aluminwn
101
Figure IS
out
Once the distilling flask has cooled down, the glassware is taken apart and cleaned. The red tar left in
the distilling flask and the fractionating column is rinsed out with rubbing alcohol. Then hot soapy water
is used on all pieces. A long, narrow brush comes in handy for this.
One last word about vacuum distillation, 'To keep the vacuum strong the vacuum hose is no more than
three feet long, this forces the chemist to do the distilling close to the source of the vacuum".
Now for that pyridine recycling process I mentioned earlier in this chapter. After the underground
chemist has made a few batches of phenyl acetone, he will have accumulated a fair amount of pyridineacetic
anhydride mixture in the gallon-sized glass jug. He will now fractionally distil l it to recover the
pyridine from it. The clean dry glassware is set up as shown in Figure 1 5. It has a long fractionating
column instead of the short type just used. This is because pyridine and acetic anhydride are harder to
separate, so a longer column is needed to do the job.
The distilling flask is a 3000 ml round bottom flask with 5 boiling chips in it. The chemist pours 2000
ml of the acetic anhydride-pyridine mixture into il. The heat is turned on to about 1 /3 maximum and the
cold water is started flowing slowly through the condenser. Within a half hour, the mixture will begin to
boil. A couple of minutes later, the vapors will have worked their way through the fractionating column
and begin appearing in the 2000 ml collecting flask. The heat source is adj usted so that it is collecting at
the rate of one or two drops per second. Distilling is continued until 1 000 ml have accumulated in the
collecting flask. I f the temperature reading on the thermometer goes above 1 35° C, the heat is turned
d()wn a little to slow the rate of distillation.
Once 1 000 ml has been collected, the heat is turned off and it is allowed to cool down. After it is cool,
the distilling flask is removed and its contents (mainly acetic anhydride) poured down the drain. The
contents of the collecting flask (mainly pyridine) are poured into a clean, dry 2000 ml round bottom flask
with 5 boiling chips, or 5 boiling chips are simply added to the 2000 ml round bottom flask that the
pyridine collected in and that flask is put on the distilling side i n place of the 3000 ml flask. A clean, dry
1 000 ml round bottom tlask is put on the collecting side. The heat is turned back on and in a while the
distilling begins again. As before, the rate of distillation is adjusted to one or two drops per second. The
Chapter Three
Preparation of Phenylacetone
1 7
distil lation is continued until 750 ml o f pyridine has been collected. Sometimes i t does not keep well, but
so long as it is used to make another batch of phenylacetone within a few hours after it is made, this
pyridine works just as well as new pyridine.
Now let's talk about the Russian recipe, and how [ messed it up when [ was a neophyte cooker 20
years ago, and the right way to do it. The Russian recipe, which dates to about 1 940 during the height of
Stalin's wackiness when all sorts of politically motivated "science" was turned out by people fearing
losing their lives if they didn't get the "politically correct" results, calls for mixing 420 grams of
phenylacetic acid with 700 ml of acetic anhydride and 2 1 0 grams of sodium acetate in a 2000 ml flask.
Two advantages are obvious here. The expensive reagent pyridine has been replaced with the cheap
chemical sodium acetate. Also, the reaction is being done considerably more concentrated than with the
pyridine recipe, i .e., more phenylacetic acid is getting poured into the 2000 ml flask, so more
phenylacetone will be produced at a single cooking session.
Back in, J think it was 1 979, J tried this recipe using a standard round bottom flask, which I just set
upon a magnetic stirrer hot plate, and began to cook. Just setting a round bottom flask on a hot plate
surface is a poor way to heat this flask. J had to tum the heat up to maximum just to get it to start to boil.
Shortly thereatter, the magnetic stirrer motor burned out from all the heat from the hot plate, and the
sodium acetate just sat at the bottom of the flask with the weak boiling I was making. At the end of the 1 8
hours of prescribed cooking, I got maybe a 20% yield of product, and was soured on this method for 20
years.
Now for the right way to do this reaction, first of all an oilbath or heating mantle should be used to
heat the reaction flask, because a weak and puny boil isn't sufficient. The reaction mixture must reach
1 45-1 500 C. Acetic anhydride boils at 1 390 C, but with the higher boiling phenylacetic acid mixed into
the solution, and similarly high boiling point phenyl acetone being produced, it's not too hard to make the
solution reach this temperature if it is being boiled good and hard. With a good hard boil like that, just
one condenser isn't enough. One must use a three-necked flask, and attach a condenser on two of the
necks, and plug the third neck with a glass stopper, as shown in Figure 1 6:
Fi gure 16
No stirrer is really necessary with this reaction, as the strong boil will lift sodium acetate off the
bottom of the flask, and mix it with the solution. Three-necked flasks are a bitch to get these days, but
stainless steel is fine for this reaction, as is a Teflon-coated metal replica. As an added bonus, using metal
replicas makes it impossible to bust one for having glassware for the purpose of making meth, a 1 0 year
felony under the Meth Act of 1 996. Drying tubes should be attached to the tops of the condensers, as i n
the example using pyridine.
Heat the oil to about 1 600 C or so to get a good boiling inside the flask, and let cook for 1 8 hours. At
the end of the cook, allow the flask to cool, then pour the reaction mixture into a gallon of cold water.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
18
Phenylacetone will float on top of the water, and the acetic anhydride and sodium acetate will stay in the
water.
Using a sep funnel, separate off the phenyl acetone from the water, and pour it into a convenient
container. Now extract the water layer with two 200 ml portions of toluene, and add these extracts to the
phenylacetone. The water can now be thrown away. The combined phenyl acetone and toluene extracts
should next be poured into a large sep funnel, and washed two times with 500 ml portions of 5% sodium
hydroxide or lye solution in water. This will destroy any acetic anhydride left floating around.
The toluene solution containing the phenyl acetone is poured into a beaker, and allowed to sit for a few
hours. Some water will fall out of the solution, and sit on the bottom of the beaker.
Next, the toluene solution containing the phenylacetone is poured into a distilling flask, and a
distillation is done, just like in the recipe using pyridine. First the toluene-water azeotrope distills; drying
the mixture, then pure toluene distills. The toluene can be reused. When the toluene has distilled, the
mixture is allowed to cool some before commencing vacuum distillation of the phenylacetone. The
Russians would have you believe that about 400 ml of phenyl acetone will result from the cook. I have
been told by people in a position to know that 300-350 ml is more likely. Not a bad day's work, by any
means.
An alternative procedure for making phenyl acetone from phenylacetic acid can be found in The
Journal of the Society o/, Chemical Industry, Volume 44, pages 1 09- 1 1 2 ( 1 925) and in the Journal oj'the
Chemical Society, Volume 59, pages 621 -629 ( 1 89 1 ). In this method, the calcium salts of phenylacetic
acid and acetic acid are mixed together and then heated. The product we want, phenylacetone, distills out
of the reaction mixture. The advantage to this method is that acetic anhydride and pyridine don't need to
be obtained. They are replaced with the very cheap and easily available chemical calcium hydroxide.
Phenylacetic acid still is required in this method, and as a List One chemical, it should never be
purchased. See Advanced Techniques of Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture for a
good phenylacetic acid recipe starting with the common industrial solvent ethylbenzene.
To do the reaction, first one must make the calcium salt of phenylacetic acid. To do this, put 500 grams
of phenylacetic acid into a glass container. Add about two quarts of a 50-50 mixture of denatured alcohol
and water. This is the reaction solvent. Stir and warm the mixture using a hot water batch until all the
phenylacetic acid has dissolved producing a clear water-like solution. Now to this solution, add 1 35
grams of finely powdered calcium hydroxide. It should be added slowly with strong stirring of the
solution. Heat will be produced by the reaction to make calcium phenylacetate, so take care that the
mixture doesn't boil during the addition.
Once all the calcium hydroxide has been added, continue stirring for an additional hour, and allow the
mixture to cool. A white-colored precipitate of calcium phenylacetate will have been formed. This
product should be filtered out, rinsed with some water, then spread out to dry on wax paper or clean
dishes.
The next thing one needs is a reaction vessel to produce phenyl acetone from the calcium
phenylacetate. Luck is on our side here. It has been found that iron and steel reaction vessels are superior
to glass when doing this reaction. They don't need to be coated on the inside with any protective paint. I
would avoid the use of galvanized steel because the zinc metal coating may interfere with the reaction.
The reason why an iron reaction pot is superior is because it conducts heat so well. The top of the
reaction vessel gets almost as hot as the bottom. [n this way, the phenylacetone formed and boiled out of
the reaction mixture doesn't condense on a cold top of the pot and drip back into the reaction mixture. At
that point a lot of it would be destroyed. Now go to your metal workshop and construct a reaction pot that
looks pretty much like the one shown in Figure 1 7.
St •• l or
To
Chapter Three
Preparation of Phenylacetone
1 9
scr:􀁚- ;j Z:""m",g=-q=r-" va�Lm
R.action pot Phenyl_cetone
colleetor
Figure 1 7
One starts with a sleel or iron pot about a s big around a s a large frying pan. It should measure i n
height less than half the diameter o f the pot. Threads should b e cut around the top o f the pot, and a nat
iron or steel lid should be obtained with threads that match the ones on the reaction pot. Into the center of
the lid, a hole should be drilled. The hole should have at least a half-an-inch diameter. Larger would be
bettcr to allow for easier escape of the phenyl acetone. A section of steel or copper tubing should next be
mated with that central hole and welded into place. The tubing should be bent so that it first rises a
couple of inches off the top of the pot, and then begins sloping downward so that the cooled condensed
phenylacetone liquid will run towards the phenyl acetone collector.
The phenyl acetone collector is a metal cup of about one quart capacity. Towards the top on one side, a
threaded hole should be drilled in it which matches the tubing used. I n this way, the collector can be
screwed onto and off of the tubing. On the opposite side of the collector, a smaller hole should be drilled,
and a nipple to which a vacuum line can be attached should be screwed in. One may want to put a section
of water j acket around the lower portion of the tubing to assure easy condensing of the phenyl acetone
product. One could get around this by wrapping some cloth around the lower section of tubing, and
keeping it wet with cold water during the reaction. One could also chill the collector vessel with an ice
bath.
Now the reaction is ready to be run. Take the calcium phenyl acetate which was made earlier (roughly
650 grams product), and stir it up together with about 900 grams of calcium acetate. This will give about
three moles of calcium acetate for each mole of calcium phenylacetate. Now take this rough mixture, and
put about a cup ful l at a time into a blender. Grind the mixture together while shaking the blender for
about a minute. When the dust has settled i n the blender, pour it into the reaction pot, and repeat the
process with another cup of the rough mixture. Continue until the reaction pot is no more than a little
over half full. Fill no further because the mixture froths at first while it is being heated.
Now screw the lid onto the reaction pot, attach the collector vessel to the tubing, and begin heating the
reaction pot. A natural-gas-fired ring heater which will blow names part way up the sides of the reaction
vessel is what was used in the scientific papers. I suppose one could also stick the reaction vessel into a
pile of charcoal. One wants to heat the pot to a temperature of around 3500 to 4000 C. This is i n the
neighborhood of 7()()O F or so. When the pot starts heating up, attach the vacuum line to the vacuum
nipple, and apply a vacuum to the system. An aspirator will give enough vacuum, and also flush the
tillnes from the reaction down the drain. One of the fumes is acetone. This nammable material is not a
good mixture with open flames. If one uses a vacuum pump, make sure that its discharge port vents
fumes away from flame through some tubing. The vacuum serves to help pull the product out of the
reaction pot and to the collector vessel. It helps to eliminate the problem of product cOlldensing and
dripping back into the pot.
After about two hours of heating, the reaction will be done. The heating can be stopped, the vacuum
removed, and then the collector vessel unscrewed from the tubing. It should be roughly half full of a
brownish-colored liqllid that is mostly phenyl acetone. A decent vacuum will prevent much of any
acetone from being collecled. If there isn't much of any product in the collector, the heating wasn't
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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20
strong enough. In this case, reheat the reaction pot with higher flames. In a well-done reaction, there will
be nothing left in the reaction vessel except a solid residue of calcium carbonate colored funky with some
dark tar. This can be cleaned out, and another production is run.
The crude dark-colored phenyl acetone product obtained must be purified before it is used to make
meth. The simplest way to do this is to vacuum fractionally distill the mixture, just as described earlier in
this chapter. The alternative method for getting pure phenylacetone from the mixture, is to steam distill
out the phenylacetone. The procedure for doing this is described in Chapter Nine of this book.
One of the biggest hassles in doing this reaction is the need to first convert the phenylacetic acid to the
calcium salt. I read a similar recipe in Organic Syntheses where they omitted that step. To follow their
procedure here, one would mix 500 grams of phenylacetic acid with 660 ml of glacial acetic acid. When
the two substances have mixed together with stirring to form a clear solution, then with stirring, slowly
add 550 grams calcium hydroxide to the mixture. In their procedure, they then just added this reaction
mush to the reaction pot and cooked away. Does this work as well in the case of making phenylacetone')
Damned if I know. I doubt I ' l l be trying it out anytime soon. It's worth a try, though.
A somewhat similar procedure can be found in the Journal of Organic Chemistry, Volume 28, pages
880-882. In this method, phenylacetic acid, acetic acid, and iron are heated together in chemical
glassware to around 3000 C. Phenylacetone distills out and can be collected. Check out the reference for
more details.
Chapter Four
Preparation of N-Methylformamide
Chapter Four
Preparation of N-Methylformamide
2 1
N-methylfonnamide i s best made by the reaction of methylamine with formic acid. The reaction
proceeds like this:
H- C􀃬- OH +
Formic
acid
CH -N' - H-C-OH" N H -CH H [9 ]+ :3 'H 2 :3
Methylamine Intermediate salt
o" H -+ H-C-N''C H :3 + H..,..O. N-methylformamide
The methylamine (a base) reacts with fonnic acid to fonn the methylamine salt of formic acid. The
heat that this reaction builds up then causes this intennediate salt to lose a molecule of water and form Nmethylfonnamide.
Since water is a product of this reaction, the underground chemist wants to keep water
out of his starting materials as far as is possible. That is because having less water in them will shift the
equilibrium of the reaction in favor of producing more N-methylformamide.
Both of the starting materials have water in them. The usual grade of formic acid is 88% pure and 1 2%
water. It cannot be made any purer by distilling. The chemist can put up with the 1 2% water, but if a
higher purity fonnic acid is available, it is worth the extra cost. The usual grade of methylamine is 40%
by weight in water. The majority of this water can be removed by using the apparatus shown in Figure
1 8. Methylamine may also be obtained as a gas in a cylinder. In that case, the methylamine can be piped
directly into the formic acid.
Ice
waterout
Glass
tubing
Figure 18
Formic
acid
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22
The glassware is set up as shown i n Figure 1 8. The 40% methylamine is in a 1 000 ml round bottom
tlask attached to a long condenser. [n the top of this condenser is a one-hole stopper. A bent piece of
glass tubing is pushed all the way through this stopper so that the end of the piece of tubing extends
about one or two millimeters below the bottom of the stopper. This bent piece of tubing then extends
down through the center of the other condenser into the flask containing the formic acid. It should extend
below the surface of the formic acid and end about one centimeter above the bottom of the flask
containing the formic acid. The idea here is simple. The 40% methylamine is heated causing
methylamine gas to be boiled out along with some water vapor. These gases then travel up the condenser
where the water is condensed out, allowing nearly pure methylamine gas to be forced by pressure through
the glass tubing into the formic acid.
The bent tubing has to be bent by the chemist himself from a 3-foot-long piece of glass tubing. Its
outer diameter should be about V. inch. The glassware is set up as shown in Figure 1 8 and he decides
about where the tubing should be bent. I f necessary, he will consult the chapter on bending glass in an
Organic Chemistry lab manual. With a little practice, it is easy. A good source of flame to sollen up the
glass is a propane torch with the tlame spreader attachment. After it is bent, he will blow through the
tubing to make sure he did not melt it shut.
He is now ready to proceed. All pieces of glassware are clean and dry. Into the round bottom 1 000 ml
Ilask sitting on the heat source is placed 500 grams (about 500 ml) of 40% methylamine in water, along
with 3 or 4 boiling chips. Into the other 1 000 ml round bottom tlask is placed 250 ml of 88% formic acid.
Water flow is begun through the longer condenser. It is advantageous to use ice cold water in this
condenser, because it will then do a better job of removing water vapor from the methylamine. A good
way to get ice cold water for the condenser is to get a couple of 5-gallon pails. One of them is filled with
ice cubes no bigger than a fist and topped off with water.
Then the section of plastic tubing that runs to the lower water inlet of the condenser is placed in the
pail. Its end is weighted to keep it on the hottom of the pail. This pail is placed on the table along with
the glassware. The other pail is placed on the floor and the plastic tubing from the upper water exit of the
condenser is run to this pail. By sucking on the end of the water exit tubing, the ice cold water can be
siphoned from the pail on the table, through the condenser, to the pail on the floor. The rate of water flow
can be regulated to about one gaJlon per minute by putting a clamp on the tubing to slow its flow. When
the pail on the table is about empty, the water that has flowed to the pail on the floor is returned to the
table.
The heat on the methylamine is turned on to about V. maximum. Soon the methylamine begins boiling
out and moving through the tubing into the formic acid. The underground chemist checks for gas leaks in
the system by sniffing for the smeJl of escaping methylamine. If such a leak is detected, the joint it is
escaping from is tightened up.
The methylamine bubbling into the formic acid produces a cloud of white gas inside the flask
containing the formic acid. It makes its way up to the condenser, and then returns to the flask as a liquid.
For this condenser, tap water flow is fine. The rate of methylamine boiling is adj usted so that the white
gas does not escape out the top of the condenser. As more methylamine is boiled out, a higher heat
setting is required to maintain the same rate of methylamine flow.
In this process, the formic acid gets very hot. [t must get hot to produce good yields of Nmethylformamide.
It sometimes gets hot enough to boil a little bit ( 1 05° C), but this is no problem. As the
chemist continues bubbling methylamine into the formic acid, its volume increases until it is double its
starting volume, about 500 ml. At about this time, the cloud of white gas thins and then disappears. This
white gas is formed by the fumes of formic acid reacting with methylamine above the surface of the
liquid formic acid. It disappears because there is no longer much fornlic acid left. The chemist now
begins checking to see i f the reaction is complete. He puJls out one of the stoppers from the 3-necked
Chapter Four
Preparation of N-Methylformamide
23
flask that contains the N-methylformamide and sniffs the escaping fumes for the odor of methylamine.
He does this periodically until he smells methylamine. Once he smells it, he turns off the heat on the
methylamine. When the methylamine stops bubbling into the N-methylformamide, he immediately
lowers the level of the 3-necked flask so that the bent glass tubing is above the surface of the Nmethylformamide.
This is done because, as the methylamine cools, i t will contract and create a vacuum
which would suck the N-methylformamide over into the other flask in a flash, ruining his work.
Both flasks are allowed to cool down. The methylamine is almost gone, so it can be poured down the
drain. The next step is to fractionally distill the N-methylformamide. The glass-packed c1aisen adapter is
used as the fractionating column. The glassware is set up as shown in Figure 1 3 , back i n Chapter Three.
The distilling flask is a 1 000 ml round bottom flask with 5 boiling chips i n it. The collecting flask is a
250 011 round bottom flask. Unlike the distillation of phenyl acetone, in this case the distillation is done
under a vacuum from the beginning. The ice water siphoning system i s used for the condenser, because
N-methylformamide has a very high latent heat of vaporization, and, without this precaution, it may
collect very hot in the collecting flask.
The underground chemist is now ready to distill the N-methylformamide. A l l of the crude product is
put in the 1 000 ml round bottom flask filling it about half ful!. The vacuum is applied at full strength, and
the heat source is turned on to 113 to Y, maximum. The water in the mixture begins distilling. The
temperature shown on the thermometer will show a steady climb during the process.
In a while, the temperature rises high enough that the chemist can begin collecting the distilled liquid
as suspected N -methylformamide. If he is using an aspirator, he begins collecting in a clean, dry 250 ml
round bottom flask when the temperature reaches 95-1 00° C. If he is using a good vacuum pump, he
begins saving the distilled material at about 85° C. As the N-methylformamide distills, the temperature
rises a little bit above the temperature at which he first began collecting the N-methylformamide, then
holds steady. This temperature is noted. Distilling is continued until he has collected 1 00 m!. Then the
heat is turned off. When the boiling stops, the vacuum hose is disconnected from the glassware.
During the distillation process, a fair amount of methylamine was lost, leaving the N-methylformamide
with too much formic acid. The next step is to correct this problem.
The 1 00 ml of N-methylformamide that has been distilled is poured back in the distilling flask with the
undistilled materia!' The distilled material i s clear, while the undistilled material has turned yellow from
the heat of distilling. The glassware is set up again as shown i n Figure 1 8. This time, the round bottom
llask holding the methylamine is a 500 ml flask. It has 1 00 ml of fresh 40% methylamine i n water in it.
The bent glass tubing leads into the flask containing the N-methylformamide. This flask does not need to
have a condenser on it.
The heat is turned on the methylamine and the Ilow of ice water through its condenser is begun. Soon
the methylamine gas is bubbling into the N-methylformamide, reacting with the excess formic acid i n it.
W ithin about 1 0 seconds, the odor of methylamine can be detected above the N-methylformamide. The
heat is turned oft􀥞 and when the bubbling stops, the level of the N-methylformamide is lowered so that i t
i s not sucked into the other flask. Once the methylamine has cooled off, it can b e poured back i n with the
good methylamine, because it is not exhausted. Once a bottle of methylamine has been opened, i t should
be reclosed tightly and the cap sealed with vinyl electrical tape in order to hold in the methylamine gas.
Now the N-methylformamide is to be distilled again. The glassware is set up again for fractional
disti llation as shown in Figure 1 3 . The distilling flask is a 500 ml round bottom flask, while the
collecting flask is 250 m!. All pieces are clean and dry.
The N-methylformamide is placed inside the distilling Ilask with 5 boiling chips. (Fresh chips are used
every time.) The vacuum is reapplied and the heat is turned on again to 1 /3 to y, maximum. A little bit of
water is again distilled. The temperature shown on the thermometer climbs as before. When it reaches a
temperature r C below the temperature at which it leveled off the first time around, the chemist begins
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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24
collecting in a clean dry 250 ml flask. The distilling continues until it has almost all distilled over. About
1 0 or 15 ml is left in the distilling flask. If he is using an aspirator, the chemist makes sure that no water is
backing into the product from the vacuum line. The yield is about 250 ml N-methylformamide. I f he gets
a little more, it won't all fit in the 250 ml collecting flask. If that happens, he pours what has collected
into a clean dry Erlenmeyer flask and continues distilling. N-methylformamide is a clear liquid with no
odor.
The N-methylformamide the underground chemist has just made is perfect for the Leuckardt-Wallach
reaction. Because he began collecting it 7 degrees below the leveling off temperature, it contains a
mixture of N-methylformamide, formic acid and methylamine. To get good results, he uses it within a
few hours after distilling it.
There are other variations on this procedure. A lot of methylamine was lost during the distillation of the
mixture. Much of this could be prevented if the reaction mixture between the formic acid and the
methylamine was forced to completion. If one has a large stainless steel pipe, the initial reaction mixture
could be heated under pressure at about 1 40 C for an hour or so to make the reaction to Nmethylformamide
go further before distilling the mixture.
References
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Volume 53, page 1 879 ( 1 93 1 ).
Chapter Five
Making Methamphetamine
Chapter Five
Making Methamphetamine
25
I explained the general theory behind this reaction in Chapter Two. Now, after doing the reactions
described in the previous two chapters, the underground chemist has phenylacetone and Nmethylformamide
suitable for making methamphetamine. He will want to get going before the chemicals
get stale.
The tirst thing he does is test the chemicals. He puts 5 ml of phenyl acetone and 1 0 ml of Nmethylformamide
in a clean dry test tube or similar small glass container. Within a few seconds they
should mix together entirely. At this point, he may offer a prayer to the chemical god, praising his
limitless chemical power and asking that some of this power be allowed to flow through him, the god's
High Priest. He may also ask to be delivered from the red tar that can be the result of this reaction. If they
do not mix, there is water in the N-methylformamide. I n this case, he must distill it again, being more
careful this time.
Having tested the chemicals, he is ready to proceed with the batch. ( However, if the underground
chemist was reckless enough to obtain N-methylformamide ready made, he will have to distill it under a
vacuum before it can be used i n this reaction.) The phenyl acetone he made (about 1 00 ml) is mixed with
the N-methyIformamide. The best amount of N-methylformamide to use is about 250 ml, but any amount
from 200 to 300 ml will work tine. With 200 ml of N-methylformamide, there are about four molecules
of N-methylformamide to one of phenyl acetone. This is the bare minimum. With 300 m!. the ratio is
nearly six to one. Any more than this is a waste ofN-methylformamide. The best flask for mixing them is
a 500 ml round bottom flask. Alier they are mixed, this flask is set up as shown in Figure 1 9. The tlask is
sitting in an oil bath, to supply even heating to the flask. The oil (once again, Wesson is a good choice)
should extend about 2/3 of the way up the side of the flask. A metal bowl makes a good container for this
oil bath. This is better than a pan, because it will be important to see into the flask. The fact that the oil
will expand when heated is kept in mind when filling the bowl with oil. A thermometer is also needed in
the oil bath to follow its temperature.
CD o
Figure 1 9
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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26
The test material is added to the flask. The heat source to the flask is turned on. A low heat setting is
used so that the rise in temperature can be closely controlled. The thermometer used in the distillations is
placed (clean and dry) inside the flask.
The rise in temperature of both the oil bath and the flask is monitored. The contents of the Ilask are
stirred regularly with the thermometer. The temperature of the oil bath is brought to 1 00° C over the
course of about 45 minutes. Once it reaches this level, the heat is turned back down a little bit to stabilize
it in this area. The chemist must closely control every degree of temperature increase from here on. The
temperature of the contents of the flask is worked up to 1 05° C. The contents of the flask are stirred every
1 5 minutes. At about 1 05° C, the reaction kicks in, although sometimes the heat must go as high as 1 1 0°
C before it starts. When the reaction starts, the contents of the flask begin to bubble, sort of like beer,
except that a head does not develop. A trick to get this reaction going at a nice low temperature is to
gently scrape the thermometer along the bottom of the flask. Although I have never had the sophisticated
equipment to prove it, it is a pet theory of mine that this is because ultrasonic waves are generated,
producing a condition of resonance with the reactants that causes the reaction to start.
The chemist wants to keep the temperature down at the same level at which the reaction first kicked in
for as long as the reaction will continue at that level. Generally, it can go for a couple of hours at this
level before the reaction dies down and an increase in temperature is necessary. The reaction mixture has
the same color as beer and gently bubbles. The bubbles rise up from the bottom of the flask, come to the
surface, and then head for where the thermometer breaks the surface. Here they collect to form bubbles
about 1 centimeter in size before they break. This may look like boiling, but it is not. Everything inside
the flask has a much higher boiling point than the temperatures being used. These are actually bubbles of
carbon dioxide gas being formed as byproducts of the reaction. The chemist can tell how well the
reaction is going by the amount of bubbling going on.
When the rate of bubbling slows down to almost stopping, it is time to raise the temperature. It should
only be raised about 3° C. This requires turning up the heat only slightly. The highest yield of product is
obtained when the lowest possible temperature is used. For the duration of the reaction, the contents of
the flask are stirred with the thermometer every half hour.
And so the reaction is continued. As the reaction dies down at one temperature setting, the temperature
is raised a few degrees to get it going again. It will be able to stay in the 1 20° to 1 300 C range for a long
time. The reaction has a lot of staying power in this range. Finally, after 24 to 36 hours, 1 400 or 1 450 C is
reached. The reaction stops. The chemist takes his time working up to this temperature because the
amount and quality of the product depends on it.
Once 1 40° to 1 450 C is reached and the reaction stops, the heat is turned olT and the contents al lowed
to cool down. It should still look like beer. A reddish tint means that his prayer failed and he was not
delivered from the tar. Even so, there's still lots of good product in it.
While it is cooling down, the underground chemist gets ready for the next step in the process. He is
going to recover the unused methylamine for use in the next batch. This cuts his consumption of
methylamine to about half of what it would be without this technique. What he is going to do is react the
unused N-methylformamide with a strong solution of sodium hydroxide. The N-methylformamide is
hydrolyzed to form methylamine gas and the sodium salt of formic acid (sodium formate). In chemical
writing, this reaction is as follows:
H-9C -N ,H + H20 ' C H :3 N-methylformamlde Water
NaOH
Sodium
hydroxide
•
CHSN􀃫H
.H Methylamine
»
Chapter Five
Making Methamphetamine
2 7
+ H-C-O No
Sodium formate
The methylamine gas produced is piped into formic acid to make N-methylformamide for use in the
next batch.
First, 6 ounces (about 1 80 grams) of sodium hydroxide pellets are added to 450 ml of water. A good
quality lye is an acceptable substitute. Eye protection is worn. Once the solution has cooled down, it is
poured in a 2000 ml round bottom flask with 5 boiling chips. Then all of the methamphetamine reaction
mixture is poured into the flask along with it. It i s swirled around a little bit to try to get some of the Nmethylformamide
dissolved into the water. This does not accomplish much; however, as the reaction
mixture floats on the sodium hydroxide solution. The glassware is set up as shown in Figure 1 8 in
Chapter Four. The 2000 ml flask containing the NaOH solution and the methamphetamine reaction
mixture sits on the heat source. The bent piece of glass tubing once again leads to a 1 000 ml round
bottom flask equipped with a condenser. The 1 000 ml flask once again contains 250 ml of 88% formic
acid.
The heat source is turned on to about 1 13 maximum. The flow of ice water through the long condenser
is begun. In a while, the boiling chips float up to the interface of the sodium hydroxide solution and the
reaction mixture, and some bubbling and frothing of the reaction mixture begins.
The heat is turned down some, since the temperature of the mixture should rise slowly from now on.
That is because the hydrolysis reaction forming methylamine tends to kick in all at once, if this
precaution is not taken, leaving the chemist in a dangerous situation with a runaway reaction.
After the first rush of the reaction has subsided and the bubbling of the methylamine into the formic
acid has slowed down, the heat applied to the 2000 ml flask is increased to maintain a good rate of
methylamine flow to the formic acid. Eventually, all the methylamine will be boiled out. This will be
when methylamine no longer flows evenly into the formic acid. The flask must not be heated so strongly
that water is forced through the bent glass tubing.
The heat is turned off and the level of the flask containing formic acid is lowered so that the acid is not
sucked back into the other flask. This formic acid is about half reacted with methylamine. When it has
cooled down, it is poured in a tall glass bottle and kept in the freezer until the next batch is made, when it
is used for the production of N-methylformamidc. Sinee it is already half reacted, the amount of
methylamine used is reduced accordingly.
Meanwhile, back in the 2000 ml flask, the methamphetamine reaction mixture is about 1 00 ml in
volume and has a red color. It floats above the sodium hydroxide solution. Once it has cooled down, the
contents of this flask are poured into a 1 000 ml sep funnel. The sodium hydroxide solution is drained out
and thrown away. The red methamphetamine formyl amide is poured into a 500 ml round bottom flask
with 3 boiling chips. Two hundred ml of hydrochloric acid is measured out. (The 28% hardware store
variety is fine for this purpose.) 11 is poured into the sep funnel and swirled around to dissolve any
product left behind in the sep funnel. Then it is poured into the 500 ml flask with the product. When
swirled around, they mix easily.
The glassware is set up as shown in Figure 10 in Chapter Three. Tap water flow is proper for use in the
condenser. The heat is turned on to the 500 ml flask, and a gentle rate of boiling is maintained for 2
hours. The mixture quickly turns black. The reaction going on here is methamphetamine formyl amide
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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28
reacting with hydrochloric acid to produce methamphetamine hydrochloride and formic acid. This is a
hydrolysis reaction.
After the two hours have passed, the heat to the flask is turned off. While the flask is cooling down, 80
grams of sodium hydroxide and 250 ml of water are mixed in a 1 000 ml round bottom tlask. Once again.
n good quality lye is acceptable. If the 35% laboratory grade of hydrochloric acid was used in the last
step, then 100 grams of sodium hydroxide is mixed with 300 ml of water.
When both flasks have cooled down, the black reaction mixture is cautiously added to the sodium
hydroxide solution. It is added in small portions. and then swirled around to mix it. They react together
quite violently. The reaction here is sodium hydroxide reacting with hydrochloric acid to produce table
salt, with formic acid to produce sodium formate, and with methamphetamine hydrochloride to produce
methamphetamine tree base. When the sodium hydroxide solution gets very hot, the chemist stops adding
the reaction mixture to it until it cools down again.
After all the black reaction mixture has been added to the sodium hydroxide solution, there is a brown
liquid layer floating above the sodium hydroxide solution. This brown layer is methamphetamine free
base. It also has a good deal of unreacted methamphetamine hydrochloride dissolved in it. This latter has
to be neutralized because it will not distill in its present form. The 1 000 ml flask is stoppered and shaken
vigorously for 5 minutes. This gets the methamphetamine hydrochloride into contact with the sodium
hydroxide so it can react.
The bottom of the Ilask is full of salt clystals that cannot dissolve in the water because the water is
already holding all the salt it can. The chemist adds 1 00 ml of water to the flask and swirls it around for a
few minutes. If that does not dissolve it all, he adds another 1 00 ml of water.
A fter the tlask has cooled down, it is poured into a 1 000 ml sep lunnel, and 1 00 ml of toluene is added.
The sep funnel is stoppered and shaken for 1 5 seconds. It is allowed to stand for a couple of minutes,
then the lower water layer is drained into a glass container. The brown methamphetamine-toluene layer is
poured into a clean. dry 50n ml round bottom flask. The water layer is extracted once more with 1 00 ml
toluene, then thrown away. The toluene layer is poured into the 500 ml flask along with the rest of the
methamphetamine.
The chemist is now ready to distill the methamphetamine. He adds three boiling chips to thc 500 ml
round bottom flask and sets up the glassware for fractional distillation as shown in Figure 1 3 . The 500 ml
flask sits directly on the heat source. The glass-packed claisen adapter is the proper fractionating column.
The collecting flask is a 250 ml round bottom flask. Tap water is used in the condenser.
The heat source is turned on to V. to 1 /3 maximum. Soon the mixture begins boiling. The tirst thing
that distills is toluene-water azeotrope at 85° C. Then pure toluene comes over at 1 1 0° C. Once again. as
in the distillation of phenyl acetone. foaming can sometimes be a problem. In that case, it is dealt with in
the same way as described in Chapter Three.
When the temperature reaches I 1 5° C. or the rate of toluene collecting slows to a crawl, the heat is
turned off and the flask allowed to cool down. The collected toluene is poured into a bottle. It can be
used again the next time this process is done. The same 250 ml flask is put on the collecting side.
The distilling flask is now cool, so vacuum is applied to the glassware at lull strength. The last
remnants of toluene begin to boil, and the heat is turned back on to 1 /3 maximum. The temperature
begins to c limb. If an aspirator is being used, when the temperature reaches 80° C, the chemist quickly
removes the vacuum hose and replaces the 250 ml flask with a c lean dry one. If he is using a good
vacuum pump, he makes this change at about 70° C. The flask change is done quickly to avoid
overheating in the distilling flask.
Chapter Five
Making Methamphetamine
29
The methamphetamine distills over. With an aspirator, the chemist collects from 800 C to about 1 400
or 1 500 C, depending on how strong the vacuum is. With a vacuum pump, he collects to about 1 200 or
1 300 C. Once it has distilled, the heat is turned off and the vacuum hose disconnected.
The product is about 90 ml of clear to pale yellow methamphetamine. If the chemist is feeling tired
now, he may take out a drop on a glass rod and lick it off. It tastes truly awful and has a distinctive odor,
somewhat biting to the nostrils.
He is now ready to make his liquid methamphetamine free base into crystalline methamphetamine
hydrochloride. Half of the product is put into each of two clean, dry 500 ml Erlenmeyer flasks.
The chemist now has a choice to make. He can use either toluene or ethyl ether as the solvent to make
the crystals in. Toluene is cheaper, and less of it is needed because it evaporates more slowly during the
filtering process. Ether is more expensive, and flammable. But since it evaporates more quickly, the
crystals are easier to dry off. If ether is used, it is anhydrous (contains no water).
A third choice is also possible for use as a crystallization solvent. This is mineral spirits available from
hardware stores in the paint department. M ineral spirits are roughly equivalent to the petroleum ether or
ligroin commonly seen in chern labs. Those brands which boast of low odor are the best choice, such as
Coleman camper fuel. Before using this material it is best to fractionally distill it, and collect the lowest
boiling point half of the product. This speeds crystal drying. Since the choice of mineral spirits or naptha
eliminates ether from the supply loop, the clandestine operator may well go this route. Toluene is also a
very acceptable solvent.
With the solvent of his choice, the chemist rinses the insides of the condenser, vacuum adapter and 250
ml flask to get out the methamphetamine clinging to the glass. This rinse is poured in with the product.
Solvent is added to each of the Erlenmeyer flasks until the volume of liquid is 300 ml. They are mixed by
swirling.
1 25 ml
.v'Sep funnel
Glass
{tubing
,*,1 hole
stopper
s.t InC! hydJrxHoricte eel no. Plllle by Iddin; He1 to selt
If'Id ming. The .... f.c. mo.Jd be rOl4'l WId • good I'U'I'Iber of holes
ahoIJd be poked no the peate for k:IrNo1iumQ generltion of He1 .
Figure 20
A source of anhydrous hydrogen chloride gas is now needed. The chemist will generate his own. The
glassware is set up as in Figure 20. He will have to bend another piece of glass tubing to the shape
shown. It should start out about 1 8-inches long. One end of it should be pushed through a one-hole
stopper. A 1 2 5 ml sep funnel is the best size. The stoppers and joints must be tight, since pressure must
develop inside this flask to force the hydrogen chloride gas out through the tubing as it is generated.
Secrets of Methamp hetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
30
Into the 1 000 ml three-necked flask is placed 200 grams of table salt. Then 35% concentrated
hydrochloric acid is added to this flask until it reaches the level shown in the figure. The hydrochloric
acid must be of laboratory grade.
Some concentrated sulfuric acid (96-98%) is put into the sep funnel and the spigot turned so that I ml
of concentrated sulfuric acid flows into the flask. It dehydrates the hydrochloric acid and produces
hydrogen chloride gas, and also goes on to make more HCL from reaction with table salt. This gas is then
forced by pressure through the glass tubing.
One of the Erlenmeyer flasks containing methamphetamine in solvent is placed so that the glass tubing
extends into the methamphetamine, almost reaching the bottom of the flask. Driping in more sulfuric acid
as needed keeps the flow of gas going to the methamphetamine. If the flow of gas is not maintained, the
methamphetamine may solidity inside the glass tubing, plugging it up.
An even more distressing phenomenon can occur when using hardware store sulfuric acid. This
material is not quite as concentrated as lab grade sulfuric acid, and the initial "push" of HCI gas in the
flask can turn into a "pull". This vacuum will suck your product up the tubing and into the HCL
generating flask. You can imagine how that really sucks! Hah, Hah!
When using lower grade sulfuric acid, one needs to watch carefully, or use a closely related procedure.
In this procedure, the HCL generating flask is filled 1 /4 full of hardware store sulfuric acid and the sep
funnel is filled with muratic acid. By dripping the muriatic acid into the sulfuric acid, the HCI solution
( muriatic) is dehydrated to dry HCI gas, and the gas is pushed out the flask and tubing.!t is advisable to
do a dry run first without product at risk when using hardware store acids in this procedure to avoid heart
breaking losses.
Another popular clandestine method using lower grade sulfuric acid is to put the salt in a mason jar,
and punch two holes in the lid. Plastic tubing is attached to both holes. One line of tubing goes into the
solution of free base meth in solvent. The other line of tubing is run to an aquarium pump or other source
of aiL The low grade sulfuric acid is then added to the mason j ar, and the air blower is started to slowly
keep the fumes of dry HCI flowing into the meth free base rather than ever being sucked backwards.
Within a minute of bubbling, white crystals begin to appear in the solution. More and more of them
appear as the process continues. It is an awe-inspiring sight. In a few minutes, the solution becomes as
thick as watery oatmeal.
FIt/Mre l1
It is now time to filter out the crystals, which is a two-man job. The flask with the crystals in it is
removed from the HCl source and temporarily set aside. The three-necked flask is swirled a little to
spread around the sulfuric acid and then the other Erlenmeyer flask is subjected to a bubbling with HC!.
While this flask is being bubbled, the crystals already in the other flask are filtered out.
Chapter Five
Making Methamphetamine
31
The filtering flask and Buchner funnel are set up as shown in Figure 2 1 . The drain stem of the Buchner
funnel extends all the way through the rubber stopper, because methamphetamine has a nasty tendency to
dissolve rubber stoppers. This would color the product black. A piece of filter paper covers the flat
bottom of the Buchner funnel. The vacuum is turned on and the hose attached to the vacuum nipple. Then
the crystals are poured into the Buchner funnel. The solvent and the uncrystallized methamphetamine
pass through the filter paper and the crystals stay in the Buchner funnel as a solid cake. About 1 5 ml of
solvent is poured into the Erlenmeyer flask. The top of the flask is covered with a palm and it is shaken to
suspend the crystals left clinging to the sides. This is also poured into the Buchner funnel. Finally,
another 1 5 ml of solvent is poured over the top of the filter cake.
Now the vacuum hose is disconnected and the Buchner funnel, stopper and all, is pulled tram the
tiltering flask. All of the filtered solvent is poured back into the Erlenmeyer flask it came from. It is
returned to the HCl source for more bubbling. The Buchner funnel is put back into the top of the filtering
flask. It still contains the filter cake of methamphetamine crystals. It will now be dried out a little bit. The
vacuum is turned back on, the vacuum hose is attached to the filtering flask, and the top of the Buchner
funnel is covered with the palm or a section of latex rubber glove. The vacuum builds and removes most
of the solvent from the filter cake. This takes about 60 seconds. The filter cake can now be dumped out
onto a glass or China plate (not plastic) by tipping the Buchner funnel upside-down and tapping it gently
on the plate.
And so, the fi ltering process continues, one tlask being filtered while the other one is being bubbled
with HCl. Solvent is added to the Erlenmeyer flask to keep their volumes at 300 ml. Eventually, after
each flask has been bubbled for about seven times, no more crystal will come out and the underground
chemist is finished.
If ether was used as the solvent, the filter cakes on the plates will be nearly dry now. With a knife from
the si lverware drawer, the cakes are cut into eighths. They are allowed to dry out some more then
chopped up into powder. If toluene was used, this process takes longer. Heat lamps may be used to speed
up this drying, but no stronger heat source.
The yield of product is about 1 00 grams of nearly pure product. It should be white and should not get
wet. except in the most humid weather. It is suitable for any purpose. It can be cut in half and the
underground chemists will still have a better product than their competition. But they will not cut it until
a few days have passed, so that their options are not limited should one of the problems described in the
next few paragraphs arise.
l Iere are some of the common problems that arise with the crystals, and how they are dealt with. To
spot these possible problems, the crystals are first left on the plate to dry out, and then transferred to glass
jars or plastic baggies.
Yellow Crystals. This is caused by not properly rinsing off the crystals while in the Buchner funnel, or
not using enough solvent to dissolve the methamphetamine i n the Erlenmeyer flasks. To whiten them up,
they are allowed to soak in some ether or toluene in a glass jar, then filtered again.
Yeilow Stinky Crystals. The smell takes a few days to develop fully. They are left alone for 5 days,
then soaked in ether and filtered again. The smell should not return. (The problem is caused by heating
the reaction mixture above the 1 450 C upper limit.)
Crvstals Refuse to Drv. This can especially be a problem using toluene as a solvent. It can also be a
problem on very humid days. The crystals are placed in the clean, dry filtering flask, the top is stoppered
and vacuum applied at full strength for 1 5 minutes. Warming the outside of the filtering flask with hot
water while it is under vacuum speeds the process.
Crvstals Melt. Here the crystals soak up water from the air and melt. This is usually caused by raising
the temperature of the reaction too rapidly, or by collecting too much high boiling material during the
distillation. First, they are put into the filtering flask and a vacuum applied to dry them out. They are
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
32
soaked in ether or toluene and filtered. If this doesn't cure the problem, cutting the material to 50% purity
should take care of it.
Crystals A re Sticky. Here the crystals seem covered by a thin layer of oily material, causing them to
stick to razor blades, etc. The problem is dealt with in the same way as melting crystals.
Crystals Fail to Form. This problem occurs during the process of bubbling Hel into the
methamphetamine. Instead of forming crystals, an oil settles to the bottom of the flask. This is generally
caused by incomplete hydrolysis of the formyl amide. Perhaps it didn't mix with the hydrochloric acid. It
is put in a flask and the solvent boiled off under a vacuum. Then 200 ml of hydrochloric acid is added
and the process is repeated, starting from the hydrolysis of the formyl amide of methamphetamine. The
35% laboratory grade of hydrochloric acid is used.
In the event of melting or sticky crystals, cutting is first tried on a small sample of the crystals to see i f
that will solve the problem. If i t does not, then a recrystallization must b e resorted to. This i s done by
dissolving the crystals in the smallest amount of warm alcohol that will dissolve them. One hundred
ninety proof grain alcohol, 95% denatured alcohol, or absolute alcohol may be used. Then 20 times that
volume of ether is added. After vigorous shaking for three minutes, the crystals reappear. I f not, more
ether is added, followed by more shaking. After being filtered, the crystals should be in good shape.
A technique which may be used in especially stubborn cases is to dissolve the crystals in dilute
hydrochloric acid solution, extract out the oily impurities with toluene, and then isolate the
methamphetamine. This is done as follows:
For every 1 00 grams of crystal, 200 ml of 1 0% hydrochloric acid is prepared by mixing 60 ml of 35%
hydrochloric acid with 1 40 ml of water. The crystals are dissolved in the acid solution by stirring or
shaking in the sep funnel. One hundred ml of toluene is added to the solution in the sep funnel, which is
then shaken vigorously for about 2 minutes. The lower layer is drained out into a clean beaker. It contains
the methamphetamine. The toluene layer is thrown out. It contains the oil grunge which was polluting the
crystals.
The acid solution is returned to the sep funnel and the acid neutralized by pouring in a solution of 70
grams of sodium hydroxide in 250 ml of water. After it has cooled down, the mixture is shaken for 3
minutes to make sure that all the methamphetamine hydrochloride has been converted to fTee base. Then
1 00 ml of toluene is added and the mixture shaken again. The lower water layer is drained out and
thrown away. The toluene-methamphetamine solution is distilled as described earlier in this chapter.
Then, as described earlier in this chapter, dry hydrogen chloride gas is bubbled through it to obtain clean
crystals. (Hydrogen chloride gas must be made in a well-ventilated area; otherwise, it will get into the
chemist's lungs and do real damage.)
There is an alternative method for converting amphetamine free base into the crystalline
hydrochloride. It is based on the method that South American cocaine manufacturers use to tum coca
paste into cocaine hydrochloride. This method does not give the really high-quality crystals that the
bubble-through method gives, but its use is j ustified when really big batches are being handled.
In this alternative procedure, the free base is dissolved in two or three volumes of acetone.
Concentrated hydrochloric acid (37%) is then added to the acetone while stirring until the mixture
becomes acid to litmus paper. Indicating pH paper should show a pH of 4 or lower. The hydrochloride is
then precipitated from solution by slowly adding ether with stirring. I t will take the addition of I O ta 20
volumes of ether to fully precipitate the hydrochloride. Toluene or mineral spirits may be substituted for
the ether. Then the crystals are filtered out using a Buchner funnel as described before, and set aside to
dry. The filtrate should be tested for completeness of precipitation by adding some more ether to it.
For really big batches, it would seem that using sulfuric acid to make the crystalline sulfate salt of the
amphetamine has its advantages. This is a transcript of a conversation I had with another cooker on the
Internet:
Someone: methamphetamine sulphate
Chapter Five
Making Methamphetamine
33
Amphetamine sulphate can be made very easily mixing freebase and H2S04 in alcohol solvenl. Is
there any difference between hydrochloride and sulphate end product? Can one make
methamphetamine sulphate the same way?
Fester: My experience with the sulfate salt is limited to what 1 heard from somebody who did il. With the
sulfate salt, recrystallizing the product is required to get out excess sulfuric acid, which turns the
product to mush over time. Must hurt like hell snorting it too. HCI is perfect; the excess gas of HCI
just evaporates away.
Someone: The following is tested with amphetamine freebase only: Usually one adds solution of
freebase to the solution of H2S04 until pH about 8.0 or so. But when one does the procedure in
different order (that means adding diluted acid to freebase) there cannot be any excess acid which must
be washed out. By the way, using much ether-alcohol as freebase solution, very dry and extremely
white powder without any smell w i l l be result. HCI-salt via gas bubbling can be used only in very
small amounts.
Fester: I don't know what you consider to be small amounts. I used to make quarter pound ( 1 00 grl
batches regularly, and we used dry HCI to crystallize. Doing half or even ful l pound batches by the
same method would have been no problem. Ten pounds at a time, maybe we're talking about some
problems. The HCI is great because you can't overdo it, and no recrystallization is needed.
Someone: Big batch starts from I kg. With HCI on normal pressure it is VERY time consuming. We tried
crystallization under pressure (HCI from steel-made gas-generator - max pressure 5-7 bar) piped into
ether solution of free base. Maximum batch was I DOg in time (needs 1 000 ml ether). Process generates
blue-colored product and solvent heats up to 400 C. It was very difficult to measure needed amount of
gas. Excess HCI results i n yellow smoking solution - product cannot be filtered out. Maybe problem
was in incomplete dehydration of He\.
By the way, S bars of hydrogen chloride routed through H2SO4 dehydrator was real hell when it
went out of control . . . One of these laboratory gas-wash-bottles exploded under I m distance from my
face. After that, we used only steel. With sulphate I Kg batch needs 3 L of spirit-ether, cooling,
constant stirring (no lab stirplates) and pH-monitoring. NO WASH is needed if one does not add
excess acid to freebase solution.
Fe.,·ter: Thanks for the info on big batches.
The European Variation
A few years ago, I received this letter from Geert Hendricks. I 've known Geert for several years now,
and I know him to be a veteran cooker, and a reliable source of inside information. This is what he has to
say about how the Leuckardt reaction is done in Europe. With this variation, the 98% formamide
commonly available as an industrial solvent can be used to make amphetamine from phenyl acetone. The
key to this variation is to mix the phenyl acetone and formam ide, and allow the mixture to sit for several
days at least prior 10 commencing heating of the mixture. Without this preliminary "aging" of the
mixture, only 99% formamide could be used in the reaction and still avoid the dreaded red tar. Read on:
Dear Uncle Fester, "Thanks for the information".
The magic in the reaction is to put the phenylaeetone and the formam ide together a couple of
days before doing the reaction.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
34
I part phenyl acetone and 2 parts fonnamide must stand at room temperature at least 24 hours or
more. I think one week is best. It should be shaken twice a day or more. I believe the formamide is
slowly reacting with the phenyl acetone, so the longer it stands, the better!
Maybe if the temperature is higher, it reacts faster. Some people leave it for only a day, but if
you have the time, why not let it stand for one or two weeks?
Just before I got arrested, I was measuring the pH of the mixture, and I believe that it changes
every day. With a little patience, you should be able to figure out the best length of time to let it
stand.
Warning: NEVER put the fonnie acid with the mixture. It will ruin everything, and you will
have to start all over.
So now you have waited for a week, and you're ready to go for it. Put your mixture in a glass
flask with boiling chips. You should use as many as possible, because you need small bubbles.
This is very important! ! With a condenser on top for refluxing, the water inside the condenser must
not be very cold, because the ammonia will block the hole in the condenser, so 30° C is a good
temperature for it. You can even let all the water out, if you don't mind the smell of ammonia.
Just before you start, you take a little bit of fonnic acid and add it to the mixture. You only
need a little bit; for instance, for a 3-liter mixture, add Scc. More won't do any hann. If you put in
too much, just heat the flask without the condenser until the temperature has gone up to 1 60- 1 65°
C, and put the condenser back on.
Now you must raise the temperature to 1 80° C, and sometimes a little bit higher, depending
on the quality of your formamide. Here they use industrial grade. I've never had any problems, as
long as it's clean.
Let the mixture ret1ux for one hour after it has reached the desired temperature. The mixture
will change from light yellow to dark yellow. If it starts to darken, then your temperature is too
high.
After one hour, let it cool down, or when it is a small batch, take a sep funnel tIlled with
water and mix it with your batch. Don't use any lye at this stage.
Now take out the oil and mix it with twice the amount of hydrochloric acid. Let it reflux for
one hour.
Now you have to separate this with lye. The best thing to do is to first let it cool down, but if
it's a small batch and a big sep funnel, you can take the risk. Also, very good shaking is needed
here.
Take the oily layer and start to distill it under maximum vacuum.
Take the distilled product and mix this with twice the amount of alcohol, methanol, acetone,
or whatever you think is best. Now take 20% H2S04 and add this slowly until the p H is 7 . If you
added too much H2S04, just bring the pH back with some lye.
Now filter out the product and let it dry. Big batches take a long time to dry, so people here
put them in a centrifuge. Take a big bedsheet, put your batch in there, and let it spin. (Be careful
with sparks and such')
time.
Instead of formamide, you can also use ammonium fonnate. You don't need formic acid here.
I ' m now trying to do the reaction with only ammonia, but I ' m still working on that one.
If you have any questions, j ust write me and ask. Keep up the good work and have a good
Geert Hendricks: Eindhoven, Holland
PS. This reaction also works with methylenedioxyphenyl acetone.
Chapter Five
Making Methamphetamine
35
That is an interesting recipe, isn't it? I wish I ' d have known about it back when I was cooking. Can
this European variation using formamide be adapted to use with N-methyl lormamide to make meth
instead of benzedrine? Your Uncle would say that the answer is "Yes!"
Your Uncle suggests this: Go to Chapter Four, describing how to make N-methyl formam ide.
Methylamine is bubbled into formic acid to make N-methyl formamide. Then it is distilled, and some
more methylamine is pumped into the mixture. I would stop right there. Instead of distilling i t again, I
would just use that mixture. If the mixture smells mildly of methylamine, all the formic acid has been
neutralized. I would just mix the phenyl acetone with this mixture, and let it sit for a few days as in the
European variation. Then I'd put a hand ful l of boiling chips in the reaction flask, and heat the mixture
just as described in the main body of this chapter, stopping when 1450 C is reached. The NaOH
hydrolysis should be used to recover the unused methylamine, then HCI hydrolysis of the formyl amide
of meth. just as described in this chapter. Yields should go up, and there should be no upper limit on
possible batch sizes.
The Russian Advance
A variation upon the standard Leuckardt Reaction method IS given in Zhumal Obshchci Khimii
Volume 25, pages 1 432-7 ( 1 955). This variation claims very high yields and is well wonh checking out
by anyone pursuing this reaction method.
In their method, the general reaction procedure is the same as given earlier in this Chapter. They simply
add on two little details. The tirst change they make to the standard reaction method is that they add a
little bit of nickel hydrogenation catalyst to the reaction mixture. I n their procedure, they add about one
per cent by weight of Raney nickel to the N-methylformamide. This form of nickel is discussed in
Chapter I I , and I'm pretty sure that other forms of nickel catalyst could be substituted for it.
The simplest nickel catalyst to make is prepared by dissolving a few grams of nickel suitate or nickel
chloride in water. Then to that water solution of the nickel one adds sodium borohydride. The sodium
borohydride is first dissolved in some water, and slowly, with stirring, the sodium borohydride solution is
added to the nickel solution. The nickel solution will tizz during this addition and tum black. The black
panicles are the nickel catalyst, and when the stirring is stopped they will settle to the bottom of the
beaker.
One can check to see if the reaction is complete by stopping the stirring and letting the black panicles
settle. If the water solution is still blue (for nickel sulfate) or green (for nickel chloride), then not enough
borohydride has yet been added to convert all of the nickel into the active catalyst. The reaction is
complete when the black powder settles leaving a clear water solution.
Next, one cleans this catalyst by decanting off the water from the settled black powder. Then add some
alcohol to the beaker and stir. Then let the black powder settle again, and decant off the alcohol. Finally
add just enough fresh alcohol to the beaker so that the black powder can be suspended when the mixture
is stirred. This is your catalyst, and it contains an amount of nickel which is roughly half the weight of
the nickel sulfate or nickel chloride originally used. It should be used immediately, or bottled up and
stored in a refrigerator.
The next point on which these Russians vary from the standard procedure is that they don't just mix the
phenyl acetone together with the N-methyl formamide and begin heating. What they like to do is to put
the N-methyl formam ide into the flask along with that Iitle bit of nickel catalyst. Then they start to heat
this mixture in the oil bath. When it warms up to roughly 90 C, they begin to drip the phenylacetone into
the N-methyl formamide. They take about an hour to add all the phenyl acetone to the N-methyl
formamide, and while they are adding the phenylaeetone they allow the temperature to slowly rise to
about 1 20C in the reaction mixture.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
36
From there on out, the reaction is done exactly the same as the standard method given in this chapter.
Heating is continued as the reaction bubbles, and the temperature is slowly raised to keep it going. Then
the product is obtained from the reaction mixture in exactly the same way as described earlier in this
chapter.
Aluminum salts have been found to be catalytic for this reaction. Adding a bit of aluminum sulfate, or
just adding a small amount of aluminum foil to the reaction mixture will likely increase the yields.
References
Journal o[Organic Chemistry, Volume 1 4, page 559 ( 1 949).
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Volume 58, page 1 808 ( 1 936):
Volume 6 1 , page 520 ( 1 939); Volume 63, page 3 1 32 ( 1 94 1 ).
Organic Syntheses, Collective Volume I I, page 503.
Chapter Six
Industrial Scale Production
Chapter Six
Industrial-Scale Production
3 7
I n the previous five chapters, I described a process by which underground chemists make smaller
amounts of methamphetamine, up to about one-half pound of pure methamphetamine. The process takes
about three days with two people working i n shifts around the clock. Thus, the maximum production
level is stuck at one pound per week.
There is a way to break through this production limit, which is to produce phenylacetone and tum it
into methamphetamine by different methods. These methods produce more in less time, and they are
cheaper. Two of them, the tube furnace and the hydrogenation bomb, are major engineering proj ects. But
they are no problem for those with a Mr. Handyman streak. If constructing a factory for meth production
wasn't what you had in mind, you will also find in the next few chapters many methods which use
standard labware and which also can potentially produce large amounts of meth fairly quickly.
However, underground chemists will not move up to industrial-scale production until they are sure that
they are going to be able to sell it without having to deal with strangers - unless, of course, they want to
get busted.
One major difference in the logistics of a large-scale operation versus a smaller one is that a different
source of chemicals is required. An outlet that specializes in pints and quarts of chemicals is not going to
be much help when multi-gallons are needed. Here a factor comes into play which cannot be taken
advantage of at lower levels of production. Most chemical suppliers will not deal with individuals, only
with corporations and companies.
Now the underground chemist can tum this situation to his advantage by means of subterfuge. First he
develops a false identity. He gets some of the books on false ID and - A bracadabra! - He's Joe
Schmoe. He uses this identity to form several companies. I f he wants to be official, he consults the book.
How to Form Your Own Corporation/or under 50 Dollars. available in most libraries. Otherwise, he just
has some invoice-order forms printed up for his company. He may also open a checking account for his
company to pay for chemicals. He uses checks with high numbers on them so that they don't think that he
just appeared out of thin air. As an alternative, he may pay with certified checks from the bank.
The next step is to rent some space as his company headquarters and chemical depot. Indeed, he'll
probably rent a couple such depots to house his various companies.
Now he starts contacting chemical dealers, ordering enough of one or two chemicals to last for a
couple of years. Then he contacts another dealer and orders a similar quantity of one or two other
chemicals under a different company name. He continues this process until he has everything he needs.
He offers to pick them up so that they do not see the dump he's rented as his headquarters. As a
precaution, he equips these dumps with a phone and answering machine so that they can call him back. If
he doesn't live in a large city, he does business out of town. That way they won't be surprised that they
never heard of him. But he does not do business too far away from home base, so they won't wonder why
he came so far.
There is a better strategy to follow in getting the equipment and chemicals needed for clandestine meth
production. The best method to use is to first order the equipment and a couple of the most suspicionarousing
chemicals. Then the underground operator lays low for a while. The narco swine have a habit of
going off half-cocked on their search warrants. If the initial purchases caught their eyes, they will likely
swoop right in, planning on finding an operating lab, or at least enough to make a conspiracy charge
stick. If they move now, the meth meister will not be prosecutable, so long as he does not admit guilt. An
alternative narco swine strategy would be for them to initiate intense surveillance upon Joe Schmoe.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
38
So long as Joe is not brain dead, this will be pretty obvious after awhile. If surveillance is noticed, il is
lime to put Ihe plan into a deep freeze, and consider the inilial purchases a long-Ierm investmenl rather
Ihan a quick payoff. If Joe is able to get the most sensitive materials unnoticed, il is Ihen time 10 quickly
gel Ihe more mundane items needed and immediately turn to the production end of Ihe operation.
When it is time for the underground chemist 10 pick up the chemicals, he uses a pickup or van
registered in Joe Schmoe's name. As a precaution, he equips his vehicle with a radio scanner. He buys
the book, Us. Government Radio Frequencies. and tunes the scanner to pick up the FBI, the DEA, the
stale and local police. He picks up the chemicals and returns with them to his headquarters and depot. He
lakes a roundabout route 10 make sure he isn't being followed. Two tricks he may use to detect a tail are
10 tum into a dead-end streel and to drive either 100 fast or too slow. He leaves Joe's vehicle at the depot
and lakes a roundaboul roule home. He stops at a few bars and leaves by the back exit.
A very common and quile stale Irick is for the narco swine to place a radio-tracking device in Ihe
packing materials surrounding jugs of chemicals purchased by suspecled drug manufacturers. All items
purchased should be carefully inspected during Ihe drive away from the point of purchase. If such a
device is found, i l is cause for clear thinking action, rather than panic. While using such a device, Ihe
heat will usually lay quile far back in their pursuil 10 avoid being nOliced. They will rely on the
Iransmitter to tell Ihem where you are going. It is best not to smash such a transmitter, but rather keep it
in hand, and loss il into the back of another pickup truck at a stoplight. This is then followed by putting
the plan into a deep freeze until the heat grows bored with you.
The next thing the underground chemist needs is a laboratory location. A country location makes any
surveillance very obvious and keeps chemical smells out of the way of nosy neighbors. Electricity and
running water are absolutely necessary. Now he loads the chemicals onto Joe's wheels and heads for the
laboratory in a very roundabout manner, keeping an eye open for any tail and paying close attention to
Ihe scanner. He leaves the scanner at the lab for entertainment in the long hours ahead.
A nice addition to any underground laboratory is a self-destruct device. This consists of a few sticks of
dynamite armed with a blasting cap, held inside an easily opened metal can. The purpose of the metal can
is 10 prevent small accidental tires from inilialing the self-destruct sequence. If Johnny Law pays an
uninvited visit to his lab, the underground chemisl lights the fuse and dives out the window. The resulting
blast will shatler all Ihe glass chemical containers and set the chemicals on fire. This fire will destroy all
the evidence. He keeps his mouth shut and lets his lying lawyer explain why Ihe blast happened to come
al the same time as the raid. He has no reason to fear the state crime lab putting the pieces of his lab back
together. These guys learned their chemistry in school and are truly ignorant when it comes to the
particulars of a well-designed lab.
The feds, on the other hand, have a higher grade of chemist working for them, but they are tiny
individuals who are haunted by nagging self-doubt, wondering why after obtaining a Ph.D., they are just
!aceless cogs in a machine. To compensate for this, they will claim to make great discoveries of the
obvious. Case in point is an article published in the Journal a/Forensic Sciences. This is a petty journal
published by Johnny Law where the aforementioned tiny individuals can stroke their egos by getting
published. In an article covering the lithium in ammonia reduction of ephedrine to meth production
melhod featured in Chapter Fifteen of this book, the unnamed tiny, frustrated chemists trumpeted "we
found that a nitrogen atmosphere to protect the reaction was unnecessary, contrary 10 the claims of the
authors who said it was essential."
The authors to which they refer here are Gary Small and Arlene Minnella, legitimate scientists who
were published in a legitimate scientific journal, the Journal oj OrganiC Chemistry. In their anicle
covering the lithium in ammonia reduction of benzyl alcohols, they used really tiny batches that might
actually need a nitrogen atmosphere to protect them, and in no place claimed that it was essential. See the
Journal ofChapter
Six
Industrial-Scale Production
39
-Organic Chemistry article, cited in Chapter Fifteen of this book. It was obvious that the steady boiling
away of liquid ammonia would form its own protective gas blanket when done on a scale corresponding
to real meth production.
They further went on to nitpick the purification procedure used by the real scientists, claiming it was
unnecessary. Everyone who reads the journals knows that it is unnecessary. This is just the protocol that
has been followed by research scientists for the past god-knows-how-many ages. They just do this so that
if they get unexpected results in their research, they will know that it is not due to impurities i n the
reaction mix. To make a great discovery out of finding that these rigorous purification schemes are not
needed for practical production methods just shows how shallow these people are.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
40
Chapter Seven
Phenylacetone from B-Keto Esters
In this chapter, I will cover another method of making phenylacetone. The chemicals must be weighed
and measured fairly exactly. This is unlike the method described in Chapter Three, where anything
within a ballpark range will work. This method requires a reliable scale.
This reaction uses sodium metal, which is some nasty stuff. It reacts violently with water to produce
sodium hydroxide and hydrogen. It will also react with air. The chemist never touches it intentionally; i f
h e does touch it, he washes i t otf with warm water. Sodium metal comes i n a can, covered with a bath of
petroleum distillate. This is to protect it from water and air. As long as it stays covered, it causes the
chemist no problems.
In this reaction, sodium metal is reacted with absolute alcohol to make sodium ethoxide
(NaOCH2CH3). Ethyl acetate and benzyl cyanide are then added to this to produce a beta keto ester.
Reaction with acid then produces phenylacetone:
CH3􀂥jJ CH CH 2 :3 Ethyl acetate
Sodium attlmcide
Bonzyl cyanide OCCHN C􀃪 CH3
Pnenylacetonitrite
OCH2"9C- CH3 Pher¥scetone
Figure 22 shows the glassware used. The glassware must be very dry, so it is dried out in the oven for
an hour or so. If the sep funnel has a plastic valve, the valve is taken out before the sep funnel is put in
the oven. The magnetic stirring bar does not go in the oven either. It is coated with Tenon, so it does not
have any water on it. A magnetic stirrer is necessary to do this reaction, because good stirring is very
important. An extra claisen adapter is needed IClf this reaction; one is filled with broken pieces of glass
for use as a fractionating column. the other is kept as is for use in the Figure 22 apparatus.
Plugged
vacuum nippla
r Vaadcauputemr
with bed of Qrieril&
S.p funn9roul
..o..-e' nLdoenngs er
􀁵Wal8r
􀁶Cdlaaipsleltnr
2000
o 0 "Wo-MsalgiN'.e"t c hot plate
Figure 22
Chapter Sel'ell
Phellylacetolle from B-Keto Ester .•
41
To begin, the underground chemist puts a bed of Drierite in the vacuum adapter as shown in Figure 9,
being sure to plug up the vacuum nipple. The water lines arc attached to the condenser and cold water
started flowing through it. But if it is humid, the water flow is not started until the glassware is
assembled.
In this case, the main reactant is benzyl cyanide, also called phenyl acetonitrile or alpha-tolunitrile.
Benzyl cyanide is now a controlled substance precursor. and so must be made.
Benzyl cyanide is not outrageously poisonous like sodium cyanide, it's an organic cyanide called a
nitrile. As long as the chemist doesn't drink the stuff. he's OK. I t is a somewhat smelly liquid. clear in
color. For a recipe to make it trom benzyl chloride and cyanide. see Organic Syntheses, Collective
Volume I.
The chemist starts with a chunk of clean sodium metal that weighs 1 28 grams. It is weighed out in a
300 ml beaker halt􀅖ti lled with petroleum distillate or xylene. Then the sodium metal is transferred to
another beaker half-filled with anhydrous ether and chopped into small pieces with a clean knite. Then it
is scooped out with a spoon and put in the 3000 ml tlask. The glassware is quickly assembled as shown
in Figure 22, with the 3000 ml flask sitting in a pan. Water flow through the condenser is begun, and 300
mi DI' absolute ethyl alcohol is put in the sep funnel. As the alcohol is allowed to flow in onto the sodium,
the reaction is kept under control by putting cold water in the pan and wrapping the flask in a wet towel.
When the reaction is under control, more alcohol is added until a total of 1 500 ml has been added. The
alcohol is gently boiled until the sodium metal is dissolved.
Now the chemist mixes 500 grams (490 ml) of benzyl cyanide with 575 grams (637 ml) of ethyl
acetate and stars the heating of the ethanol solution. Just as it stops boiling, the mixture of ethyl acetate
and benzyl cyanide is added with good magnetic stirring. This addition takes about 1 5 minutes. The
stirring is continued for about 1 () minutes after the addition is complete, then the mixture is heated in a
stcam bath or in a pan of boiling water for about 2 hours. Then it is taken out of the heat and allowed to
sit overnight or at least tor a few hours.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
42
The underground chemist has just made the sodium salt of phenylacetacetonitrile. To collect it, he
cools the flask in a mixture of salt and ice. With a clean wooden stick, he breaks up the chunks of crystals
that have formed, as the flask is cooling down. When it reaches - 1 0° C, he keeps it at this temperature for
a couple of hours, then filters out the crystals. They are rinsed a couple of times with ether or another
solvent such as hexane, then, while still wet with ether, added to a large flask or beaker containing 2000
ml of water. They are dissolved by stirring, then the flask or beaker is cooled down to 0° C by packing it
in ice mixed with salt. When it reaches this temperature, 200 ml of glacial acetic acid is added to it with
vigorous stirring. The chemist must make sure that the temperature does not go up more than a few
degrees while he is adding it.
He has now made phenylacetacetonitrile. He filters the crystals off it and rinses them a few times with
water. The crystals must now be kept moist in order for them to be turned into phenylacetone.
A l l is now ready for producing phenyl acetone from these crystals. In a 2000 ml flask, he puts 700 ml
of concentrated sulfuric acid. It is cooled down to - 1 0° C by packing the flask in a mixture of salt and ice,
then magnetic stirring is begun. The crystals are slowly added to the sulfuric acid. They must be moist, or
he will get a mess. It takes about an hour to add the crystals to the sulfuric acid. Once they are added, the
flask is heated in a pan of boiling water and swirled around to dissolve the crystals. After they have
dissolved, the flask is heated for a couple more minutes, then removed from the pan of boiling water. It is
cooled down slowly to 0° C by first letting it cool down, then packing it in ice.
The underground chemist puts 1 700 ml of water in a 3000 ml flask. Half of the sulfuric acid solution is
added to it. It is heated in a pan of boiling water for a couple of hours. It is given a couple of good shakes
every I S minutes. A layer of phenyl acetone fornls in the mixture.
After 2 hours of heating, the mixture is poured into a gallon-size glass jug to cool off. Another 1 700 ml
of water is put in the flask and the rest of the chilled sulfuric acid solution is poured into it. It is also
heated for 2 hours in a pan of boiling water, then poured into another glass jug.
The chemist is ready to separate the phenyl acetone from the water and distill it. The liquid in the first
jug is slowly poured into a 1 000 ml sep funnel until the sep funnel is full. Most of the phenyl acetone
layer will be in the sep funnel, because it is floating on top of the water. The water layer is drained back
into the jug, and the phenylacetone layer is poured into a large beaker. He adds 300 ml of toluene to the
jug, stoppers it and shakes it for I S seconds. Then he stops and lets the layer of toluene containing
phenylacetone float up to the surface. It is slowly poured into the sep funnel, and the water layer is
drained back into the jug. The water is thrown away. This process is repeated with the other jug.
This phenylacetone has some sulfuric acid in it. The chemist puts I SO ml of a 5% solution of lye in
water in the 1 000 ml sep funnel. He also pours half of the phenyl acetone and toluene mixture he got Irom
the two jugs into the sep funnel. He shakes it with the water to remove the sulfuric acid. The water is
drained out, and the phenyl acetone-toluene layer is poured into a 1 000 ml round bottom flask. Another
1 50 ml of water is put into the sep funnel and is shaken, then the water layer is drained off He pours as
much of this toluene-phenyl acetone mixture into the 1 000 ml round bottom flask as he can until it
reaches 2/3 full.
The glassware is set up as shown in Figure 1 3 in Chapter Three, with a few boiling chips in the 1 000
ml flask. The collecting flask is 250 ml. He distills off a couple of hundred ml of toluene to make room
for the rest of the product. When there is some room, he turns off the heat and waits for the boiling to
stop. Then the rest of the toluene-phenyl acetone mixture in the sep funnel is added to the 1 000 ml flask.
The distillation is continued until the toluene stops coming over. About 500 to 600 ml of toluene will be
collected.
When the rate of toluene distillation slows down to just about stopping, the heat is turned off and it is
allowed to cool down. Then the last of the toluene is removed under a vacuum. When the toluene is gone,
the caHecting flask is changed to a 500 ml flask and the phenylacetone is distiHed under a vacuum at the
Chapter Seven
Phenylacetone from B-Keto Eslers
43
Isual temperature range. The yield is about 300 ml of phenyl acetone. Once the toluene is gone, virtually

,hen y lacetacetonitri Ie.
A claimed improvement upon this recipe is found in Chern A bsTracts, Volume 36, column 253 1 ( 1 942).
􀅗ere once again we come to the question of Russian science, and do we believe them, or are they lying
hrough their rotten, stinking teeth? Your Uncle is tending towards believing them, because the variation
hey use is a general one that has been found to give improved yields in related reactions. Let the reader
mow that I haven't tried this improved procedure, so I'm just passing along the recipe from the literature
'or what it's worth.
In the above example, absolute alcohol is used both to react with the sodium metal to produce sodium
,thoxide, and as the solvent for the reaction. It has been found in general with other reactions of this type
:hat the presence of all that extra unreacted alcohol in the solution tends to cause side reactions which
lower the yield of the desired product. In the Russian recipe, the extra alcohol beyond that amount
needed to react with the sodium metal is left out, and replaced with anhydrous ether. The yield of
phenylacetacetonitrile as a result goes up to 86% from the roughly 50% or so obtained when all the extra
alcohol is in the reaction mixture.
For clandestine purposes, anhydrous ether is a very undesirable material. It's very flammable, and
evaporates so quickly that an explosive cloud of vapors can easily fill a room. All it's lacking is a spark
to set it off. It also smells to high heaven, and can be detected far downwind. This could easily attract
unwanted attention. For strike number three, one just doesn't run down to the hardware store and pick up
a jug or pail of anhydrous ether. It is associated strongly with drug manufacture.
One need not be discouraged on this point. Anhydrous ether isn't the only possible replacement
solvent. No doubt it was just lying around the commie lab, so they grabbed it and used it. Alternative
solvents would include anhydrous acetone, hexane, toluene, xylene, or even that Coleman camper fuel .
The latter three can be picked up at the hardware store. None of them produce the smell or fire hazards
thai ether does.
NolV to go back to the recipe. The 3000 ml flask is set up as in the previous example, and 1 000- 1 200
ml of the alternative solvent is put into the flask. The sodium metal is cut up and added to the flask as in
the example given. Then just enough absolute alcohol to react with the sodium metal is added to the
solution. For 1 28 grams of sodium metal, this works out to 325-350 ml of absolute alcohol. Three
hundred fifty ml would give a little excess alcohol to speed up the reaction of the last bits of sodium
metal. It will take considerably longer for the sodium metal to react using a dilute solution of absolute
alcohol as compared to just dissolving it in straight absolute alcohol. A mixture of sodium ethoxide with
the solvent will be produced. Methanol can be substituted for the absolute alcohol if this material is
easier for you to obtain. In this case, roughly 2 1 5 ml of methanol would be used for this example
reaction.
Next, the benzyl cyanide and ethyl acetate mixture is slowly added just as in the standard example
given, and the mixture boiled for a couple of hours to produce the sodium salt of phenylacetacetonitrile.
It is filtered out and then reacted with acetic acid to produce phenylacetacetronitrile, just as in the
standard recipe.
We next come to another claimed improvement in this process given in the Russian article. To produce
phcnylacetone from the phenylacetacetonitrile, they claim that phosphoric acid is superior to sulfuric
acid. One would j ust take the standard procedure given here, which by the way can be found in Organic
Syntheses, Collective Volume Two, and substitute phosphoric for the sulfuric in that step. Rather than
heat the sulfuric acid and phenylacetacetonitrile mixture on a steam bath, they prefer to heat the mixture
to 1 500 C. An oil bath heated on a hot plate would work well for this variation. From there the procedure
works
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
44
exactly the same way as i n the standard procedure. The claimed yield should increase to over 400 ml of
phenylacetone, as compared to maybe 300 ml with the standard procedure. It's worth checking out.
References
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Volume 60, page 9 1 4 ( 1 938).
Chapter Eight
Phelly/acetolle via the Tube Furllace
45
Chapter Eight
Phenylacetone via the Tube Furnace
The best way to produce phenyl acetone on a large scale and continuous basis is by a catalyst bed
inside a tube furnace. This has several advantages over the other methods described in this book. Cheap
and very common acetic acid is used to react with phenylacetic acid instead of the expensive and more
exotic acetic anhydride and pyridine. Use of the tube furnace frees up the glassware for use in other
operations. The furnace requires very little attention while it is in operation, which allows the
underground chemist to spend his time turning the phenylacetone into methamphetamine. There is no
reason why this process cannot be used in small-scale production. It is just that its advantages really
come out when large amounts of phenylacetone must be produced.
In this process, a mixture of phenylacetic acid and glacial acetic acid is slowly dripped into a Pyrex
combustion tube which is tilled with pea-sized pumice stones covcred with a coating of either thorium
oxide or manganous oxide catalyst. This bed of catalyst is heated to a high temperature with a tube
furnace and the vapors of phenylacetic acid and acetic acid react on the surface of the catalyst to produce
ketones. Three reactions result.
The acid mixture is prepared so that there are three molecules of acetic acid for every molecule of
phenylacetic acid. This makes it much morc likely lhat the valuable phenylacetic acid will react with
acctic acid to produce phenylacetone rather than with another molecule of phenylacetic to produce the
useless dibenzyl ketone.
Acetic acid
o CH 3 C'' OH Acetic acid
)
continued
OCH o 2C CH3 + CO2 + H20
Pheny1acetone
,0 9
+ CH3C'OH- CH:3C CH3
+ CO2 + H20
Acetone
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
46
The vapors are kept moving i n the catalyst tube by a slow stream of nitrogen and eventually the
product comes out the far end of the catalyst tube. The vapors are then condensed and collected in a
flask.
500 ml SIP funn.1
....-'
􀁱􀁲􀌷􀁳r Vacuum adapter Catalyst bed 􀁴""ITIUib
I·I'Ul'nI·Ci· ..-, ;.􀁒􀁓􀁔􀁕􀁖􀁗􀁘􀁙 􀎟 􀌸 􀌹
N2 in I'
\ N1t0C nt"r raonmsfeo lrtmaedrs _____ -'􀌺
500 mlflnkJ
Figure 23
The complete apparatus for doing this reaction is shown in Figure 23. The combustion tube is made of
Pyrex and is about one meter long. It is about 2 centimeters in internal diameter, with a male 24/40
ground glass joint on one end and a female 24/40 ground glass joint on the other end. I f the underground
chemist cannot buy the tube with the glass joints already on it, there are many places which will weld
these glass joints onto the tube. He can find such a place by asking around and checking the Yellow
Pages.
The tube furnace must be 70 centimeters in kngth. The only commercially available tube furnace that 1
know of is the Hoskins tube furnace. It is a tine furnace, but only 35 em in length. Two of these would
have to be run end-to-cnd to get the required 70 cm length. The cost, including a transformer for each of
the furnaces, would bc over $700. It is better and cheaper for the chemist to build his own tube furnace.
The tube furnace starts with a section of thinwall iron tubing about 75 cm long and 3 to 3.2 cm in
internal diameter. Thinwall iron tubing has a metal thickness of .024 inch. The outside of the tubing is
wrapped with asbestos cloth or asbestos paper to a thickness of about 2 millimeters. Asbestos cloth or
paper is available at hardware stores.
Fifty feet of 28 gauge A WG nichrome wire is wrapped around the central 70 em of the tube. The
windings are made fairly taut so that the wire sinks slightly into the asbestos paper. Each winding is
evenly spaced from the previous one, about y, cm apart. One winding must not be allowed to come into
contact with another, or there will be a short circuit.
The outside of the tubing is insulated with 6 or 7 layers of asbestos paper or cloth. This insulation is
held in place by using copper wire ligatures about 6 inches long, wrapped around the outside of the
insulation, and tied at the ends to make it tight.
The two ends of the nichrome wire are attached to insulated connectors (two of them) and then to a
transformer. The Variac autotransformer is perfect for this job. It can adjust l l 5-volt house current
anywhere from 1 40 volts down to zero. The transformer can handle 5 amps of current.
The chemist picks up a couple of pumice foot stones ( Dr. Scholl 's are suitable) at the pharmacy. With
a hammer and screwdriver, he breaks them into round pieces somewhat smaller than a pea. Any sharp or
protruding edges are knocked off He makes enough of these pumice pebbles to fill the combustion tube
for a length 01' 70 em.
The pumice must now be purified to remove traces of metals and other garbage. This prevents the
catalyst from being poisoned. The pumice pebbles are put into a 1 000 ml beaker along with a wad of
Chapter Eight
Phenylacetone via the Tube Furnace
4 7
glass wool (Angel Hair) somewhat larger than a fist. The glass wool will be going into the combustion
tube, so it must be cleaned off along with the pebbles. The glass wool is packed down. Then nitric acid is
added until both the pumice and glass wool are covered. The beaker is put on an electric hot plate and the
nitric acid boiled for half an hour. This converts metal impurities into soluble nitrates, and oxidizes other
garbage. The nitric acid is all poured off and down the drain. The pumice and glass wool are then
covered with distilled water and soaked for 5 minutes. This water is then drained off and replaced with
more water. The water is boiled for 1 0 minutes, then drained off. This boiling water rinse is repeated two
more times using distilled water. Finally, the water is drained out and the beaker placed on its side to drip
out the last drops of water.
The pumice pebbles are now ready to be coated with catalyst. About 450 ml of distilled water is put
into a clean 1 000 ml beaker. The chemist dissolves 276 grams of thorium nitrate into this water. In
another clean beaker, he dissolves 1 06 grams of anhydrous sodium carbonate into 400 ml of distilled
water. ( He uses A.R. grade chemicals.)
Slowly, and with constant stirring, the sodium carbonate solution is added to the thorium nitrate
solution. Using a mechanical stirrer to stir the thorium nitrate solution is best, but a glass rod also works.
Thorium nitrate reacts with sodium carbonate to make thorium carbonate and sodium nitrate. Thorium
carbonate does not dissolve in water, so it forms a white precipitate. Sodium nitrate stays dissolved in
water. The stirring is continued for a couple of minutes after all the sodium carbonate has been added,
and then it is allowed to settle. The thorium carbonate settles into a gooey gunk at the bottom of the
beaker. As much of the water as possible is poured off. Then 600 ml of distilled water is added to the
thorium carbonate and stirred around with a clean glass rod. The chemist makes sure that all the thorium
carbonate gets into contact with the clean water, and that any lumps are broken up. This dissolves any
remaining sodium nitrate.
The thorium carbonate is allowed to settle again, then as much of the water as possible is poured ofT.
Small amounts of distilled water are added and stirred in until a fairly thick paste is formed. Now the
purified pumice pebbles are added and stirred around until they are all evenly coated with thorium
carbonate.
A Pyrex glass cake pan is placed on the electric hot plate. The heat is turned on to It, maximum and
about 1 /8 of the coated pumice pebbles are added to the glass pan. They are heated there with constant
stirring with a thick glass rod, so that the pieces dry out evenly. When the coated pumice pebbles no
longer stick together, they are dry enough. They are transferred to a clean sheet and an equal amount of
wet pumice pebbles is put in the cake pan. They are dried out like the first group of pebbles. This process
is repeated until all the coated pumice pebbles are dry. Any white powder that failed to stick to the
pumice is collected and saved in a glass jar. If it is later necessary to change the catalyst bed, this
material is wetted and used to coat new pumice pebbles.
A plug of the purified glass wool about 3 em long is put into the combustion tube about 1 5 em from
the male end. This will hold the catalyst bed in place. The tube is tilled up with the coated pumice
pebbles for a length of 70 em or so. A small plug of purified glass wool about I em in length is put every
1 5 COl. This reduces the danger that tar building up on the pumice pebbles will block the tubc.
The tube is put inside the furnace. If two Hoskins tube furnaces are used end-to-end, the tube is
insulated in the space between the two furnaces with several laycrs of asbestos paper or cloth. In this
space, the tube is tilled with loose glass wool. This space is not counted as part of the necessary 70 cm of
catalyst bed.
The apparatus is set up as shown in Figure 23. It is tilted at an angle of about 20 degrees, the end with
the sep funnel being higher than the end with the collecting flask. The sep funnel has a one-hole stopper
with a piece of glass tubing running through it almost all the way to the valve of the sep funnel. This is a
Seere" of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
48
constant pressure device that causes the contents of the sep funnel to drip into the tube at a constant rate,
no matter what the level of the acids in the sep funnel are at a particular instant.
The sep funnel is connected to the female end of the vacuum adapter. The male end of the vacuum
adapter is inserted into the female end of the combustion tube. The male end of the combustion tube is
connected to a condenser. The condenser is connected to a vacuum adapter, and the vacuum adapter leads
to a 500 ml round bottom flask. The glass joints are lightly greased and wired together where possible.
The furnace must be supported to prevent its weight from bending the soon-to-become-soft hot glass
tube. Clamps connected to ringstands are used to hold the other pieces in place.
Dry nitrogen rio apparatus
acid
Figure 24
The vacuum adapter connected to the sep funnel is the nitrogen gas inlet. The underground chemist
gets a tank of nitrogen at a welding supply shop. He has to make sure that he knows how to use the
regulators. He runs a line of tubing from the tank to the "bubbler." The bubbler is shown in Figure 24. It
is a bottle with a 2-hole stopper in the top. One hole has a section of glass tubing reaching nearly to the
bottom of the bottle. The bottle has about an inch and a half of concentrated sulfuric acid in it. The
purpose of the sulfuric acid is to dry the nitrogen gas and to show how fast it is bubbling into the
apparatus. The other hole has a short section of glass tubing. Plastic tubing is attached to this tubing and
leads to the vacuum nipple of the vacuum adapter.
Now the time has come for the underground chemist to fire up the furnace. H e places a thermometer
capable of reading up to 4500 C, or, better yet, a thermocouple in the fUlllace against the outside of the
glass tubing. ( I f his thermocouple did not come with wiring instructions, he can find the wiring diagram
in the Encyclopedia Britannica and i n many college-level physics textbooks.) The thermometer or
thermocouple extends into the central regions of the fUlllace. The space at the end of the furnace between
the outside of the glass tubing and the inside of the furnace's iron tubing is plugged up with pieces of
asbestos paper or cloth to hold in the heat.
He turns on the electricity to the furnace, and begins a slow stream of nitrogen (about one bubble per
second) through the tube. He keeps a sheet listing the temperatures his furnace gets at various voltage
settings on the transformer. Of course, it takes a while for the tUlllace to heat up to its true temperature at
a given setting.
Chapter Eight
Phellylacetolle via the Tube FUrl/ace
49
Now the tube furnace is heated to 425-450° C, while the slow stream of nitrogen continues through the
tube. The heat turns the thorium carbonate into thorium oxide. The heating continues for 1 2 hours, after
which the catalyst is ready to produce phenyl acetone.
The chemist mixes 200 grams of phenylacetic acid with 250 ml of glacial acetic acid. He mixes them
thoroughly, the phenylacetic acid dissolving easily in the glacial acetic acid. (Glacial acetic acid is the
name for pure acetic acid; it is so called because it freezes at a little below room temperature. ) Next add
about 1 0 ml of water to this acid mixture and shake or stir it to get the water evenly dissolved throughout
the solution. This small amount of water helps to prevent the formation of tar on the hot catalyst bed
while it is working. Tar represents lost product, and a tar covered catalyst can't participate in the reaction
we want to perform
This acid mixture is poured into the sep funnel and the funnel is stoppered with the one-hole stopper
with the glass tubing constant pressure device. The temperature of the furnace is 425-450° C, and a onebubble-
per-second stream of nitrogen has been flowing through the tube for at least 1 2 hours. The valve
on the sep funnel is opened so that about 20 drops of the acid mixture drip into the tube from the sep
tunnel every 30 seconds.
A slow flow of water is put through the condenser to condense the ketones as they leave the furnace.
The product collects in the 500 ml flask and the nitrogen gas exits through the vacuum nipple of the
vacuum adapter connected to the condenser. If there is trouble condensing all the acetone, the 500 ml
flask is packed in icc.
It takes about 5 hours for all the acid to drip into the tube. When all the acid mixture has dripped in, 25
ml of acetic acid is added to the sep funnel and dripped in. This flushes the last of the product out of the
catalyst bed.
The product in the 500 ml flask consists of a lower water layer and a brown-colored organic layer on
top. The latter is poured into a 1 000 ml sep funnel; the water layer is then drained off into a clean beaker,
and the organic layer is poured into another beaker. The water layer is put back into the sep funnel along
with 50 ml of toluene, and the funnel is shaken. It is allowed to sit for a few minutes, then the lower
water layer is drained off and thrown away. The toluene layer is poured in with the organic layer in the
other beaker.
The chemist is now ready to clean up the phenylacetone so that it can be distilled. He mixes up a
supply of 1 0% sodium hydroxide solution by adding 1 0 ounces of lye to % gallon of water in a glass jug.
He pours the organic layer into the sep funnel, adds 400 ml of the sodium hydroxide solution and shakes.
The water layer is drained otl' into a clean beaker and the organic layer is poured into another beaker. The
watcr layer is returned to the sep funnel and 75 ml of toluene added. The funnel is shaken, then the water
layer is drained off and thrown away. The toluene layer is poured in with the organic layer. This is
repeated three more times, then the phenyl acetone is distilled as described i n Chapter Three. The yield of
phenylacetone is about 1 00 ml.
The temperature of the furnace is raised to about 525° C, and a slow stream of air is drawn through the
tube for two hours. The air is drawn through by turning off the nitrogen flow, opening up the valve of the
scp tilllnel and attaching a vacuum hose to the vacuum nipple of the vacuum adapter on the 500 ml flask
side of the apparatus. This air flow burns off built up crud and tar on the catalyst and charges it up for
another run. It is done atier the first run, and then after every few batches.
The furnace temperature is set at 425-450° C again and the flow of nitrogen through the tube is
resumed. It is flushed out for a couple of hours, then the sep funnel is filled with acid mix for another
run. It is dripped in as before to get another batch of phenylacetone. In this way, phenylacetone can be
produced on a continuous basis.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
50
If the homemade furnace has trouble reaching the necessary temperature, the chemist wraps it with
more insulation. If that does not do enough, a lower temperature process can be used by replacing the
thorium-oxide-coated pumice pebbles with manganous-oxide-coated pumice pebbles. The process goes
as follows:
The pumice pebbles are made and purified with nitric acid as described earlier. In a 1 000 ml beaker, 70
grams of manganous chloride (MnCI2) is dissolved in 300 ml of distilled water. In another beaker, 38
grams of anhydrous sodium carbonate is dissolved in 500 ml of distilled water. The sodium carbonate
solution i s slowly added to the manganous chloride solution with constant stirring. Manganous chloride
reacts to form manganous carbonate, which does not dissolve in water and precipitates out. The
manganous carbonate is filtered out in a Buchner funnel as described in Chapter Five. The crystals are
rinsed with distilled water.
The manganous carbonate is returned to a clean beaker and enough distilled water is added to make it
into a fairly thick paste. If too much water is added, it does not stick well to the pumice. The pumice
pebbles are stirred in until they are evenly coated. The beaker is heated on a hot plate while the pumice
stones are vigorously stirred. Local overheating must be avoided or the catalyst will be ruined. When
most of the water is evaporated, the catalyst is transferred to a Pyrex cake pan and gently heated on a hot
plate. The pumice chips are stirred constantly to get even drying. When they no longer stick together,
they are transferred to a clean sheet of paper.
The chemist tills the combustion tube with the catalyst as before and sets up the apparatus. He heats
the furnace to 360-400° C while passing a stream of nitrogen through the tube. This converts the
manganous carbonate to manganous oxide (MnO). This heating is continued for 8 hours. Then the heat is
reduced to 3500 C, while the stream of nitrogen is continued at a rate of one bubble per second. When
350° C i s reached, he drips in the same phenylacetic acid-acetic acid mixture used earlier in this chapter.
The correct rate is 20 drops every 30 seconds. When it has all dripped in, he adds 25 ml of acetic acid to
the sep funnel and drips it in. He then either adds more acid mix to the sep funnel for another run, or
shuts down the furnace. If he shuts down the furnace, he must continue the flow of nitrogen through the
tube until it has cooled off. This prevents the MnO catalyst from being oxidized to Mn02, etc. When he
turns it back on, he must immediately start the nitrogen flow for the same reason. The product is purified
i n the same way as described earlier in this chapter,
Since no air is sucked through the tube at high temperature, gunk builds up on the catalyst and
eventually puts it out of commission. When this happens, the catalyst bed is changed, The yield using the
manganous oxide catalyst bed is not as good as that using the thorium oxide catalyst bed. Thorium oxide
is used, unless the chemist has no choice.
A somewhat more complicated way to do this reaction is to use what is called a thorium oxide
"aerogel" catalyst. A lower temperature and a higher rate of production are possible, For more
information about it, see Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, published in 1 934, Volume 20, pages
388 and 1 01 4.
Before leaving this topic, we should address the subject of smells, in particular the smells which can
accompany this process, The tube furnace is not something which should be set up in an apartment
building or in a rental house that the landlord stops by to visit on more than rare occasions.
Phenylacetic acid smells just like cat piss, and the smell gets on surfaces and j ust l ingers and lingers.
The heat knows what this smell is associated with, and neighbors smelling it all the time will just get
mad, They will think you have a herd of screaming tom cats pissing on the walls or a bunch of ferrets
gone bonkers! There are certain sections of cities where using the living room as a bathroom is nothing
unusual, but we'll assume that you don't want to set up shop there,
One might say, '"Hey, I won't spill any, so I won't stink up the place." Let me assure you, stuff
happens, especially with a furnace. All it takes is a loose joint on the glassware to drip phenylacetic acid
Chapter Eight
Phenyiacelone via the Tube Furnace
51
solution all over the place. Pouring spills happen and there is the glassware to clean. The stuff gets
around.
The best way to clean up phenylacetic acid is to mix some lye i n with rubbing alcohol. While wearing
gloves, you can sponge this solution into the spilled phenylacetic acid. It will be converted to the sodium
salt of phenylacetic acid, which doesn't stink. The sodium salt is also soluble in water, so further cleanup
with soap and water will be successful.
Another source of smelly emanations from the tube furnace is due to the form in which the product
tends to exit from the furnace. There is a strong tendency for the product mixture to form a fog as it exits
the furnace and gets cooled down in the condenser. This fog is pretty hard to get condensed completely
down to liquid with just a trip through a condenser. Organic Syntheses goes so far as to suggest that the
vapors be passed through a bed of marbles to break the fog. Your Uncle suggests that the upper part of
the vacuum adapter be packed with glass wool to give a lot of surface for the fog to condense upon
before reaching the exit of the apparatus. Fog escaping the apparatus results in a lower yield and lot's of
Slink, both are undesirable.
References
Journal of the Chemistry Society, page 6 1 2 ( 1 948); page 1 7 1 ( 1 940).
OrganiC Syntheses, Collective Volume Two.
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Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone
There are many other methods of making phenylacetone described in the scientific literature. Most of
them are dogs, not worth the time and effort. But there are some good methods of making phenylacetone
that I have not yet described.
An acceptable method is to oxidize methyl benzyl carbinol ( l -phenyl-2-propanol) to phenylacetone
(methyl benzyl ketone) with chrome trioxide (Cr03) in pyridine solvent. The problem with this is that
methyl benzyl carbinol is not commercially available, and so must be made from benzyl ch loride grignard
reagent and acetaldehyde. This grignard works well, although there can be a problem getting unreacted
benzyl chloride out of the product. Their boiling points are very close, so distillation does not separate
them completely.
For a good typical example recipe using chrome trioxide in pyridine to oxidize an alcohol to a ketone.
see Journal of Organic Chemistry. Vol. 47, page 2643 ( 1 982). This is the best reagent for this purpose.
considerably better than Cr+6 and sulfuric acid combinations in either water or acetone solvent. It is.
however. stinky and expensive to use pyridine. You won't find that material down at the hardware store
either.
The real obstacle to using this possible route to phenyl acetone isn't getting the pyridine. It is getting
the materials for and doing the grignard reaction that yields the methyl benzyl carbinol. Benzyl chloride
is on the less restrictive List 11 of "hot chemicals." It's also nasty to work with as it's a reasonably potent
tear gas. The anhydrous ether needed to do the grignard reaction has long been associated with drug
manufacture, smells a lot, and is very prone to ignition of the vapors by sparks and such. Magnesium
turnings are also on the California list of controlled chemicals, and may well be on other state reporting
lists. If you are in an industrial situation where methyl benzyl carbinol is produced as an intermediate and
a few gallons can be carried home without anyone noticing, then this is a tine route to phenyl acetone. In
other situations, it's not practical.
Another two-step method of making phenyl acetone is to make benzyl cyanide tram benzyl chloride
and sodium cyanide, and then make the benzyl cyanide into phenyl acetone by the method described in
Chapter Seven. The way to make benzyl cyanide can be found in OrganiC Syntheses. Collective Volume
I . Benzyl cyanide is listed in the table of contents.
This route to phenyl acetone has its possibilities. The List " chemical benzyl chloride can be obtained
through regular commercial sources, or driven across the Mexican border in amounts under a few kilos.
See the latest printing of 21 CFR parts 1 3 1 0 onward, for just how much benzyl chloride can be imported
at one time without being subject to felony charges.
The cyanide needed for this reaction can be pretty easily obtained in large amounts from chemical
outlets that serve the industry. A typical container will hold 1 00 to 200 pounds of the cyanide in briquette
form at a price of a dollar or two per pound. The most common industrial usage of this material is
electroplating. Zinc, copper, brass, cadmium and silver are all electroplated from solutions that contain
roughly a pound per gallon of cyanide. Crafting a company and cover story consistent with these facts
would be advisable.
If one should choose to scale up this process beyond using a few pounds of cyanide. the subject of waste
disposal should be addressed. Pretty much any city served by a sewer system monitors the water coming
into the sewage treatment plant for the presence of heavy metals and cyanide. If they are tinding
hundreds of pounds of cyanide coming at them, they will look for the source! For this reason. large
amounts of cyanide shouldn't just be poured down the sewer. I t shouldn't be dumped into the ground
either' Simply pour the waste cyanide into a drum, and when cooking is done, pay the couple of thousand
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone
53
dollars to have it carted away by a hazardous waste disposal company. They won't be looking for
incriminating evidence in the waste, and, for a large operation like the one using hundreds of pounds of
cyanide, the couple thousand dollars is chicken feed.
An alternative method for disposal of cyanide waste is to destroy it with bleach. Then the water
solution which is left can be safely poured down the sewer. To do this, add an equal weight of sodium
hydroxide to the cyanide waste and add water to bring the two ingredients into solution. Then slowly and
with constant stirring add about 4 volumes of bleach to the cyanide solution. The bleach best bleach is
the highly concentrated 1 5% hypochlorite solution available from pool suppliers, although 5% household
bleach can be used by tripling the amount added. The reaction creates a lot of heat, so when the solution
starts steaming just take a break and let it cool down.
Another way to come at the production of phenylacetone is to start with common materials that will
react to produce phenylacetic acid easily and in high yield. There are more than a couple of such
materials, and none of them are subject to reporting requirements. I am ashamed that my government
could be so sloppy in compiling their List I chemicals! This situation must be corrected, because it is my
Ii felong goal to get every chemical under the sun on some type of reporting list.
Probably the simplest and easiest precursor to phenylacetic acid is its ethyl ester, ethyl phenylacetate.
This substance is used in fairly large amounts in perfumes, so by disguising yourself as a perfumer, pails
or drums of this very useful chemical could be had by tapping into the perfumer's supply lines. Ethyl
phenylacetate is also used in artificial fruit flavorings and to produce an aroma of honey. One would first
be well advised to become at least passably informed about perfume formulations. Books such as
Common Fragrance and Flavor Materials by Bauer, Perfume and Flavor Chemicals by Arctander and
The Perfilme Handhook by Groom are a great place to start one's education on the topic. Then one goes
to trade j ournals such as Soap, Perfumes and Cosmetics to look for advertisements from chemical
suppliers to the perfume trade. These suppliers are greatly preferable to doing business with scientific
supply houses, who will also stock ethyl phenyl acetate. The rule of thumb is that one should try to avoid
any supplier who also sells List I chemicals. To sell List I chemicals, one must be a trusted snitch and
lackey. I also must regretfully inform you that ethyl phenylacetate has recently been placed on the List I .
I n countries other than the US, such as Mexico, i t i s easily available. Perfumers are still using it though,
so one may be able to hide among the trees in the forest. I f one orders the chemical in solution with other
ingredients, then it isn't subject to reporting. The simplest solution of all would be ethyl phenylacetate in
alcohol solution. Then this purchase would certainly appear to be from a perfumer seeking to impart its
fragrance to his product.
The reaction to convert ethyl phenylacetate to phenylacetic acid is just a simple ester hydrolysis.
Alkaline hydrolysis, also called saponification, using NaOH or KOH, is superior to acid catalyzed
hydrolysis in this case. The following reactions bring about the transformation:
o @-CH2􀄂-OC¥H3
Ethyl Phenylacetone
o
--H0tI􀅓-,􀄄_ ) @-􀄃 􀃩 OK Satt o!
Phenylacetic aCId
@-CH􀄅􀂤 OH Y Phenylacetic acid
For example, take a 2000 ml round bottom flask, or a copper or stainless steel replica. Into the flask
put 200 ml of ethyl phenyl acetate, t oOO ml of 1 90 proof vodka, and 1 40 grams of KOH.(potassium
hydroxide)
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Attach a reflux condenser, and heat the pot to boiling using a hot plate and a pan of cooking oil as a
heating bath. Reflux at a moderate rate for 2 hours.
Now distill off most of the alcohol solvent. A vacuum assist can be used to speed up the distillation of
the vodka if desired. The volume should be reduced to around 500 ml.
Next pour the residue into a 1 500 ml beaker. Rinse the flask with some water to get all the reaction
mixture out and into the beaker. Then mix around 200 ml of sulfuric acid into around 400 ml of water.
Once the acid solution has cooled down, slowly add it to the reaction mixture in the beaker with strong
stirring. Add it at the rate that the heat created by the neutralization of the KOH and the potassium salt of
phenylacetic acid will allow. Putting the beaker in some cool water will help. Add acid until a pH of
around I is reached. Then cool down the mixture to about 5 - 1 0° C.
A large amount of phenylacetic acid crystals will form. F ilter them out. They should next be
recrystallized by putting them into a beaker, and adding about 700 m l of hot water. Heat the mixture with
stirring until all the phenylacetic acid dissolves, then cool down the beaker as before. Filter out these
recrystallized phenylacetic acid crystals, and preferably dry them off by applying a vacuum to them either
in a dessicator or large filtering flask. The yield should be around 140 grams.
The horrors go on and on' Your Uncle thinks that saving the world from the evils of drug abuse is
becoming just a hopeless task! See Journal o.lOrganic Chemistry, Volume 62, pages 234-35 ( 1 997).
In this recipe, they mix 10 millimoles of phenethyl bromide with 30 millimoles of sodium nitrate and
1 00 millimoles of glacial acetic acid in 20 ml of DMSO.
They stirred this mixture at 35° C for 6 hours, and then they diluted the mixture with several volumes
of 1 0% HCI. They next extracted out the product - phenylacetic acid - with toluene, washed the extract
with some water, and distilled to get 78% yield of phenylacetic acid.
That's a pretty simple recipe. I ' ll bet it scales up easily. It is high time that phenethyl bromide joins the
List I chemicals, or at least, List II. I'l l sleep much better at night when something is finally done about
this!
Another convenient precursor to phenylacetic acid is mandelic acid. It too has been neglected as to
placement as a listed chemical under the Chemical Diversion Act. This situation has to be changed' How
else can the world be made safe?
Mandelic acid is presently available at a price ranging from $25 to $45 per pound, with discounts lor
larger quantities. Mandelanitrile is more expensive. A mainstream legitimate use of mandelic acid is as
an acidi!ier for the urinary tract, while mandelonitriIe is associated with laetrile through its source from
nature, amygda lin. OH 0 -tH-C􀁑OH Mandelic acid
Mandelic acid is easily reduced to phenylacetic acid by the procedure found in Helvetica Chimica
Acta, Volume 22, page 60 I ( 1 939). Mandelonitrile is very simply converted to mandelic acid by the
procedure found in Organic Syntheses, Collective Volume I . Look in the table of contents for mandelic
acid.
Note here that mandelic acid is a benzyl alcohol, just as ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and
phenylpropanolamine are benzyl alcohols. As a consequence, the direct reduction methods given in
Chapter Filieen can also be used in this case to reduce mandelic acid to phenylacetic acid. The method
most suited to reducing large quantities would be to adapt the so-called "Nazi Meth" recipe ( M ethod
Three in the section on "Direct Reductions"). Some mandelic acid dissolved in glacial acetic acid with
some 70% perchloric acid and palladium catalyst will hydrogenate quickly and efficiently at 80° C and a
hydrogen pressure of about 30 pounds.
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone
55
Another method to convert mandelic acid to phenylacetic acid is to use H I and red phosphorus, just as
in Method Four in the section on "Direct Reductions." One simply uses mandelic acid in the reaction
instead of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or phenylpropanolamine. Iodine and red phosphorus are difficult
and dangerous materials to obtain. Still the standard recipe for this reduction is to be found in Organic
Syntheses, Collective Volume One, in the recipe titled diphenylacetic acid. In this recipe, the diphenyl
derivative of mandelic acid is reduced in 95% yield to the diphenyl derivative of phenylacetic acid. One
would simply substitute mandelic acid for the diphenyl derivative used in the recipe. The yield would be
about 95% in that case too. They used acetic acid as the solvent in the iodine plus red P reduction, but
ordinary 50% plus H I in water would work just as well. The problem here would be to get red P in
enough quantity to get a pound size batch off the ground.
Still another good precursor to phenylacetic acid is out there for the taking. Oh, the sloppiness of those
people who compiled the List I chemicals' Something must be done about this, and done soon! Your
Uncle can't believe the holes that have been left in federal reporting requirements. This precursor is
ethyl benzene:
Ethylbenzene is made by the thousands of tons as a feed material for the production of styrene, and as
a solvent for plastic resins. Disguising yourself as someone doing work in the latter area, pails and drums
of ethyl benzene will become easily available from chemical outlets serving the industry. These are much
better people to deal with than scientific supply houses.
Ethylbenzene is converted to phenylacetic acid in 90% yield by a fairly simple chromate oxidation in
water solution. The reaction must be done inside a scaled steel pipe, as a temperature of 275° C is
required. See Advanced Techniques of Clandestine P.lychedelic & Amphetamine ManuFacture for a
complete discussion of this reaction.
Finally, still another good precursor to phenylacetic acid is benzyl cyanide, discussed earlier in this
chapter. By heating benzyl cyanide with sulfuric acid solution, phenylacetic acid is produced. See
Organic Smtheses, Collective Volume I , for details. Look in the table of contents for phenylacetic acid.
I should note here that in all of these recipes, the phenylacetic acid is recovered from solution in the
opposite manner that meth is. Meth is a base, and so dissolves in acid water solutions. To get it out of
water solution, the water must be made strongly (pH 1 3+) alkaline. With phenylacetic acid, it works just
the opposite, because it is an acid. Phenylacetic acid dissolves in sodium hydroxide solutions, forming
the sodium salt. To get it out of water solution, the water is made acid, generally with dilute sulturic acid.
The crystals of phenylacetic acid are then filtered out or extracted with solvent. The details are given in
the recipes cited. lt is a good idea to recrystallize the phenylacetic acid made by these methods from
water. This will remove traces of sulfuric acid from the crystals. Phenylacetic acid will dissolve in hot
water, but hardly at all in cold water. This is how the recrystallization is done. See Organic Syntheses,
Collective Volume I, under phenylacetic acid, for the details. See also the discussion in the tube furnace
chapter jtlr some hints in cleaning up spills and traces of phenylacetic acid, so that lingering smell
doesn 't leave the finger of blame pointing your way.
Once one has phenylacetic acid, making phenylacetone is pretty easy. See Chapter Three and the tube
furnace chapter for the most convenient and practical methods, but there are plenty of others.
In what is actually the best method of making phenyl acetone, two molecules of methyllithium react
with phenylacetic acid to produce phenyl acetone, or one molecule of methyllithium reacts with one
molecule of the lithium salt of phenylacetic acid to produce phenylacetone. This reaction is done in
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anhydrous ethyl ether under an atmosphere of nitrogen. Organolithium reagents burst into !lame upon
contact with air.
Although methyllithium is not so bad in this respect as t-butyllithium, organolithium reagents are
dangerous to handle. But, apart from the element of danger, this is the best way to make phenyl acetone.
The high cost of lithium is offset by the high yields of product. Go to Organic Svntheses, Collective
Volume 5, page 777, for a sample recipe, and some commentary.
Lithium metal obtained from balleries is of high enough quality to give good results in this reaction.
See Advanced Techniques oj" Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture for a discussion of
the method for obtaining lithium metal from batteries. This still leaves the problems associated with
obtaining and using the anhydrous ether or THF needed as solvent for the reaction. These problems
aside, this reaction produces high yields of a clean product.
Other methods of making phenylacetone call tor the use of phenylacetyl chloride, the acid chloride of
phenylacetic acid:
Pherrylacety1 Chlande
Can you believe that this chemical isn't on the federal reporting lists') Saints preserve us' Don't get all
excited though, as this chemical is only available from those scientific supply houses. They prohably
have some idea as to what it's good for. I don't know of any common industrial uses for this chemical.
With phenyl acetyl chloride, a good way to make phenylacetone is to react methyl zinc reagent with
phenyl acetyl chloride. The claimed yield is around 70% . . Methyl zinc reagent is made by adding zinc
chloride to methyl grignard reagent. I t is not an especially dinicult reaction to do, and the yields arc very
good. The problem is that phenylacetyl chloride is expensive and hard to find, although it can be made
from phenylacetic acid and thionyl chloride (SOeI2). This reaction is described in the Journal of the
American Chemical Societl'. Volume 70, page 42 1 4, ( 1 948). This can be found in any good college
library.
The production reaction using the phenyl acetyl chloride to make phenylacetone was lirst reported in
Rerichte de,. Dmtschell Chemischen Gesellscha/i Volume 5, page 500 ( 1 872). Other references can be
i'lUnd in the .follmal 0/ the American Chemical Sociery. Volume 4 1 , page 4 1 1 ( 1 9 1 9) and Volume 69,
pages 2350-54 ( 1 947). Also see the discussion in Grignard Reactions o/Nonmetallic Suh"tances starting
on page 7 1 3 . This method has its possibilities, but the need for anhydrous ether to do the grignard
reaction is a problem, as is getting the phenylacetyl chloride. See Chemical A hstracts, Volume 48,
column 8261 for a good sample recipe.
Another good way to make phenylacetone is to react phenylacetyl chloride with the ethoxymagnesium
derivative of dimethylmalonatc. Hydrolysis with acid then produces phenyl acetone. This reaction I S
covered in detail in Adml7ced Techniq/les a/Clandestine P.lychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture.
Another material which can be converted into phenylacetone is cinnamaldehyde:
©- 􀂣 //0 o y=C-C-H
H Clnnama!detryde
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone
5 7
Cinnamaldehyde i s covered by n o type o f sales reporting control, and i s used very heavily in flavorings
and perfumes to give either the taste or smell of cinnamon. It also is present to the extent of 80-90% in oil
of cinnamon, which is sold by the thousands of tons to flavor everything from toothpaste to candy to
Coca-Cola. This cheap material is out there for the asking. Oh, the humanity! This intolerable situation
can't be allowed to continue for a single minute longer'
How does one make phenylacetone from cinnamaldehyde7 Looking at the structure of this molecule,
what one wants to do is reduce the aldehyde grouping at the end of the propyl side chain all the way
down to a methyl group (-CH3), while still preserving the double bond on that side chain. With that
double bond there, conversion to phenyl acetone is easy by the methods given in Chapter Ten.
This selective reduction is a tall order! See Reductions in Organic Chemistry by Milos H udlicky, page
1 02, for a table listing the products obtained by reducing cinnamaldehyde with common reducers.
Reducers strong enough to reduce the aldehyde to a methyl group will also reduce the double bond or
cause a cyclopropane to be produced. A derivative of cinnamaldehyde must be used, one that allows the
aldehyde group to be reduced without losing the double bond on the side chain. This derivative is the
tosylhydrazone.
A number of papers have been published on this reaction, and they all get similar and good results, so
we can be assured that this method is valid and quite useful. Cinnamaldehyde or cinnamon oil reacts with
p-toluenesulfonhydrazide in alcohol solvent to yield the tosylhydrazone derivative, which is filtered out.
This derivative is then reduced with sodium borohydride or sodium cyanoborohydride to give
allyl benzene in good to excellent yields.
o @-CH.CH􀄀-H
Ci nnamaldehyde
N􀄁HTS
E+OH )
@-CH2CH..cH2
Altylbenzene
@-CH. CH-NC--NHT S
Tosythydrazone
Derivation
An interesting feature of this reduction is the movement of the double bond, giving allyl benzene
instead of the propenylbenzene one would expect. Allylbenzene is some useful and versatile stuff1 Either
of two pathways to meth can be used with allylbenzene:
o ([jFCH2-C-CH3
Phenyiacetone
AIIylbenzene
8r @-CH2CHC􀃿
1.Phenyl-2-Bromopropene
H. ,CH3 # N @-CH2CHCH3
Math
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These two paths to amphetamines starting with allylbenzene become of extreme importance in making
psychedelic amphetamines such as MDA or MDMA from commonly available essential oils which often
contain large amounts of appropriately substituted allylbenzenes. For example, sassafras oil contains 80-
90% safrole, which is 3,4-methylenedioxyallylbenzene. One has the choice then of converting the
allylbenzene to either the phenylacetone or bromosafrole. Reaction then with methylamine gives
MDMA. Substituting ammonia for the methylamine gives instead MDA. The so-called Wacker
oxidations of allylbenzenes to phenylacetones are covered in the next chapter. The reductive amination of
the phenyl acetone to the amphetamine is covered in Chapters Five, Eleven, and Twelve. The other
pathway using HBr is discussed in Chapters Seventeen and Twenty. Both are quite workable, and which
one to choose is largely a matter of taste or availability of chemicals. Distilling the products is quite
important with the second pathway, to get a pure product.
Now to get allyl benzene from cinnamaldehyde or cinnamon oil (aka oil of cassia, Chinese cinnamon
oil, or cinnamon bark oil; avoid cinnamon leaf oil), put 1 30 ml of the cinnamaldehyde or cinnamon oil
into a 1 000 ml flask. Heating will be required for a fairly short period, so a round bottom flask equipped
with reflux condenser is best. A volumetric flask could also be used by wrapping a cold rag around the
long neck of the flask to act as a reflux condenser. Next add about 260 011 of 95% ethanol ( 1 90 proof
vodka). The recipe given in Organic Syntheses, Collective Volume 6, page 293, uses 95% ethanol and
gets a 90% yield of the tosylhydrazone derivative. Other recipes (given in Journal of Organic Chemistry,
Volume 40, page 923 ( 1 975) and Volume 43, page 2299 ( 1 978) and Volume 46, page 1 2 1 7 ( 1 98 1 » use
absolute alcohol. One hundred ninety proof vodka is available at the liquor store, so this is the way to go.
Finally, add about 220 grams of p-toluenesulfonylhydrazide. This material is listed in my Eastman
catalog, selling for 30¢ a gram, and is available in bulk at a discount. It can also be made in high yield
from p-sulfonyl chloride and hydrazine by the procedure given in Organic Syntheses, Collective Volume
5, page 1 055. P-toluenesulfonylhydrazide is covered by no reporting requirements, and hasn't been the
focus of suspicion. The list of potentially incriminating chemicals is now getting so long as to be almost
useless anyway. I would suggest getting some in bulk, and doing no further business with whomever the
chemical is obtained from. This substance is available in the web of commerce as a foaming agent for
epoxy and rubber. It is sold under names such as Celogen TSH-C.
Swirl around the contents of the flask to mix them together and then heat the flask on a steam bath or
in some boiling hot water with either magnetic stirring or swirling. Once the mixture starts to get hot, the
p-toluenesulfonylhydrazide will react with the cinnamaldehyde, and the mixture will become clear, or at
least transparent, if oil is being used. A reaction time of about 1 5 minutes is needed, once the mixture
becomes hot. If a makeshift reaction apparatus like a volumetric flask is being used, take care that vapors
of alcohol don't come out of the vessel and into contact with sources of ignition, such as a hardware slore
hotplate. Keep the neck of the flask cool, and attach some tubing to the top to lead escaping vapors away.
Once a clear or transparent reaction mixture has been achieved, stop the heating, and allow the mixture
to begin to cool. As it cools, crystals of the tosylhydrazone derivative wil! begin coming out of solution.
This is a good point to pour the mixture into a 600 ml beaker or glass measuring cup. The mass of
crystals which will form are much more easily poured and scraped into a filter from this container than
from a round bottom flask or volumetric flask.
When the mixture has cooled down to room temperature, the mass of crystals should be fi ltered out
using a Buchner funnel and vacuum flask, just as described for filtering out meth crystals in Chapter
Five. The filtered out crystals of the tosylhydrazone derivative should next be recrystallized from 1 90
proof vodka. This is done by putting the crystals back into a clean round bottom flask or volumetric flask,
adding about 200 to 250 ml of 1 90 proof vodka, and heating the mixture with Sleam or hot water to
redissolve the crystals. When they have redissolved, the heating is stopped, and the liquid poured once
again into a beaker or measuring cup once crystals begin to reappear. When the mixture gets cooled to
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone
5 9
room temperature or below, the mass of crystals is filtered out as before, then spread out on a plate to air
dry.
The yield of dried crystals from pure cinnamaldehyde will be about 270 grams. The yield from oil will
be correspondingly lower, depending upon what percentage of cinnamaldehyde it contains. Once that
number is known, the amount of oil used can be increased proportionally to get maximum use out of the
p-to I uenesul fonylhydrazi de.
With the tosylhydrazone obtained, reduction of it to allylbenzene can be done. There are three good
methods, with yields of allyl benzene obtained ranging from 42 to 98%, depending upon the reaction
conditions used. The tirst two methods use sodium borohydride as the reducer. This is a fairly common
industrial chemical, and can be obtained in bulk from industrial chemical outlets. A common industrial
use of sodium borohydride is to remove tightly complexed heavy metals from water prior to sewering the
water. For instance, let's say that one plates copper or nickel, and the rinse water gets contaminated with
ammonia or some other complexor for these metals. Before pouring this water down the sewer, the metal
must be removed. Borohydride will reduce the complexed metal ion to metal, which will fall out of
solution. Similarly, metal stripping baths can be treated in the same way to remove the metals built up in
them. Also, electroless nickel-plating baths can be waste treated in the same manner to allow their
disposal by pouring the bath down the sewer once the metal is removed from solution. Environmental
protection is a good and believable story to use at the industrial chemical outlet.
The first method of reduction of tosylhydrazone to allylbenzene is taken from Journal oj" Organic
Chemi slrp, Volume 43, page 230 I , and is labeled Method A in that article. A glass or Teflon-coated
container of approximately one gallon capacity is filled first with 2600 ml of glacial acetic acid. This
very common industrial chemical is easily available in 55 gallon drums at a price of a dollar or so per
gallon. The flask and its contents are cooled down in ice, then 75 grams of sodium borohydride is slowly
added with stirring at such a rate that the temperature of the solution is kept in the 1 5-20° C range.
Once the borohydride has been added to the solution, then add 226 grams of the tosylhydrazone
derivative of cinnamaldehyde, slowly with stirring. Continue the stirring for one hour at room
temperature, then with continued stirring, raise the temperature of the solution to 70° C for 2 Y, hours.
The solution will gas otf nitrogen as the tosylhydrazone gets reduced to allylbenzene.
Next allow the solution to cool, and pour it onto about 1 0 pounds of crushed ice. When the ice has
melted, add a 1 0% solution of lye in water, slowly and with stirring, until the water solution is basic to
litmus or pH paper.
The allylbenzene is then extracted out of the water with two or three 200 ml portions of toluene,
hexane, or even Coleman camper fuel. The combined extracts are then distilled. The solvent first distills
ofT as the milky-looking water azeotrope, then as the pure solvent. When the solvent is gone, pure
allylbenzene will distill at about 1 56° C. A reasonably efficient fractionating column will separate these
materials with no problem. Vacuum distillation can also be used to collect the allylbenzene once the
solvent has been distilled off. A good aspirator pulling about 20 torr with cold water will distill
allyl benzene at about 500 C or so. Very cold water flow through the condenser will be required to catch
all the allylbenzene at the low temperature that a good aspirator will cause it to boil at. The yield by this
method will be about 40 ml or so of allylbenzene.
By increasing the amount of sodium borohydride used, and changing the order of addition, the yield of
allyl benzene can be increased to over 50%. This is Method B in the same cited Journal oj" Organic
Chemislty article.
Once again we start with a glass or Teflon-lined container of about one gallon capacity. Into it we
place about 2500 ml of glacial acetic acid and 225 grams of the tosylhydrazone derivative of cinnamic
acid. These ingredients are stirred to make a slurry, then at room temperature, slowly add about 280
grams of
Secreta of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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sodium borohydride at such a rate that the foaming of the reaction mixture doesn't cause the mixture to
froth out of the container. This will take about an hour or so. In this variation, a lot more hydrogen gas
gets produced than in the first method, so some ventilation should be provided to avoid explosion
hazards.
After the borohydride is added, continue stirring for about an hour at room temperature, then heat the
mixture to about 70° C for about an hour and a hal f. Then allow the mixture to cool down, and pour it
onto crushed ice as in the first example, then add sodium hydroxide solution as before to make the
solution alkaline, extract the mixture with toluene, hexane or Coleman camper fuel, and distill to get in
this case around 60 ml of allylbenzene.
By using sodium cyanoborohydride as the reducer, the yield of allyl benzene can be increased to nearly
1 00%. Your Uncle doesn't recommend this variation because sodium cyanoborohydride isn't the
common industrial chemical that sodium borohydride is. Sodium cyanoborohydride is available from
those snitch-filled scientific supply houses, and the notation by the chemical generally says something
along the lines of "selective reducer for Schiff's bases." Yes, it's a really convenient chemical to reduce
phcnylacetone-methylamine mixtures to meth in high yield. This chemical would be too scary for me to
order from those people if I wanted to cook some crank. My advice is to stay away from buying this
chemical.
This recipe also uses some fairly uncommon solvents, as opposed to the glacial acctic acid used in the
previous two methods. This method is provided for educational purposes.
Into a container of around 1 0,000 ml capacity put 2500 ml of dimethyl formam ide ( D M F ) and 2500 ml
of sulfolane. Mix them together, then add 300 grams of the tosylhydrazone derivative of cinnamaldehyde
and 250 grams of sodium cyanoborohydride. Stir them into solution and then add a few tenths of a gram
of the acid-base indicator bromocresol green. When the indicator dissolves, it will color the solution blue.
Next heat the solution to 1 05° C, then dropwise add concentrated hydrochloric acid until the pH drops
below 3.8 as indicated by the color change of the solution from blue to tan. Then add 2000 ml of
cyclohexane to the solution, and continue the heating with stirring for about an hour. I would think that
toluene could be substituted for the cyclohexane. A little more bromocresol green is added during the
heating period, and after one hour of heating, a little more hydrochloric acid is added dropwise to keep
the pH below 3 . 8 as indicated by the tan color. Continue heating for an additional I y, hours, for a total of
around 2Y, hours of heating.
After the solution has cooled, pour it into about 7000 ml of water, and shake the mixture around for a
hit. Then separate ofT the organic layer floating on top of the water layer. Take the water layer, and
extract it a couple of times with 200 ml portions of cyclohexane or toluene. Add these extracts to the
organic layer which had been separated off. Your product is in there, heavily diluted with solvent.
Take the combined organic layer and solvent extracts, and wash this with about 1000 ml of water.
Drain off the water layer, and repeat the water wash a couple more times.
The solvent-allylbenzene solution is next put into a large distilling tlask, and the solvent is distilled
off. Then the allyl benzene can be distilled as in the previous examples. The yield will be over 1 00 ml of
allyl benzene.
Another good method of making phenylacelOne is to use a method called the Knoevenagel reaction. In
this method, the starting material is benzaldehyde. The advantages to being able to use a wide variety of
starting materials to produce phenylacetone are obvious.
There's just so much stuff to "watch" that the "watchers" can't do a proper job of policing
transactions. In this case, we can all sleep better at night knowing that benzaldehyde, and the other
chemical uscd in this synthetic route, nitroethane, are both on the List I of reportable chemicals.
However, don't let that warm fuzzy feeling of comfort and safety grip you too deeply. Technical grades
of benzaldehyde used for flavorings in food are exempt from reporting. 0il of biller almonds contains
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone
61
95% benzaldehyde, and it may be subject to sales reporting. If one has access to a lot of peach or apricot
or cherry pits, they could be ground up and the benzaldehyde they contain steamed out of them and
collected. The outrage against civil ized values continues with the simple electric oxidation of toluene to
benzaldehyde given later in this chapter.
Nitroethane is a more difficult matter. It finds use in the varnish industry as a solvent for
nitrocellulose, so finding it at a waste exchange is possible. Sending letters to varnish makers similar to
the one given i n Advanced Techniques orC/andes/inc Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture may get
you a castoff drum or pail of it. A fairly easy recipe for nitroethane is also given later in this chapter.
This reaction is fairly easy to do, and is pretty hard to mess up, so long as some basic precautions are
taken. The underground chemist does his best to make sure that his glassware is dry, and the alcohol used
is absolute ( l 00% with no water). He must also do the processing of this material quickly, because the
nitroalkene which is formed in the first phase of this reaction will not keep.
The reaction goes like this:
@-c
·
O
n-Butylamlne
'H + CH:P'zN02 , Benzaldehyde Nitroethane
􀅑 N?2
&-􀅐 1-Pheny\-2-Nitropropene
Amphetamine
HCI .... , ¥
o @-CH􀃾
PhenylBcetone
+ N􀅒
Benzaldehyde reacts with nitroethane in an alcohol solution with n-butylamine catalyst to produce a
crystalline substance called a nitroalkene. This nitroalkene can then be reduced by means of iron and HCl
to produce phenylacetone. The reduction is similar to the use of activated aluminum in the reaction to
produce methamphetamine without the bomb, in that the metal. i n this case iron. dissolves and produces
hydrogen which reduces the nitroalkene. It is not as complicated as it sounds, and is pretty easy to do.
The nitroalkene is first reduced to phenylacetone oxime. which is then hydrolyzed to phenyl acetone.
You may wonder, looking at the structure of the nitroalkene molecule. i f it is not possible to reduce it
directly to the prototype amphetamine. benzedrine. The answer is yes. In fact, one method of making the
psychedelic amphetamines such as MDA is to get the properly substituted benzaldehyde (in the case of
MDA the proper benzaldehyde is called piperonal) and reduce it using a hydrogenation bomb and Raney
nickel. or by use of lithium aluminum hydride. Another good method for reducing the nitroalkene
directly to amphetamine is to use zinc amalgam and hydrochloric acid in alcohol solvent. A still better
method for direct reduction of the nitroalkene to amphetamine is to use palladium black on charcoal in
the champagne bottle hydrogenation bomb seen i n Figure 32 in Chapter Eleven. Directions for making
palladium black on charcoal are found in Chapter Fifteen. A few grams of catalyst per hundred grams of
nitroalkene works nicely. Reaction conditions are room temp at a hydrogen pressure of 30 pounds.
Hydrogenation is complete in 5 to 1 0 hours, and the solvent is 1 90 proof vodka. Best resuIts are obtained
if the nitroalkene is purified by recrystallizing the crude product from alcohol prior to reduction.
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We'll go into some of these direct reductions to amphetamine in some more detail at the end of this
upcoming recipe. The main point to get now is that racemic amphetamine, aka benzedrine, isn't a bad
buzz.
Direct reduction to amphetamine rather than proceeding through phenyl acetone to get meth eliminates
the need to get or make methylamine because the nitrogen atom is already there in place. Amphetamine
also carries a great deal lesser federal penally i f one should happen to get busted. The direct reduction
techniques are just as applicable to the substituted nitroalkenes one so often comes across in making
psychedelic amphetamines as they are to nitroalkene proper.
This reaction is done as follows: Into a clean, dry 3000 ml round bottom flask is placed 400 ml of
absolute alcohol, 20 ml of n-butylamine, 428 grams (407 ml) of benzaldehyde, and 300 grams (286 ml) of
nitroethene. The underground chemist sets up the glassware for refluxing as shown in Figure l O in
Chapter Three. He includes the drying tube with Drierite as shown in Figure 9. He swirls around the flask
to mix the contents, then sets the flask on a hot plate and begins heating it. The water flowing through the
condenser should be fairly cool, to be sure of condensing the alcohol vapors. A good, gentle rate of
boiling is what he aims for. He continues the boiling for 8 hours. The solution will tum yellow.
He makes sure that his chemicals, especially the nitroethane, are of a good grade. Nitroethane is widely
used in the paint and varnish industry as a solvent for cellulose acetate lacquers, vinyl resins,
nitrocellulose, waxes and dyes. I f he has the industrial grade, he first distills it before use. Benzaldehyde
smells like bitter oil of almonds and should be clear. Benzaldehyde is used in flavorings and perfumes.
The benzaldehyde must be reasonably pure as well. Old bottles of benzaldehyde could contain a lot of
benzoic acid formed by reaction with air upon exposure to light. Home brewed benzaldehyde could be
especially prone to oxidation to benzoic acid because traces of metal impurities greatly speed this
reaction. Benzoic acid will neutralize the amine used as the catalyst in this reaction. and prevent it from
occurring. One can remove the benzoic acid by shaking the benzaldehyde with some bicarb solution in
water.
When the eight hours of boiling is done, he turns off the heat and lets the flask cool down. Once
crystals begin to appear, he takes off the condenser and begins stirring the solution with a glass rod. He
continues the stirring, and transfers the flask to a sink of cool water to help speed the cooling. He
continues the stirring until the mass of crystals becomes too thick to stir, or the flask is cooled off. The
idea of the stirring is to prevent the batch from selting into one solid mass of crystals. The crystals should
be yellow in color. Be aware that these crystals may foml slowly or with great difficulty. Just because the
whole mass doesn't immediately tum to slush doesn't mean the batch is a bust. Addition o f a seed crystal
greatly speeds crystallization. Alternatively, cooling the mixture and allowing it to stand for a couple of
days in the cold will generally do the trick. For stubborn cases, adding some water to the reaction mixture
will force crystallization.
He now proceeds to purify this l -phenyl-2-nitropropene. The simplest way to do this is to add ice cold
alcohol to the crystals until a slurry is formed (about 200 ml) and then break up any lumps of crystals
with a glass rod. He then filters the slurry through a large coffee filter and squeezes the mass to force out
as much of the alcohol as possible. Along with the alcohol, he will be removing most of the unreacted
benzaldehyde and nitroethene. The crystals will still be yellow, but they will no longer be sticky and
gooey. If he still smells n-butylamine on them, he may rinse them with alcohol again.
A better way to clean up these crystals is to recrystallize them. In large batches like this one, it is a lot
of work and he must make provisions for exhausting the fumes to the outside to prevent the danger of
explosion, but he will get a cleaner product.
It is done as follows: To the crystals which have been rinsed off with alcohol and returned to a
cleaned, dry 2000 ml round bottom flask, he adds just enough alcohol to dissolve the crystals. This takes
in the neighborhood o f 400 ml of alcohol. Any type of alcohol will do. I f he has access to methanol or
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phen.vlacewne
63
isopropyl alcohol from some industrial source, that will do tine. Alcohol is flammable, so the way he
makes the alcohol hot is to place the flask with the crystals into a pan of hot water, and to begin adding
the alcohol to it. He swirls it around while adding the alcohol and keeps adding alcohol until the crystals
are dissolved.
The result will be a clear yellow solution. Now he records how much alcohol he added and places the
flask on the hot plate and sets up the glassware for simple distillation as shown in Figure 1 1 in Chapter
Three. A 500 ml flask is tine for the receiving flask. He turns on the heat to the solution, begins water
flow through the condenser and distills off about 113 of the alcohol he added to the crystals to dissolve
them. When 1/3 of the alcohol is distilled off, he removes the flask from the heat, and cools it off in cool
water. followed by ice water. He doesn't want to place the flask immediately into ice water. because it
might crack.
Now, as the alcohol cools off, it will no longer be able to dissolve the crystals, and they will re-fonn in
much cleaner shape because the garbage which is polluting them will stay dissolved in the alcohol. Once
the alcohol is cold, he tilters the crystals through a filtering funnel the same way it was described in
Chapter Five. He places the crystals out to dry on a glass or china plate, and returns the yellow alcohol
solution which filtered through to the distilling flask. This solution still contains a good deal of crystals
dissolved in it.
He sets up the glassware as before and distills off another 1 /3 of the alcohol, then cools off the flask as
belore. Once again, crystals will fonn, although they will not be of as high quality as the tirst crop. He
filters them as before, and returns the alcohol to the distilling flask. Now he distills off about V, as much
alcohol as before, then cools off the flask and waits for the crystals to form. This will be his last crop of
crystals. He filters them and sets them out to dry. The total amount of crystals he will get will be about
420 grams.
The underground chemist must now proceed to reduce these crystals of l-phenyl-2-nitropropene to
phenyl acetone. If he lets them sit around, they will begin to polymerize into a black, gooey mess (though
he can delay them going bad by putting them in the freezer).
Into a clean 3000 ml flask, he places 1 64 grams of the nitroalkene crystals he just made. To that he
adds 750 ml of distilled water, 400 grams of cast iron turnings about 1 140 inch in size, and four grams of
iron chloride (FeCI3). The flask is placed in a glass dish or metal pan large enough to hold it, and
cooking oil is added to the dish so that it reaches about half way up the sides of the flask. He places the
flask with the dish of oil onto a hot plate, and heats the oil to about 90° C. He puts a mechanical stirrer
into the flask with a glass rod and Teflon-stirring paddle, and begins stirring the mixture in the flask.
Once the temperature of the contents of the tlask nears 80° C, he measures out 1 50 ml concentrated
hydrochloric acid. He adds it slowly to the flask over a period of 5 hours. The iron will slowly react with
the acid and dissolve, producing hydrogen which will reduce the nitroalkene to phenyl acetone oxime.
The oxime then reacts with more water and HCI to give phenylacetone.
@C..N.C􀅏-C" 3
Nitroalkene
H;:. @CI
Phenylacetone oxime HH2e0l ) @CH:rC􀅎- CH3
Phenylacetone
When the acid has all been added, he removes the flask from the heat and lets it cool down. Then he
mixes up 80 grams of sodium hydroxide or lye in 300 ml of water. Once they have both cooled down, he
adds the sodium hydroxide solution to the 3000 ml flask and swirls it around.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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This makes a whale of a mess, as the sodium hydroxide will react with the dissolved iron salts to make
iron hydroxide sludge. This sludge will be blue-black, but can tum reddish-orange if the iron salts oxidize
10 the ferric state. This sludge is a real bitch to try 10 filter, but it doesn't cause any problem with steam
distillation. Steam distillation is the way to go to get very pure phenylacetone out of this reaction.
To steam distill out the phenyl acetone, rig up the glassware for simple distillation, bore a hole through
a cork and stick some glass tubing through it. Place the cork in the top of the stillhead. Some glass tubing
should protrude out the top of the cork, and the other end of the glass tubing should reach almost to the
bottom of the flask.
Heat the flask to boiling using a pan of hot oil on a hotplate as the heating source. Then attach a line of
plastic tubing to the top of the glass tubing, and run the other end of the tubing to the steam escape vent
of a pressure cooker. Fill the pressure cooker half full of water, and heat it also to boiling. and let the
steam it produces blow through the tubing into the flask. Run the boiling pots at about the maximum rate
that your condenser can convert the steam back to water. Collect the steam distillate in glass gallon jugs.
It will take at least a couple of gallons of water put through the system as steam to steam distill all the
phenyl acetone oul. Continue steam distilling until no more oily droplets of phenyl acetone are noticed
coming over with the steam.
Then take the steam distillate in the glass jugs, add a couple hundred ml of toluene to each, and shake
to extract out all the phenylacetone into the toluene. Using a sep funnel, separate the top layer of toluene
and phenylacetone from the water underneath.
Put this toluene extract containing the phenyl acetone into a distilling flask. rig for fractional
distillation. and as in the examples given in Chapter Three, distill first the toluene-water azeotrope, then
pure toluene. and when that is about gone, apply a vacuum and vacuum distill the phenylacetone. The
yield from this si7.e batch will be around 1 00 ml. The overall yield on the process is about 50%, with
around 65% yield in the Knoevenagel reaction to make the nitroalkene, and about 75% yield in the
reduction and hydrolysis step lIsing the iron and hydrochloric acid.
The steam distillation can be omitted if a lower grade of phenyl acetone is acceptable. In this variation,
lilter the reaction mixture through a plug of angel's hair to remove the iron metal. Then slowly with
strong stirring add the sodium hydroxide solution to the filtered reaction mixture until that nasty iron
sludge just begins to form and stay around rather than quickly redissolving in the acid. That is neutralized
enough. We don't want a mess. Then extract the reaction mixture with a few hundred mls of toluene.
Separate off the toluene-phenylacetone layer (the top layer), and wash it with an equal volume of water,
and then with some 5% NaOH solution.
The toluene-phenylacetone solution should then be put in a distilling flask as in the previous example,
and fractionally distilled to get about 1 00 ml of phenyl acetone just as in the previous examples. This
recipe was taken from Journal a/ Organic Chemistry, Volume 1 5. pages 8- 1 5 ( 1 950). A good review of
this reaction can be found in Organic Reactions, Volume 1 5 .
The question which should natural ly come u p at this point i s "Can I use something other than nbutylamine
as the catalyst for this reaction'?" The answer to that is "yes." See Journal of the American
Chemical Socierv, Volume 56. pages 1 556-8 ( 1 934) for a nice article on the effect of other catalysts on
this reaction. The catalyst has to be a primary amine to get the nitroalkene as the product. Secondary
amines give nitro-alcohols if my memory serves me correctly. So other primary amines can be used in
place of n-butylamine. Methylamine boils at too Iow a temperature, and so would be boiled out of the
reaction mixture using the procedure given above. It does work, however, and the yields are quite good.
To use methylamine as catalyst, the same proportion of ingredients are used as in the previous recipe,
except that roughly the same volume of methylamine free base (25 to 40%) dissolved in alcohol or water
is used instead of butylamine. Then the mixture is heated on a hot water bath to about 50 C with
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone
6 5
magnetic stirring. After about an hour or two of reaction, the mixture is cooled. Then mix in about 5 or 6
ml of glacial acetic acid, and pour the product into a glass baking dish and set it in the freezer to
crystallize. From there, proceed just as in the above example. Then yield should go up to about 70% for
the total process as phenyl acetone.
Dr. Shulgin i n his book PIHKAL uses ammonium acetate with good results on most substituted
benzaldehydes, but not so good on others. I don't know how well it would work on benzaldehyde. The
catalyst has to be soluble in the solution, so trying ammonium acetate in the example just given would be
ok, but in the next recipe for the Knoevenagel reaction, which I will give later in this chapter, the solvent
is toluene. Ammonium acetate doesn't dissolve in toluene, so it's not a possibility there.
A Russian article dating to the 40's, claims that a few drops of ethylenediamine will catalyze this
reaction, at room temperature and in the dark. Are they being straight, or are they lying through their
rotten, stinking teeth? Your Uncle doesn't know. Ethylenediamine is a primary amine, so it should work.
The Journal of the American Chemical Society article tells of the bad effects of using too much catalyst,
so how much ethylenediamine to use? In the above example, 20 ml of n-butylamine is about .2 mole.
Since ethylenediamine has two amino groups per molecule, one would guess that it is twice as active as
n-butylamine. Then . 1 mole of ethylenediamine is about 5Y, ml.
Being able to substitute ethylenediamine into the recipe would be nice, as it is commonly used
industrially. For example, ethylenediamine is a major component of certain types of nickel stripper. This
type of nickel stripper will come as a two-component package. Component number one is a yellow
powder. m-nitrobenzenesulfonic acid. This is the oxidizer for the nickel metal, which dissolves the nickel
and puts it into solution. Component number two is ethylenediamine, which acts as complexor for the
nickel ions, keeping them in solution rather than sludging out. This type of nickel stripper is most favored
for stripping nickel from a copper or brass substrate. A good cover then for getting ethylenediamine from
industrial outlets is to say one is in the business of refinishing jewelry. The gold plate has mostly worn
off this old jewelry, so you strip off the underlying nickel plate to get down to the copper underneath,
then you replate this jewelry with a nice shiny new plate of nickel and gold. People are well pleased with
these refurbished heirlooms.
To get the ethylenediamine, go to the Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory. Look in the back of
the book and look under suppliers of metal stripping solutions. Give them a call and see if they will send
you a sample. If not, then buy a pail of the ethylenediamine component. There may be some water in the
industrial grade ethylenediamine. That's not a problem in the variation of the Knoevenagel reaction
which ]' II be describing later, as water in the solution is removed as the azeotrope in that example. I f
using the first method given above, then i t would b e wise to check for water content by drying the
industrial ethylenediamine over NaOH or KOH pellets and fractionally distilling the material.
The recipe given above allows for the option of direct reduction of the nitroalkene to the amphetamine,
because the nitroalkene is isolated and purified as part of the reaction procedure. There are a variety of
methods which can be used to reduce the nitroalkene to racemic amphetamine, also called benzedrine.
The best and highest yielding procedure uses lithium aluminum hydride in dry ether or THF solvent. If
these materials are available to you, quite a number of examples of this process ean be found in P1HKAL .
It was Or. Shulgin's favorite method for making substituted amphetamines from substituted nitroalkenes,
and ultimately from substituted benzaldehydes. Most of us don't have access to these materials, so let's
just leave that subject right there.
Hydrogenation methods can also be used to do this reduction. For the use of Raney nickel, see
Chemiml Abstracts. Volume 48, column 277 1 , and US Patent 2,636,90 1 . For the USe of palladium or
platinum, see Chemical Abstracts, Volume 7 1 , entry 9 1 049 and US Patent 3,458,576. All of these
methods get around 50'Yo yield of amphetamine from nitroalkene. An 80% yield is claimed in reducing a
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
66
substituted nitroalkene to the substituted amphetamine in Helvetica Chimica Acta, Volume 5 1 , page 1 965
( 1 968), using palladium catalyst with hydrochloric acid as solvent. My German's not too good, so I can't
give you any details other than that they heated the mixture to 85° C and used 1 0% Pd on C at a pressure
of 35 atmospheres. Would the same procedure work on other nitroalkenes? You got me; it's worth a try.
Since all the hydrogenation methods give around 50% yield, one might as well forget about the hassle
of hydrogenation, and go with the clandestine choice for this reduction. That choice is electric reduction
at a copper or lead cathode. The yield in this procedure is about 50% as well, and is much simpler than
the hydrogenation.
The procedure is to be found in US Patent 1 ,879,003. In an appropriate size beaker, cup, plastic pail or
plastic drum, depending upon the batch size, the electric cell shown in Figure 25 should be put together:
loDe .oc
....... H_ .. Ift
.....
"' .....
'-
ee. 1<1 .......
DhI ...
SI"e,
Figure 25
_ .. ,
􀀐 ...... ' ''" . ... .
_"-leI, .CO.. .... .... t-
ID A._
. . . /
BlKtL... d
.. ""'.
--
Figure 16
--. .... - .
DC
Sol':'
The anode should be made out of lead, graphite, platinum, or platinized mesh. It's not particularly
important what the dimensions of the anode are, but it is best if its area comes close to that of the
cathode. Its sale purpose is to push current into the solution. The anolyte serves to carry current from the
anode to the cell divider. The cell divider in this solution should be made of ceramic such as porcelain.
Any glazing on the surface of the ceramic must be removed by sanding or sandblasting, as glaze will
prevent the passage of current. What to use as the cell divider will depend upon batch size. For beakersize
batches, a porcelain tigurine with any glaze and paint removed will work well. I have a little Frosty
the Snowman with porcelain walls about I mOl thick that works just tine in small cells. The paint that
decorated this figure was easily removed to leave what i s basically a white hollow cylinder. For larger
batches, a porcelain cup with the glaze removed would work. For still larger batches, a flower pot with
the holes on the bottom plugged and the glaze removed would work. For drum batches, a toilet reservoir
water tank would function, once the glaze is removed. The thicker the walls of the ceramic the more
voltage that will be required to make the cell divider pass current from the anolyte to the catholyte, and
ultimately the cathode where the reduction takes place. The cell divider is required because contact of the
product amphetamine with the anode would result in its destruction. The reduction solution, called the
catholyte must not cOlllact the anode.
The cathode should be as large as will conveniently tit in the reaction container. The cathode should be
made of lead or copper. It must be clean, and free of dirt. The metal should shine! A "bright dip" is a
good way to clean these metals. It is dilute nitric acid. Brief immersion of the cathode in dilute nitric
followed by a good water rinse will assure that the surface is clean and active. A solution is made up by
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone
6 7
mixing two parts ethanol with one part acetic acid and one part sultiICic acid. This is your catholyte.
Enough should be made to make the catholyte reach nearly to the top of the cathode. The nitropropene
( l -phenyl-2-nitropropene) should then be added to this catholyte. It is added such that one mole ( 1 64
grams of the nitropropene) is dissolved i n two liters of the catholyte. Do not premix the nitropropene into
the catholyte until the reduction is ready to be done.
Anolyte is made by diluting concentrated sulfuric acid to 5% by volume with water. For example, 5 ml
of concentrated sulfuric is diluted to 1 00 ml volume with water. The anolyte is poured into the cell
divider until its liquid level roughly matches the catholyte.
Then stirring is begun and current (DC current, of high quality) pushed through the solution. How
much current? The surface area of the cathode is measured. Only the area on the side facing the anode is
counted. For each square centimeter of surface, .2 amp (200 milliamps) is caused to flow through the
solution. If one has a DC recti tier, the voltage is simply increased until the desired amount of amps flows
through the cell. If using a battery, choose a battery or batteries hooked in a series to give a voltage
sufficient to move the current needed. Increasing voltage increases current flow through the cell. E=IR.
Heat will be produced by pushing current through the cell divider and by reaction at the cathode. The
temperature of the solution should be watched, and not allowed to go over 40° C. External cooling is
good enough for beakers and pails. For a plastic drum, copper pipe run through the solution as a heat
exchanger might be needed as well.
Let's take the example of a one mole batch done i n a 2500-3000 ml beaker. A reasonable size cathode
in this case would measure at least 1 2 em by 6 cm, for a face area of 72 square centimeters. 200
milliamps ( .2 amp) per square centimeter of face gives a required current flow of 1 4.4 amps, shown on
the current meter. The current meter is wired in on the line serving the anode. Fairly heavy wiring, well
beyond that in a set of alligator cl ips, would be needed in this case to carry that much current without
overheating the wiring. For still larger batches, jumper cables would be needed to carry the current.
The reduction of l -phenyl-2-nitropropene to amphetamine is an 8 electron reduction. So the theoretical
amount of current needed to do the reduction is 8 faradays per mole of the nitroalkene in solution in the
catholyte. One faraday is 96,500 coulombs, and a coulomb equals an amp-second. At 1 4.4 amps, one
faraday passes into solution in 6700 seconds. This is 1 .86 hours. Eight faradays flow in just under 1 5
hours. The process isn't 1 00% efficient, however, so at least 1 2, and up to 1 6 faradays will be needed to
do the reduction to completion. This will take 24-30 hours. Increasing the electrode area will allow for
greater currents to be passed, with a proportional decrease in the amount of time needed to do the
reduction. The anolyte may decrease in volume during the course of the reduction, as the water in the
anolyte gets convened to oxygen electrically. Water should be added to that companment of the cell
occasionally to make up for such losses.
When the required amount of current has flowed through the solution, the electrodes can be removed
from the beaker, pail or whatever, and the catholyte, which now contains amphetamine, can be poured
into a distilling flask. The ethanol is then distilled out of the solution. Ethyl acetate is also formed during
the distillation by reaction between the acetic acid and ethanol. This disti l l s off easily as well. A vacuum
assist during the distil lation makes the process go faster, and at a lower temperature.
Thc residue left in the flask after the alcohol and ethylacetate have distilled off consists of a solution of
amphetamine in sulfuric acid and acetic acid. This should be allowed to cool down, then chilled in some
ice. Add to this acid solution sodium hydroxide solution to neutralize the acid. 1 0-20% NaOH or lye in
water is about the proper strength for this sodium hydroxide solution. Adding this to the acid produces a
violent reaction, generating a lot of heat. It should be added slowly with stirring or swirling, taking
breaks to allow the acid solution to cool down during the course of this neutralization. It's going to take
in the neighborhood of a couple of pounds of NaOH or lye added to neutralize all the sulfuric and acetic
acid in the flask, and make the solution strongly alkaline (pH 1 3+ to pH papers). As the neutralization
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
68
nears completion, a layer of amphetamine will start to float on top of the water solution in the t1ask.
When this starts to happen, shaking between adds of sodium hydroxide solution should be done instead
of just stirring or swirling. Then check the pH of the water layer. When it stays pH 1 3+ to pH papers,
enough sodium hydroxide has been added. Add water to dissolve any salts which may have precipitated
out of the solution.
Now to the cooled down solution in the flask add around 200 ml of toluene, and shake some more to
extract the amphetamine into the toluene. Allow the mixture to sit, then separate off the toluene layer
floating on top of the water with a sep funnel. Pour it into a distilling flask, and tirst distill off the
toluene-water azeotrope, then pure toluene, and finally vacuum distill the amphetamine as done in the
previous examples. Amphetamine will distill under a vacuum a few degrees cooler than
methamphetamine. The yield should be i n the neighborhood of 70 ml free base, which is made into the
hydrochloride salt by the usual procedure of bubbling dry Hel through a toluene solution of the free
base. This will yield maybe 70-80 grams of amphetamine hydrochloride.
The following variation of the Knoevenagel reaction will give higher yields of product than the tirst
method. The reason for the higher yield is the use in this method of toluene as solvent, and the placement
of a Dean Stark trap above the t1ask to remove water from the mixture as it is formed. Removal of water
favors the formation of greater quantities of nitroalkene.
To do the reaction, a 1 000 ml round bottom flask is filled, in this order, with 200 ml of toluene, 1 00 ml
of benzaldehyde, 90 grams (86 ml) of nitroethane, and 20 ml of butylamine. It is a good idea to swirl the
flask after adding each ingredient to prevent layers from forming. Next the t1ask is placed on a one
burner electric buffet range with infinite control, and the glassware is set up as shown in Figure 27.
Condenser
Dflan Stan.:
trap
F;gur􀎠 2 7
Water
(oUerts
here
The Dean Stark trap is attached to the flask, and a condenser is attached to the Dean Stark trap. Then
the butTet range is turned on at a heat setting high enough to produce a rapid boiling of the toluene, and
cold water is flowed through the condenser. As the reaction is progressing, the vapors of toluene carry
water along with them, and when they tum back to liquids in the condenser, the water will settle in the
trap portion of the Dean Stark trap because water is heavier than toluene. You will also note a milky
appearance to the toluene due to suspended water in it. The trap portion of the Dean Stark trap is
graduated in milliliters. This allows you to keep track of how much water has been collected. Half of the
water is collected in the first hour, and the full amount ( 1 8 ml) is collected after five hours of boiling.
When this is done, the heat is removed, and the flask allowed to cool. This phase of the reaction has j ust
made the nitroalkene. I f one should wish to collect the nitroalkene for direct reduction to amphetamine.
one just needs to remove the Dean Stark trap, rig the flask for simple distillation as shown in Figure I I ,
and remove the toluene under a vacuum from an aspirator, using gentle heating from a hot water bath. It
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenyia£'e/one
6 9
should be noted that the nitroalkene has a slight tear gassing effect upon the eyes, and also irritates the
skin. Do not use the stuff as a body balm.
If phenylacetone is desired from the nitroalkene, the toluene solution produced in the reaction is used
directly in the next step. Once it has cooled down, it is poured into a 2000 ml 3-necked flask. Then into
the 3-necked flask is added 500 ml of water, 200 grams of iron powder (40 to 1 00 mesh), and 4 grams of
ferric chloride (FeCI3). Into the center neck of the flask is put a mechanical stirrer reaching almost to the
bottom of the flask. There should be a tight seal so that the ensuing vapors of toluene when the flask is
heated do not escape by this route. A good condenser is attached to one of the other necks. and a sep
funnel, or dropping funnel with matching ground glass joint is put into the remaining neck. With
vigorous stirring, the contents of the flask are heated to about 750 C, and 360 ml of concentrated
hydrochloric acid is added to the flask by means of dripping it into the mix through the sep funnel over a
two hour period. The reaction mixture will boil vigorously. The heating and stirring are continued for an
additional half hour after the last of the hydrochloric acid has been added.
Next it is time to get the phenyl acetone out of the reaction mixture. Once the t1ask has cooled down,
the iron is filtered out by pouring it through the plug of angel hair described earlier in this chapter. It is a
good idea to rinse down the trapped iron powder with a dash of toluene to get any clinging phenyl acetone
off of it. Then the toluene layer is separated using a sep funnel. It is poured into a round bottom flask.
The water layer has about 1 00 ml of toluene added to it, and this is shaken to draw suspended
phenylacetone into the toluene. The toluene layer is then separated and added to the aforementioned
round bottom flask. It is then rigged for fractional distillation as shown in Figure 1 3 . The toluene distills
off first as the toluene-water azeotrope at 850 C, and then as pure toluene at 1 1 00 C. Once the toluene is
mostly gone, vacuum is applied, and phenyl acetone is collected at the usual temperature range. The yield
is about 1 20 ml of phenyl acetone.
This recipe was taken from OrganiC Syntheses, Collective Volume 4. Look in the table of contents for
o-methoxyphenylacetone.
Making Shitloads of
Your Own Benzaldehyde
As was mentioned earlier in this chapter, small to moderate amounts of that List I controlled chemical
benzaldehyde are most conveniently obtained by vacuum distilling oil of bitter almonds, which contains
about 95% benzaldehyde, or by similarly distilling technical grade mixtures containing benzaldehyde
used lor flavorings and fragrances. When larger amounts are wanted, such as a gallon or more, then the
recipe which J will give here is the way to go. It is an old industrial process for making benzaldehyde that
gives high yields of product, and produces next to no waste to be disposed of. This process uses the
electrode-generated reagent, Mn+3, to oxidize toluene to benzaldehyde i n very high yield with very few
byproducts. The Mn+ 3 is electrically made from the easily available Mn+ 2 salts. During the reaction, the
Mn+3 is reduced to Mn+2, which can be returned to the process and used over and over again just by
electrically oxidizing it again to Mn+3. I suspect from my correspondence with various sources that this
method is being used with great success by clandestine cookers out there to make loads of benzaldehyde
easily and quickly. This same process can be scaled down to run in a one gallon plastic pitcher using a
car battery charger as the power source.
This method is taken from US Patent 808,095, which dates to 1 905. This process is no longer used
industrially to make benzaldehyde because it has been replaced by the air oxidation of toluene using
various catalysts. That's cheaper for those big manufacturers, but for our purposes here, this method is
better.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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70
The first thing which must be done is to make mangano-ammonium sulfate. This is the substance that
the patent prefers to use as the Mn+2 compound. Other, later work published simply used MnS04 as the
Mn+2 compound, but they talk about using divided cells whereas this procedure can be done in a simple,
undivided cell.
Take a 55 gallon plastic drum, well cleaned with the top cut off. Add 45 liters of water. That's roughly
1 2 gallons of water. Next add around 44 liters of concentrated sulfuric acid, slowly and with stirring. It
will make a lot of heat and the steam coming off the addition will be quite irritating. Stay upwind, and
wear protective gear while taking one's time doing this addition. The standard commercial technical
grade of sulfuric acid will work fine. If one is using a higher strength lab grade sulfuric acid, then the
amount of sulfuric acid added can be cut by a few liters.
Next, while the water is still hot, take 85 pounds of manganese sulfate, and add it to the drum. Stir
until dissolved. Then take about 40 pounds of ammonium sulfate, and add it to the drum. Roughly 100
kilos of the mangano-ammonium sulfate will form in the hot acid solution as the ammonium sulfate is
added and goes into solution. Continue stirring.
Both manganese sulfate and ammonium sulfate are easily available at industrial chemical outlets, and
the technical grade of each chemical is good enough for this purpose. Manganese sulfate generally comes
as the tetra and pentahydrate mixture, and the amount used in this example assumes that this is the
material used. It will come in 50 pound bags for use as a fertilizer ingredient. Ammonium sulfate also
comes in 50 pound bags, and it too is used as a fertil izer ingredient.
One could just usc ammonia if that is more convenient. In that variation, add about 1 2 liters of strong
ammonia to the initial water added to the drum, then increase the sulfuric acid addition by about 1 2 liters.
In that way obtaining ammonium sulfate could be entirely skipped.
Now an electric cell should be constructed. The most suitable container would once again be the
plastic 55 gallon drum, in which the reaction solution was made .. The inner vertical wall of the drum
should be lined with a sheet of lead. It's pretty easy to get lead sheets about Y.i inch thick. I t is sold by
suppliers to electroplaters of chrome. See the Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory for a large
selection of such suppliers. Look under "Anodes - Lead" in the back of the book. Your library should be
able to get this guidebook for you through inter-library loan. One could also page through the trade
magazines Plating and Sur/ilce Finishing or Metal Finishing for ads featuring lead anodes. Typical
sheets will measure 4 fect by 8 fect. One sheet will be plenty, and weigh plenty as well.
The standard 55 gallon drum stands 3 feet tall, and has a diameter of about 22 inches. The inner
circumference is then about 69 inches. Cut a section from the lead sheet measuring a little under 3 feet by
69 inches, put it in the drum, and make this sheet of soft metal line the inside surface of the drum. This
will be your anode, the place at which the Mn+2 gets oxidized to Mn+3.
To get current to flow through this cell, we need a cathode. Start with a copper ring about one foot in
diameter. It should be heavily constructed enough to support the cathode, which in this case is also made
of lead. Cut strips of lead roughly an inch wide and long enough to almost make it down to the bottom of
the drum, or a little under three feet long. You will need ten or twelve of them. These are your cathodes.
Clamp the top of each of them to the copper ring with even spacing. Next take two sections of steel rod.
Each one is two feet long. Wrap them in some heavy plastic, using rubber bands to keep the plastic
tightly wrapped around the rods. These are the supports for your cathode ring. Lay them on top of the
drum, then rest the rings of cathodes on top of these rods. Finally, stick a mechanical stirrer down the
center of the drum, almost reaching the bottom. When done it should look like Figure 28.
Figure 28
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Maki"g Phenylacetone
Lead-lined
inner wall of
ViD rum (to DC Positive)
Lead cathodes
-Ito DC Negative)
Stirrer
FIg"re 29
71
Now begin moderate stirring of the drum contents, and do a calculation. It is time to calculate how
much of the lead sheet anode is submerged by the liquid in the drum. In a typical 55 gallon drum with a
diameter of 2 2 inches, the inner wall of the drum has a circumference of about 69 inches. The amount of
ingredients added will fill the drum about 2/3 full, or to a depth of about 2 feet. This gives roughly 1 600
square inches of lead sheet facing the cathodes. The back side of the lead sheet, of course, shouldn't be
counted. This process works well when around 3 . 5 amps per square decimeter (or about .23 amps per
square inch) of lead anode face in contact with the solution is applied. In this example, around 375 amps
DC should be used. To provide this much DC current, a rectifier must be purchased. Go once again to the
Meta! Finishing Guidebook and Directory or to the trade journals Plating and Surface Finishing or
Mew! Finishing for ads galore by dealers of rectifiers to electroplaters. The general rule of thumb is that
a rectifier will cost about $ 1 for each amp of capacity. For this application, a rectifier able to supply at
least SOO amps should be purchased. One doesn't want to continually max out the rectifier. A rectifier
this size will run on 240 volt 3 phase AC. Fairly heavy wiring will be needed to serve it with power.
The cables going from the positive pole of the rectifier to the anode, and from the cathode ring to the
negative pole of the rectifier, will have to be heavy as well to carry the nearly 400 amps of DC current.
The points at which the cables make electrical contact with the anode and cathode should be clean, and
clamps should be used to tightly make contact at these points. This is important to prevent sparking at
these points, which could ignite the hydrogen gas made at the cathode and the oxygen gas made at the
anode.
With slirring, turn on the rectifier and increase the voltage until the required amount of DC current is
flowing through the cell. Rectifiers used for electroplating have fairly accurate current meters built into
them. Along with the oxygen produced at the anode, the other reaction going on there is oxidation of
Mn+2 10 Mn+3. Continue the flow of current until about 6000 amp hours have passed through the cell.
With a current flow of 375 amps, it will take 1 6 hours to pump 6000 amp hours through the
electrochemical cell. A dark red salt, ammonium managanese alum, (Mn2(S04)3(NH4)2S04), forms as a
result, and ralls out of solution. This is the oxidizer ror the toluene.
During the course of passing current through the electric cell, a fair amount of the water in the solution
gets converted to hydrogen and oxygen. Water should be periodically added to the cell during the passage
of electricity to maintain the original water level. Another point which should be made is that the acid
mist which rises from the anode and cathodes as a result of their fizzing off of hydrogen and oxygen may
coat the sides of the drum and the plastic-coated metal rods supporting the cathode ring. This conductive
fi l m could lead to a short, which would blow a fuse in your rectifier. Placing a few rags under the metal
rods where they touch the drum will prevent this. It is even better to support the cathode ring Irom the
ceiling.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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72
That will eliminate this danger. Contact between the cathodes and the anode must similarly be
prevented. Don't stir too rapidly and cause the easily bent lead cathodes to touch the anode.
Once the required amount of current has flowed through the cell. tum off the current. then pull the
cathode ring out of the drum. Then add 4 kilos (4.6 liters) of toluene. The toluene available at the
hardware store in the paint section is good enough for this reaction. Turn up the speed of agitation to get
the toluene, which would naturally like to float on top of the mixture, down into contact with the Mn+ 3
oxidizer.
The preferred temperature for the oxidation is 50° C. The reaction mixture is likely to be nearly that
warnl at the end of the electrolysis, but it will cool down once the current is turned off. The directions
call for the addition of about 8 liters of additional water during the early stages of the oxidation, so
adding boiling hot water will help to maintain warm reaction conditions. Additional heating may have to
be supplied. Both the temperature of the reaction and the concentration of the sulfuric acid are crucial to
getting good results. Sulfuric acid which is too dilute will give benzoic acid rather than benzaldehyde.
Too concentrated sulfuric acid gives condensation products, or tar.
At the end of two to three hours of stirring, the oxidation of the toluene is complete. The red Mn+ 3 salt
will have redissolved, and a clear solution will be produced once again. One's eye can be the guide to
when the reaction is complete.
The droplets of benzaldehyde churning through the reaction mixture can be extracted by adding about
3 gallons of toluene. and continuing the strong stirring. Then turn off the stirrer, and allow the toluenebenzaldehyde
droplets to rise to the top of the reaction mixture. This top layer can then be separated off,
and distilled in the same manner as all those previous examples. Benzaldehyde boils at 1 78° C at
atmospheric pressure, and at roughly 80° C under a typical good aspirator vacuum of 25 torr or so. The
yield will be around a gallon and a half. The toluene which distills can be reused, of course, in the next
batch. One could also do a simple distillation to remove most of the toluene, then save the residue in a
treezer. Benzaldehyde is very prone to self destruct in storage. Contact with air and light causes it to
oxidize to benzoic acid. Check out U S patent 2,280,3 1 1 for a ful l description of this unfortunate
circumstance. Distillation without a vacuum will give a fair amount of benzoic acid. Steam distillation of
the product will largely avoid this. It is air, light and the presence of metallic impurities which drive the
reaction to make benzoic acid.
To do the next batch, one simply reinserts the cathode ring, checks to make sure that the liquid level in
the drum is about what it was originally, and repeats the electrolysis of the mixture to reoxidize the
Mn+2 back up to Mn+3. In this way, batch after batch can be run with the only feed material needed
being toluene. This is a good way to make lots of benzaldehyde.
To do this reaction in a plastic one gallon pitcher with a car battery charger instead, simply divide all
the additions by 50. Then on one side of the plastic pitcher, place a piece of lead sheet ( tishing lure
sinkers pounded by hammer into a sheet) measuring 5 inches by 8 inches as the anode. This connects to
the red pole of a car battery charger, and offers a face of about 40 square inches. On the other side of the
pitcher, put a considerably smaller lead rod or sheet. On this scale, if most of the lead anode is in contact
with the solution, the current draw should be about \ 0 amps. One must measure the area of the anode
face in solution! Roughly one quarter amp per square inch facing the anode is correct.
A more current efficient and rapid method was worked out by the Japanese. It is to be found i n
Chemical Abstracts Vol. 20, page 339 ( 1 926). This makes use o f a divided cell because both stages o f the
reaction are going to be done simultaneously.
An old and simple way to shield off the lead cathode plus pole is to wrap it in canvas as far as it inserts
in the solution. Rubber bands would be most effective to keep the canvas clinging tightly to the black
pole. Then into a one gallon container they put 1 00 grams of MnS04 in 1 000 ml of 55% sulfuric acid. I
Chapter Nine
Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone
73
am assuming that these portions are by volume since the original lit was written in Japanese. Then they
added 250 ml of toluene and passed current while keeping the temperature at 50 to 55C with strong
stirring. They did not use the mangano-ammonium sulfate salt, which catches the M n at the plus 3 state.
They simply used manganese sulfate. Generally with manganese sulfate, if it was used as such, it
would form Mn02. This would be disastrous to yields, as this material gives horrendous results. Check
out J. Chern. Soc. Vol. 9 1 or Chemical Abstracts Vol. I pages 995 or 1 400 for the Perkin papers detailing
how toluene reacts with Mn02.
This Japanese procedure has to work by catching the M n on its way to plus three state and using it
right then before it gets bumped up to plus 4. They got much higher amp hour OlltputS. With good stirring
they used the excess of toluene in solution and passed current for about 5 hours before shutting it down.
They then collected the toluene and benzaldehyde layer and distilled to get their product. A more recent
Patent. Indian Patent 62,426 should be checked out if you can find it.
Smaller scale experimenters working in a one gallon plastic pitcher would no doubt find it very
wasteful to try to find 50 pound bags of manganese sulfate, just to feed a pound and a half or so of it into
the small scale reaction. I have come up with a simple and very low profile method of producing your
own manganese sulfate trom hardware store materials.
One starts with potassium permanganate. This substance is found at the hardware store, and it is sold
to clean iron and other unwanted materials out of sand fi lters. Take roughly a pound and a half to a pound
and three quarters of the potassium permanganate and place it into a clean 5 gallon plastic pail. Add
about a gallon of water, and stir until all of the permanganate has dissolved to make a deep purple
colored solution. Next add roughly 1 00 ml of sulfuric acid, and stir this in. Now to reduce the
pennanganate to the plus two state of manganese sulfate, we use sodium bisulfite or metabisulfite. This
material is found at home brewing supply stores, where it is sold to disinfect and clean brewing kettles.
Roughly a pound and a half of sodium bisulfite is needed to react with each pound of permanganate.
In an outdoor location with a breeze, slowly and with stirring add the bisulfite to the permanganate
solution. The reaction makes a lot of heat and fumes sulfur dioxide. The latter is the reason for doing the
addition outdoors. The additions should be done in small portions with stirring, and as the heat builds up
in the solution, one should take breaks to let it cool back down. A wooden stick is a good choice for the
stirrer.
As the permanganate is being reduced, the first substance which forms is manganese dioxide. This will
color the solution brown, and make it very thick and hard to stir. As more bisulfite is added to the
mixture, it begins to thin out as the Mn02 reduces to manganese sultate. Finally a transparent pink
colored solution of manganese sulfate will be produced. That is when enough bisulfite has been added
and the reaction is complete.
Next the solution must be simmered down so that it can produce a sufficiently strong sulfuric acid
solution in the electric reaction cell. If one has a large pyrex beaker, that is ideal. One could substitute a
glass baking dish instead. Either way, the solution must be simmered down until a slush of manganese
sulfate crystals is fonned as the water is simmered away. These can be then added to the one gallon
plastic pitcher as the source of manganese sulfate.
To make lots of nitroethane, see the simple directions given in the Journal of the Chemistrv Society of
London, 1 944, pages 24-25. An alternative procedure is the reaction between nitric acid and ethane
found in Oil Gas Journal Volume 54 no. 36 pages 1 1 0-1 1 4 ( 1 956). These processes are clandestine
suitable, but getting a pail or drum ready-made would be quite a bit easier.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
74
Phenylacetone from Hydratropic Aldehyde
There is another phenyl acetone recipe that looks pretty good. I haven't heard of a lot of usc of this
method in clandestine chemistry, but it is simple and creates phenyl acetone in one step from
commercially available materials. The biggest problem with this procedure is that the starting material
from which the phenyl acetone is made, hydratropic aldehyde, isn't very widely used commercially. It
tinds some use in perfumery, but massive amounts of it aren't used. A jive gallon pail might be the
largest quantity that one could reasonably obtain through normal commercial channels. To obtain this
chemical, one wou Id probably be best advised to go to one of the perfumery trade publ ications mentioned
throughout this book and in Advanced Techniques 0/ Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine
Manufacture and look through the trade journals for ads from chemical suppliers. Then disguise yourself
as a perfumer, and order some.
To do this reaction, one only needs a beaker, or some other glass container. Into the beaker put 400 ml
of concentrated sulfuric acid. Then measure out 90 grams of hydratropic aldehyde, also known as 2-
phenyl propanol, or as methyl-phenyl-acetaldehyde. Cool the sulfuric acid down to _ 1 60 C using an ice
bath to which either salt or alcohol has been added to further chill down the ice. When the sulfuric acid
has cooled down to _ 1 60 C, slowly with stirring add the hydra tropic aldehyde over a period of about one
hour. Maintain the cold temperature of the mixture throughout the addition of the aldehyde, then let the
mixture react for an additional 1 5 minutes after all the aldehyde has been added. Don't let the temperature
fall much below - 1 6 C, or the hydratropaldehyde will freeze in the reaction mixture and will fail to
convert to phenylacetone. The following reaction, which is just a rearrangement of the aldehyde
molecule, takes place:
o
" C-H H􀅍04 @ -􀂢 -H )
CH3
HydrotropIc aldehyde
o
@o -CHZC" CH3
Phenylacetone
After the additional 1 5 minutes of reaction, the sulfuric acid solution is then poured onto about 5
pounds of cracked ice. The whole mixture is then allowed to come to room temperature. As the ice melts,
an oily liquid and some gummy goo are formed. Extract the water with about 300 ml of toluene. This will
pull the phenyl acetone into the toluene. Separate the toluene layer from the diluted sulfuric acid. A large
sep funnel would be the best tool for this job. The toluene will be floating on top of the water. Wash the
toluene/phenylacetone solution with some water. and then with some bicarbonate dissolved in water.
This will remove any sulfuric acid which has been carried over. Finally distill off the toluene, and
vacuum distill the phenyl acetone. The yield will be around 60 ml of phenyl acetone. Not a bad procedure
i I' you can get the hydratropic aldehyde.
Should hydratropic aldehyde become a "listed chemical", it would still be pretty easy to set up large
scale production or this substance using commonly available chemicals. Hydratropaldehyde
can be made in fairly good yield from cumene, which is a cheap and readily available commercial solvent
and chromyl chloride. The procedure is called the Etard Reaction, and can be done in a variety of
solvents such as carbon tetrachloride or chloroform. For a review of this reaction, see Chemistry Reviews
Volume 58, pages 1 -60 ( 1 958). Chromyl chloride is pretty easily made from chromium trioxide and
hydrochloric acid. For details on this method, see Inorganic Syntheses, Volume 2 page 205 ( 1 946). I must
forewarn you that chromyl chloride is a nasty and fuming chemical which must be handled with respect.
In spite of that, putting together a large scale phenyl acetone factory by this method wouldn't be very hard
to do. Expect to read in depth details in an upcoming second edition of Advanced Techniques . . . .
Chapter Ten
Psychedelic Phenylacetones from Essential Oils
75
Chapter Ten
Psychedelic Phenylacetones from Essential Oils
Question: "Hey Fester, are they putting some kind of inhibitor in the sassafras oilry I've tried the nitrite
oxidation of safrole you give in Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture and Practical LSD
Manu/iu.'ture. I've used both palladium chloride and the mixed catalyst of palladium chloride and copper
chloride, and I 've tried both ethyl and methyl mtnte as oxidant. My yield of
methylenedioxyphenylacetone is miniscule. This is frustrating, and costly. I hate sticking my neck out
risking a bust and not getting the phenylacetone I need to make that X. I can read the patent you cite as
well as you, and I see that you have faithfully presented the patent contents. What givesry" - The Iceworm
For years in my books, a recipe taken from U S Patent 4,638,094 issued to Ube Laboratories in Japan
has been presented. In the patent, the inventors claim a 90% yield of phenyl acetones from allylbenzenes
using Pd chloride catalyst, and methyl or ethyl nitrite in alcohol solution.
Sinee allylbenzene isn't a very common chemical, this procedure wasn't of much significance to meth
cookers. However, substituted allyl benzenes are very common in essential oils, and these substituted
allylbenzenes can be converted to the phenyl acetones to be used to make psychedelic amphetamines like
MOA or MOMA. Boy, was that a good patent!
One problem however, When people tried pUlling the patent into practice, the 90% yields claimed
turned into yields of about 5% in reality. "Oh, what an abortion'" to quote from the old guy who taught
me the art of electroplating. We used to say that when a part failed to plate properly. Now, like that great
old guy, it's time for that recipe to be laid to rest.
So what's up with the people at Ube Laboratories and their bogus patent claims'? Your guess is as good
as mine. It cost them a boatload of cash to come into a foreign country and file a patent roughly forty
pages long with 1 5 claims. I see that they are still publishing papers i n the scientific literature dealing
with related reactions. Was this part of some nefarious disinformation scheme? Your Uncle hopes that
researchers are not so easily bent to such purposes.
Luckily, there are at least a couple of related procedures that do give the desired phenylacelOne in
yields that make the process useful. My hat goes off to the folks out there who took the general methods
published, and demonstrated their effectiveness. Method number one is to be found in Organic
Svntheses, Volume 62, in a recipe titled "A General Synthetic Method for the Preparation of Methyl
Ketones From Terminal Olefins: 2 Oecanone."
Here we just take the general method published, and substitute in otlr allylbenzene for the terminal
olefin used in the recipe. Other than that, the procedure is followed word for word. This process can be
scaled up or down as desired to make batches of whatever size. This procedure requires chemical
glassware, and getting that equipment is getting to be more and more of a challenge. In particular, a
dropping or addition funnel with pressure-equalizing side arm is needed. This bit of equipment looks like
your typical sep funnel, but some glass tubing runs from below the valve of the sep funnel up into the
reservoir of the sep funnel. This bit of equipment is needed because the reaction is done under pressure,
and to get the allyl benzene such as safrole obtained from sassatras oil to drip down into the reaction
mixture, its flow can't be fighting against the pressure inside the reaction vessel. Such a dropping funnel
will cost about $ 1 50 for a 500 ml capacity, and it is prone to breakage if handled roughly. Replacing it
could be a hassle, so take care.
Dimethylformamide is used as the solvent for this variation of the reaction. This is not at present a
particularly risky chemical to obtain. [t also has a variety of industrial uses, such as a solvent for Orion,
and it's also added as solvent in paints and similar coatings that require a bake cure cycle. In particular,
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it's a major component of the thinner for Xylan, the Teflon-based paint whose application and use i s
detailed in my book Vestbusters. Listen u p clandestine cookers' Having trouble getting glassware"
Coating your own homemade metal reaction vessels with Teflon or Teflon-based paint will give chemical
resistance similar to glass, while avoiding all the heat the enemy has associated with buying glassware.
One also needs palladium chloride as catalyst for the reaction. This is an expensive chemical to buy,
and is no doubt the subject of ever increasing scrutiny by the heat. This is especially true since PdC 1 2 is
used to make palladium catalyst for the hydrogenation of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or
phenylpropanolamine to amphetamine or methamphetamine. Hydrogenation is looking like the way
clandestine cookers should be moving now that iodine and red phosphorus have gotten so "hot," so I'd be
very wary of buying palladium chloride from lab chemical suppliers. See Advanced Techniques of
Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture tor a very simple and good procedure for making
your own palladium chloride from an ingot of palladium. It's much cheaper, and safer. The local photo
shop may also have palladium chloride, as it is used to produce speciallized photographic effects.
The other chemicals used in this process are no problem to obtain. Cuprous chloride (CuCl) or cupric
chloride (CuCl2) is used as a co-catalyst in the reaction. Getting either one of them will present no
problem. Cuprous chloride is better in the reaction than cupric chloride because it has fewer tendencies to
ch lorinate the product. It costs a lot more than cupric chloride, though, and is less commonly used than is
cupric chloride, so cupric chloride may be the best choice. Oxygen gas used to keep the catalyst active is
easily obtained in cyl inders at the welding supply shop, or even at the pharmacy. Say you are getting it
for your Grandfather, who was too winded to make the trip down to the store himself. To do a convenient
and productive one mole batch, one starts with a three-necked flask of about 2000 ml volume. Yes, I
know how difficult they are to obtain these days. A copper fabricated replica coated on the inside with
Tellon or Teflon-based paint like Xylan 1 006 will give good service. See Vesthusters to learn how to
order and apply these materials. After application and bake cure, check the inside with a dentist's m irror
to make sure that the coating is in good shape. Copper metal has been chosen here to allow the use of
magnetic stirring. There are color changes in the solution to be watched and followed, so glassware is
very certainly preferred.
This batch size is about the upper limit of what can be done with the usual magnetic stirrer and
commercially available stir bars. For larger batches, one of those super strong Edmund Scientific
magnets coated with some Teflon or Teflon-based paint will allow good stirring of the contents.
For still larger batches, replacing the magnet in the stirrer with one of those super strong Edmund
Scientific magnets will push the limit up some more.
Now into the three-necked flask, put 700 ml of dimethylformamide and 1 00 ml of water. Follow that
with 1 7.5 grams of PdCI2 and either 98 grams of cuprous chloride or 1 70 grams of cupric chloride
dihydrate. Put the addition funnel with pressure-equalizing side arm in the center neck of the flask.
Attach a gas line from the oxygen cylinder to one of the outer necks, and to the other outer neck, attach a
large toy balloon. Into the addition funnel, put one mole of allyl benzene. For example, 1 50 ml of safrole
is one mole. Safrole is 80-90% of sassafras oil, and i f one really wanted to be lazy, one could just use the
sassafras oil as is. It's better to fractionally distil l the o i l to get a nice c lear safrole feed for the reaction.
The impurities in the oil interfere with the reaction and lower the yield. Wire a stopper in place on the
addition funnel so that it doesn't blow its lid when pressurized. Similarly, wire the connections on the
two outer necks of the Ilask in place, and wire the addition funnel down so that it doesn't blow off.
Now begin stirring, and feed enough oxygen pressure into the vessel so that the balloon inllates.
Continue stirring lor one hour to allow the solution to absorb oxygen. If the balloon dellates, just pipe
more oxygen into the Ilask.
After one hour of stirring under oxygen, begin slowly dripping the allylbenzene such as safrole into the
solution. Stirring must be efficient during the addition. I ' m not sure if safrole dissolves well in
Chapler Tell
Psychedelic Phellylacelolle., from Esselltial Oils
7 7
dimethylfonnamide. I f it does, then cutting the safrole i n half with D M F would help to make sure the
addition is done slowly enough. For this size batch, the addition of the safrole or other allylbenzene
should take 30 minutes to an hour.
As the allylbenzene is added to the solution, it turns black, then atter a few hours, it works its way
back to green. The balloon should be kept inflated with oxygen during the course of the reaction. Stir the
mixture for 24 hours.
The following reaction takes place, illustrated for the reaction with safrole, but all allyl benzenes
behave similarly:
OXYGEN
Sefrole
􀂡 0
O-@-CH2 C CH3 +
M-D-Phenylecetone (50%)
􀃼􀃽f
O-@-CH-CH2-CH3
Isosefrole (50%)
)
After the 24-hour reaction period, the oxygen pressure can be released, the stirring stopped. everything
disassembled, and the reaction mixture is poured into 3000 ml of 3N hydrochloric acid solution (one part
concentrated hydrochloric acid, 3 parts water).
The acid solution should then be extracted a few times with 300 ml portions of toluene. The products
will extract into the toluene, and the extracts should be pooled together for further purification. The
catalyst stays in the dilute hydrochloric and it can be recovered by boiling away the acid. The last part of
this boil down should be done under a vacuum to protect the catalyst from burning.
We return to our products. In the toluene extracts, one can expect to be contained about a 40-50% yield
of the phenylacetone. If safrole was used in the reaction, that would be methylenedioxyphenylacetone.
The other product obtained would be a 40-50% yield of the propenylbenzene. In the same case using
safrole. that propenylbenzene would be isosafrole. This propenyl benzene is not a waste. It can be used to
make the phenylacetone as well. For instance, one could look in PIHKAL on page 734 for the procedure
using hydrogen peroxide and fonnic acid in acetone solution to convert the propenyl benzene to the
phenyl acetone. I did this reaction once and really hated it. The directions call for removing all the
volatiles from the reaction mixture under vacuum when the batch is done. This destroyed my aspirator.
Peroxyfomlic acid is a bitch on meta l !
Alternatively, one could go the second edition o f m y book Practical LSD Mam/factLlre, and choose
from the methods given there for converting propenyl benzenes to the phenylacetone. I am partial to the
electric cell method, tirst converting the propenyl benzene to the epoxide, and then rearranging to the
phenyl acetone.
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o uO􀃨-'F
..
)
LII
)
To read more about this reaction method, see Journal o(Organic ChemisTry, Volume 46, pages 33 1 2-
1 5 ( 1 98 1 ) and Volume 49, pages 1 830-32 ( 1 984). Note that in these papers, they used a platinum cathode
instead of stainless steel, and so got partial reduction of the epoxide. Lithium iodide isn't the only
substance that will bring about the rearrangement of the epoxide to the phenylacetone.
􀂠 0 O-@-CH-CH-CHa Epoxide
Od'-f@- CH2 C􀃧 CIi:! M-D-Phenylacetone
Another way of doing the electric cell method of turning the propenyl benzene into phenylacetone is
given in the Journal o( Organic Chemistry article, Volume 49. If, at the conclusion of passing current
through the reaction mixture, a little I % solution of sulfuric acid is added and stirred for an hour, the
product of the cell is 98% yield of the same glycol by the formic acid and peroxide method. A much
quicker, easier, and higher yielding reaction. The glycol is then made into phenyl acetone by the usual
method given by Shulgin in PIHKAL, page 734. Heating with a sulfuric acid solution turns the glycol into
the phenyl acetone.
We digress. We still have the toluene extract of the reaction mixture. It contains the phenyl acetone and
(he propenylbenzene. Both are valuable and must be recovered. How to do it, depends upon batch sizes
and how much equipment the clandestine cooker has available.
For reasonable size batches, such as the one given in this example, the simplest way to separate the two
substances is by distillation under a vacuum. A c1aisen adapter packed with broken pieces of glass, and
insulated on the outside by wrapping with aluminum foi l provides good separation. The toluene-water
azeotrope will distill tirst, thereby drying the solution. Then pure toluene will distill. The toluene can be
recycled to extract the next batch. When the toluene is almost all distilled off (there will be a little over
1 50 ml of high boiling liquid left in the distilling t1ask, and the rate of toluene distillation will slow and
Chapler Ten
P,ychedelic Phenylacelones from E.sunlial Oils
79
the temperature shown on the thermometer will rise above the 1 1 00 C boiling point of toluene), then the
heat should be turned off the mixture, and once cooled down a bit, vacuum can be applied. The vacuum
should be applied cautiously at first, in spurts, to allow the vacuum induced boiling to cool the contents
of the flask further. Then ful l force vacuum can be applied, and a vacuum distillation commenced.
Boiling chips made from a pumice footstone will work on sassafras family compounds, but an oil bath
must be used to heat the flask. Direct heating on a hot plate surface will cause bumping during
distillation. With meth and regular phenyl acetone, even direct heating like that doesn't cause bumping
during distillation.
Once the toluene has been removed under a vacuum, the receiving flask should be changed to catch the
propenylbenzene, such as isosafrole in this example. A good aspirator using cold water will distill it at
about 1 2()0 C. The yield of it will be somewhere around 75 mi. After changing receiving flasks, the
phenylacetone will then distill around 1 55-1 6()O C under that same good vacuum. If the water where you
live has a temperature akin to urine, then these boiling points will be correspondingly higher. The yield
of phenyl acetone will also be around 75 ml.
The phenyl acetone is then of course used to make the amphetamine. To make meth from
phenyl acetone, just pick out any of the methods given in this book. Ditto for MDMA. To make MDA
from the phenylacetone, the best method is hydrogenation using Raney nickel catalyst as described in U S
Patent 3 , 1 87,047.
If you would like to check out this whole topic being discussed at incredible length, go to
www. lycaeum.orgJ-strike. I hosted the web site there for a month or two in the most foolhardy act
anyone has talked me into for ages. While you're there, you might as well pick up Strike's book on this
same topic. It's well worth the $25. Just promise your Uncle that you won't even consider using the
methods in his book using mercury.
Another way of doing this same reaction dispenses with the need for the special dropping funnel, the
chemical glassware, and all the dancing around required to use oxygen under pressure. One can do this
reaction in a beaker, or any other glass or Teflon-lined container, if the oxygen for the reaction is
supplied by hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is a fairly common industrial chemical. It comes in
55 gallon drums at a price ranging from 40 to 80 cents a pound for 30-35% hydrogen peroxide. A guy
named Peter Card used to sell quarts and gallons mail order at a j acked up price for alternative health
uses. Check alternative health publications to see if he or somebody else is still in business. In any case,
30-35% hydrogen peroxide is a commonly used substance not requiring one to do business with chemical
supply houses such as Aldrich.
To do this variation, let's consider the same one mole size batch. 700 ml of dimethylformamide is
placed in the beaker, followed by 1 00 ml of 30-35% hydrogen peroxide. The catalyst is next added with
strong stirring, and a drip of the allylb enzene such as safrole is commenced into the solution. 1 50 ml of
sa Ii-ole is added over one half to one hour as in the previous example, and the stirring continued for 24
hours as in the previous example. Then, just as before, the reaction mixture is poured into 3N
hydrochloric acid solution, and the product extracted out using toluene. I like to use toluene as extractant
whenever possible because it is available at the hardware store in the paint thinner section, and it doesn't
smell much.
So here once again we have the toluene extract containing the phenylacetone and propenyl benzene.
Let's use this opportunity to check out another way to separate the propenylbenzene from the
phenylacetone. This way is preferable if really big batches are being done, or if access to chemical
glassware for vacuum distilling is denied you. The first thing which should be done is to distill off the
toluene as in the previous example. A homemade still could do this job quite well. Be careful of fire
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hazards when constructing it. Use electric heating to warm the pot. Make sure the toluene vapors get
condensed and cooled well. Supply ventilation to keep flammable fumes from binding up. When the
toluene has distilled, the propenyl benzene and phenylacetone mixture can be drained from the still by
opening a drain or spigot on the bottom of the distilling pot.
Now this mixture can be separated by fanning the bisulfite addition product of the phenylacetone.
Sodium bisulfite or sodium metabisulfite is widely used in brewing to disinfect the brew vessels. and in
vinting to keep the wine from spoiling. A few pounds on up is easily gotten at brew supply shops. It is
cheap. One hundred to 1 50 grams will be plenty for this size batch. Add water to the 1 50 grams of
bisultite with stirring to make a saturated solution. This requires 500 ml of water.
Add the phenylacetone and propenyl benzene mixture to the saturated bisulfite solution, and shake or
strongly stir for a few hours. Heavy masses of the bisulfite addition product with phenylacetone form i n
solution as crystals. Aller the reaction time i s finished, they can be filtered out and rinsed down with
some toluene. The filtrate will consist of a layer of the propenyl benzene in toluene from the rinse floating
on top of the bisulfite solution. This top layer should be separated off, washed with some water and the
toluene evaporated away to give the propenyl benzene in about 75 ml yield. If safrole was used in the
reaction, then the isosafrole thereby obtained will smell like licorice.
The crystals of bisultite addition product should be placed in a boiling flask rigged for retlux along
with about a quart of a saturated solution of sodium carbonate or bicarbonate. Ann and Hammer baking
soda or baking powder will work just fine. Reflux for a couple of hours to regenerate the phenylacetone
tram the bisulfite addition product. Cool, and separate off the phenylacetone. Extracting the bicarb
solution with toluene will prevent any loss of product. Mix the toluene extract with the phenyl acetone,
distill off the toluene, and the residue is pure phenylacetone. If you are familiar with the smell of
phenylacetone, you will instantly recognize it as product. Methylenedioxyphenylacetone smells almost
exactly like regular phenylacetone in its pure state. Sometimes scams are run, selling people the MDphenyl
acetone, telling them it's regular phenylacetone. In this case, the phenylacetone is likely to smell a
little like the candy shop stuff it was made from. The yield in this case of phenylacetone will be around
75 m!.
Obtaining dimethylfonnamide can be an obstical to people contemplating this route of production. If
that is the case, it is easily replaced with alcohol. The preferred alcohols to use in place of the formamide
are 1 90 proof vodka and 9 I % isopropyl alcohol. The latter material can be picked up off the shelf at the
drug store. There needs to be some water in the mixture for the reaction to go, and these two alcohols are
the most easily available and non-toxic choices.
To do a run using thc alcohol solvent i nstead of formamide, the same equipment and procedures as
used in the last two examples are followed, except that the formamide is replaced with the alcohol
solvent, and only cupric chloride can be used as co-catalyst. From there, it works exactly the same,
except that the yield of product is closer to 70%. The reaction also seems to go faster in alcohol.
What would seem to be a much better method of doing this conversion of the allyl benzene to the
phenyl acetone is to be found in Journal of Organic Chemistry, Volume 45, pages 5390-92 ( 1 980). In this
paper they found that t-butyl alcohol is a much better solvent for doing the palladium catalyzed oxidation
of the terminal olefin to methyl ketone. This is good, as t-butyl alcohol is a common and cheap industrial
chemical. Fifty-five gallon drums of it are no problem to obtain at all.
In this solvent, palladium chloride can't be used; rather palladium diacetate is the preferred catalyst,
and just a tiny amount of it does wonders. Later, I ' l l tell you how to make your own palladium diacetate
from an ingot of palladium metal.
In their procedure, they mix a liter or so of t-butyl alcohol with the tenninal alkene, such as, for
instance, safrole. About one mole of sa fro Ie ( 1 50 ml) in the liter of t-butyl alcohol would be a good mix.
This mixture is heated to about 800 C in any glass or Teflon-coated reaction vessel. Then a gram and a
Chapler Tell
P.
81
half of pal1adium diacetate is added to the reaction mixture. After adding that, about 500 ml of 30-35%
hydrogen peroxide is added dropwise over a 30 minute period with good stirring. The temperature of the
reaction mixture is maintained at around 80° C for about 6 hours, and an orange-colored solution should
result. If during the addition of the peroxide, it looks like the safrole or product phenylacetone is coming
out of solution, then just add some more t-butyl alcohol solvent.
After the six hour reaction time, cool the mixture and pour it into 5000 or so ml of water. The product
phenylacetone should float to the top as a yel10w layer. Separate it off, and extract the t-butyl alcohol and
water solution with a few portions of toluene. Add the toluene extracts to the main body of the
phenylacetone, and wash a few times with 5% NaOH solution to remove t-butyl alcohol. Distilling
should give over 80% to near 90% yield of phenylacetone. I know the first three methods given here in
this chapter work. This one should too.
Making Palladium Diacetate
The best ways to make pal1adium diacetate involve dissolving some of a palladium ingot in nitric acid
to make a solution of palladium nitrate in nitric acid or anodical1y dissolving some of a palladium ingot
in hydrochloric acid, as described in Advanced Techniques of Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine
Manufacture, to make palladium chloride in hydrochloric acid. The acid is neutralized by slowly adding
sodium hydroxide solution with good stirring, then the addition of some more sodium hydroxide solution
precipitates the palladium as hydroxide. The hydroxide sludge is separated from the liquid and then
reacted with acetic acid to make palladium diacetate. See Chemistry and industry ( London) 1 964, page
544 and US Patent 3,3 1 8,89 1 .
For example, let's take that convenient and productive one mole size batch which uses about I y, grams
of palladium acetate as catalyst. To prepare the catalyst for this batch, one would take an ingot of
palladium (obtained from the neighborhood coin and precious metal dealer), and dissolve away about .75
grams of the ingot either by immersing the ingot in nitric acid, or anodically dissolving it in hydrochloric
acid.
One then takes the acid solution containing the dissolved palladium, and slowly with strong stirring
adds a 5- 1 0% solution of sodium hydroxide to the acid. One must keep the temperature of the solution
below 60° C during the addition of the hydroxide, as higher temperatures will produce a polymeric metalhydroxide
sludge which is useless for producing catalyst. Nestle the acid beaker in ice or cold water to
keep the temperature of the solution down while the acid is being neutralized.
Using a pH meter, keep track of the pH of the acid solution during the addition of sodium hydroxide
solution. Once the pH of the solution nears 7, a sludge of palladium hydroxide will start to form.
Continue adding sodium hydroxide solution with stirring until a pH of l O is reached. It does no harm to
overshoot this pH, within reason. For example if a p H of I I is produced, no harm will be done. No more
than 1 5 minutes should be taken to move the p H of the solution from about 3 or 4 up to 1 0 or I I . Most of
the sodium hydroxide solution will be used in neutralizing the initially strong acid with a starting pH
below I , to get the pH up around 3 or 4. Comparatively little sodium hydroxide will be needed to move
the pH tram 3 or 4 up to 1 0. The movement of the p H reading from 3 or 4 up to about 1 0 must be done
quickly to prevent the formation of a polymeric hydroxide sludge.
When a pH of 1 0 or so is reached, a precipitate of palladium hydroxide will form in the solution. These
tiny particles will settle to the bottom of the beaker with time. Decant off the clear water solution, and
wash the sludge with four 25 ml portions of distilled water. The sludge is suspended in the clean water,
then allowed to settle out. and the water rinse is decanted off. Finally, using a Buchner funnel and source
or vacuum, the palladium hydroxide sludge is filtered out of the last water rinse, and sucked to a semi-dry
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filter cake. A reasonably fine grade of laboratory filter paper will catch all the palladium hydroxide. The
water filtrate should be clear.
Next, add the semi-dry palladium hydroxide filter cake to about 20 ml of glacial acetic acid, and stir
for about 2 hours at 800 C. This will form a solution of palladium acetate in acetic acid. This solution can
be added to the batch as catalyst. If the solution stands around for a while in the cold, yellow needle-like
crystals of palladium acetate will form. This too can be used as catalyst, so long as all the crystals get
rinsed into the reaction solution.
Electric Oxidation of
Propenylbenzenes to Phenylacetones
Question: "I've tried the electric cell procedure you gave in Practical LSD Manufacture a number of
times. My yield of phenyl acetone is OK, but no better than what I can get by the old formic acid and
peroxide in acetone method. I took a look at the European patent you cited in the book, and it seems I ' m
following the directions. Why am I not getting the near 1 00% yields claimed in the patent?" - Puzzled in
Holland
Answer: This isn't a case of a bogus patent. This procedure is the real McCoy. See also Journal of
Organic Chemistry, Volume 46, pages 3 3 1 2-33 1 5 ( 1 98 1 ) and Volume 49, pages 1 830-32 ( 1 984) for
confirmation of the excellent results. Sigeru Torii, the author of the Journal of Organic Chemistry
articles is no lightweight either. He is highly respected in the field of electrochemistry.
Let's start by getting you some good quality graphite rods or bar stock to use as anodes for this
reaction. Those welding supply shop carbon rods aren 't the best for doing electrochemistry with. The
following list of suppliers taken from the Metal Finishing Guidebook is only a partial listing of all the
suppliers of these good quality graphite anodes. If they should happen to ask, say you use these graphite
anodes in a Wood's nickel strike, which you use to electroplate on top of stainless steel. Plating suppliers
aren't a suspicious lot, so no problems should result from buying graphite anodes.
Atotech I -800-752-􀽽464
MGP 2 I 6-459-08 I 7
Plating Supplies 4 I 3-786-2020
Sifco 2 1 6-524-0099
Technic 40 1 -728-7081
Unique Industries 203-735-875 1
Univertical 3 1 3-49 1 -3000
The next thing to line you up with is a good source of DC current. A toy train transformer or other
cheap transformer just doesn 't tum out a "clean" enough DC output. These cheapie DC sources have
what is called "AC ripple." This is AC current superimposed upon the DC output. If you hook such a
cheap DC source to an oscilloscope, you will see on the screen the so-called "picket fence" output. This
won't do.
A good source of DC current for electric reactions is a Hull Cell rectifier. These are very commonly
used by electroplaters to do test plating runs in the lab, and to troubleshoot their plating baths. The output
is easily varied from zero to over 20 volts DC, and will commonly put out up to around 1 5 amps. They
generally have pretty accurate gauges on them which measure the voltage and amperage flowing at any
given time. New, they go for around $500 to $600. Some major suppliers of these rectifiers are:
Chapter Ten
Psychedelic Phenylacetones from Essential Oil .•
Larry King Corp. 7 1 8-48 1 -874 1
Kocour 773-847- 1 1 1 1
Plating Test Cell Supply 2 1 6-486-8400
Technic 40 1 -728-708 1
83
A cheaper and quite good source of high quality DC current comes from batteries. To use batteries as a
power source, one chooses a battery or batteries hooked in series such that the voltage delivered is
sufficient to move the needed amount of current through the solution. An amp meter, such as the $50
Radio Shack multi-tester, must also be wired into the line leading to the anode. See Figure 29:
s.. .... ..... u, .., .􀌶
to _ . .....
0.' .... 8..,.t. I ."" 0 ......_ ..
to ..... ..... , to .. ...
1 Uft 1em
Figure 29
Now let's look more closely at the procedures given in both the patent and the Journal 0/ Organic
Chemistry articles. The first step is to dissolve about 25 grams of sodium bromide in 1 00 ml of water. It
must be completely dissolved, no crystals of solid sodium bromide left floating around. This is added to
the beaker first. This provides about 2.5 moles of NaBr for each mole of the propenylbenzene, such as
isosafrole or asarone, used in the reaction. In the Journal of Organic Chemistry procedure, they found
that anything over 1 .5 to 2 moles of NaBr for each mole of isosafrole gave good results. The 2.5 moles
used here allows higher current densities to be used, and results in more efficient production of the
epoxide from the propenyl benzene.
Beaker
Current now
􀀧
Red led to tV
Po,
pole
AIIgator ckp
Figure 30
DC
Source
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Then the solvent is added to the beaker, such as about 500 ml of acetonitrile. Finally, about one tenth
mole of propenylbenzene is added. This would be about 20 grams of asarone, or about 1 6 grams (about
1 5 ml) o f isosafrole. Dimethylformamide can also be used as solvent by varying somewhat the amount of
solvent and water used. This procedure can be scaled up as desired. It was patented as an industrial
process.
In the Journal of Organic Chemistry article, a platinum anode and platinum cathode of approxi mately
equal size were used. Using platinum as an anode allowed a current density of only about 7 milliamps per
square centimeter of the anode surface facing the cathode. The back area can't be counted because the
current can't reach there. When graphite is used as an anode, a current density of around l Oa milliamps
(one tenth amp) per square centimeter of the anode surface facing the cathode can be used. The electric
oxidation is also much more efficient using graphite. Only about 2 to 2.5 faradays per mole of
propenyl benzene needs be passed through the solution using a graphite anode to get a near quantitative
yield of the epoxide. This compares to 4 to 4.5 faradays per mole of propenylbenzene using a platinum
anode to get similar results. Using graphite anodes allows therefore a much faster reaction. Graphite is a
hell of a lot cheaper than platinum to boot.
The use of a platinum cathode in the Journal of Organic Chemistry procedure also seems to be greatly
inferior to the stainless steel cathode used in the patent procedure. Besides being much more expensive,
when platinum cathodes were used the product was a mixture of mostly epoxide, along with some glycol.
It would seem that the epoxide undergoes partial hydrolysis at the platinum cathode to a glycol.
So let's follow the patent procedure. For a one tenth mole size batch, a central stainless steel sheet
having an area of 1 00 square centimeters immersed into the solution is connected to the negative pole of
the DC power source. On both sides of this central stainless steel sheet, graphite anodes with a total
surface area of about 70 square centimeters in contact with the solution are placed at a distance of one
centimeter from the cathode sheet. Since only half of the anode will be facing the stainless steel cathode,
this gives about 35 square centimeters of anode surface which can pump current into the solution. It is
this face area that we base the current density calculations upon. One can choose to use a larger anode
and cathode array, so long as the proportions between anode and cathode area are maintained, and the
current applied increased to maintain about 1 00 milliamps per square centimeter of anode facing the
cathode.
So then strong stirring is begun, and the DC power source turned on. The applied voltage is adj usted
until the amp meter shows a current flow o f 3 . 5 amps. This is 1 00 milliamps per square centimeter of the
graphite anode face. Continue passing current at this rate until about 24,000 coulombs have passed into
the solution. At 3.5 amps this takes about 2 hours.
What to do next to this solution? The simplest and most direct procedure is the one given in the patent,
and in Practical LSD Manufacture. The acetonitrile is evaporated away under a vacuum, and caught in a
cold trap for reuse. The residue left in the evaporating flask, which is the epoxide, is dissolved in some
ethyl acetate, and then refluxed with a little lithium iodide to isomerize the epoxide to the desired
phenylacetone.
An alternative is to use the procedure that Torii used when he got the mixture of epoxide and glycol in
his reaction product. He converted the whole of the mixture to the glycol . To do this, the electrodes were
removed from the reaction beaker at the end of the electrolysis, and about 80 ml of a I % aqueous
solution of sulfuric acid was added to the reaction mixture. This was stirred for about an hour, then the
sulfuric acid was neutralized by adding sodium bicarbonate (Arm & Hammer). After that the reaction
mixture was transferred to an evaporating flask, and the solvent removed under a vacuum. You can pretty
much forget about reusing the solvent in this variation as water from the sulfuric acid solution will form
an azeotrope with the acetonitrile. It will be tough to get out.
The sulfuric acid solution causes the fol lowing reaction to take place:
Chapter Ten
Psychedelic Phenylacetone.' from Essential Oils
85
A Iter the solvent is evaporated under a vacuum, the residue in the flask, which consists of close to a
1 00% yield of the glycol mixed in with crystals of sodium carbonate, is extracted with some ethyl
acetate. The ethyl acetate solution of the glycol is next washed with some saturated salt solution. Finally,
the ethyl acetate solution is dried with some anhydrous sodium sulfate, then the ethyl acetate is
evaporated away under a vacuum to leave a residue of nearly pure glycol. It will be an oil that may
crystallize over time. One should not wait around for that to happen. Rather, moving right on to making
the phenyl acetone should be done.
The procedure for doing this is found on page 734 of PIHKAL. For a batch of the size given in this
example, the residue of nearly pure glycol is mixed with about 40 ml of methanol ( H eet gas line de-icer).
Then about 250 ml of a 1 5% solution of sulfuric acid in water is added, and after thorough mixing, the
solution is heated for about 3 hours on a steam bath or in a pan of boiling hot water. After cooling this
reaction mixture down, extract three times with 50 ml portions of toluene. The combined extracts are
washed lirst with water, then with a 5% solution of sodium hydroxide or lye in water.
The toluene solution containing the phenylacetone should then be fractionally distilled. The toluenewater
azeotrope will distill first as a milky-looking mixture, then pure toluene will distill, looking clear.
When the toluene is mostly all gone, the heat should be removed from the distilling flask, and vacuum
applied cautiously at first, as the hot mixture will boil furiously at first when vacuum is applied. Then
full strength vacuum can be used, and the pure substituted phenyl acetone will distill as a clear liquid. If
cold water is used with a good aspirator, methylenedioxyphenylacetone will distill around 1 500 C to 1 600
C. This is the product from isosatrole, and is used to make MDA or MDMA (X or Ecstasy). If asarone
(or B-asarone) was used as the starting material, the boiling point is considerably higher. It's probably
better in this case just to remove the toluene under a vacuum rather than try to distill the 2,4,5-
trimethoxyphenylacetone. Further purification can be done by the bisulfite addition method given in
I'radical LSD Manufacilire. This phenyl acetone is used to make TMA-2.
H3C-O' @/CH2-CII -CH3 o 0 H3C-/O O"--CH 24,5-Trimethoxyphenytacetone 3
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
86
That should take care of your problems, Puzzled. The most important points are to use good grade
graphite anode material, and use an AC-ripple-free DC power source. The electrodes, of course, can be
used over and over. A good cleaning after each batch run should be all they need to keep them i n working
order.
If ,'I" ".'11 ....... .... ... "
. -
., .-
J -
..
...
IT
I ,
•
- eu*", M_
• r,p Nllch
Quilty
- Ex, ' .,
WiD
COlI nwol_.,.nwo_
eaaca ... CMICfM COfWI.
,. .. 􀎞.-. .. -
Figure 31
Chapter Eleven
The Way of the Bomb
"Blessed be the bomb ... and all its work." - The mutants
of, "Beneath the Planet a/the Apes "
Chapter Eleven
The Way of the Bomb
8 7
When underground chemists move u p to industrial-scale manufacture of methamphetamine, i t soon
becomes obvious that the Leuckart-Wallach reaction is not suitable for making large amounts. There are
two reasons for this. N-methylformamide distills slowly, because of its high latent heat of vaporization.
This makes the production of large amounts of N-methylformamide a very time-consuming process.
Secondly, the Leuckart-Wallach reaction can take up to 48 hours to complete.
It's also a rather finicky and kind of unpredictable reaction, as was noted earlier in Chapter Five. I still
prefer it, however, because of the warm memories it brings back to me.
To increase production, a faster method of turning phenylacetone into methamphetamine is necessary.
Reacting phenylacetone with methylamine and hydrogen in an apparatus called a "bomb" is such a
method. A bomb is a chemical pressure cooker where hydrogen gas is piped under pressure to react with
the phenylacetone and methylamine. It is called a bomb because sometimes reactions like this are done
under thousands of pounds of pressure, and occasionally the bomb will blow up. This reaction is done
under a pressure of only 3 atmospheres, 30 pounds per square inch greater than normal air pressure, so
there's no danger of the hydrogenation bomb going off. This reaction is called reductive ami nation. I t is
not especially difficult to do, but it is necessary to have the hardware in proper working condition and to
keep out materials that would poison the catalyst. Reductive amination is a quick, very clean and highyield
process.
Methylami ne H + C􀃤N: H . Methamphetamine
Intermediate Schltf's base 􀃥-CH:5 H 'N'C H:5 o CH􀃦C-CH3 :f. 0 CHZC .... C􀃣
+ 􀃭O
Phenylacetone reacts with methylamine to produce a Schiffs base and a molecule of water. This
Sehift's base then reacts with hydrogen and platinum catalyst and gets reduced to methamphetamine. To
encourage the formation of this Schiffs base, the amount of water in the reaction mixture is held to less
than 1 0%; 5% is even better. If the underground chemist is able to get methylamine gas in a cylinder, it is
easy to control the amount of water in the reaction mixture, but 40% methylamine in water can be made
to work with little effort.
Two main side reactions interfere with the production of methamphetamine in the hydrogenation
bomb. They are both controlled by properly adjusting the conditions inside the bomb. The first side
reaction is the reduction or the phenylacetone.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
88
Phenytac8tone
Pt + 􀃻 )
Hydrogen OH
®-CHtCH-CH3 Methyl ben􀀦 carbinol ( 1 -phenyl-2-propanolJ
The phenylacetone can react with hydrogen and platinum instead of with methylamine, This side
reaction is held to a minimum by not letting the hydrogen gas pressure get much above 30 psi, It is also
controlled by encouraging the phenylacetone to react with methylamine instead, This is done by keeping
the amount of water in the reaction mixture small, having enough methylamine around for it to react
with, and running the reaction at the right temperature,
The other side reaction that can be a problem is phenyl acetone reacting with methamphetamine to
produce a tertiary amine,
This reaction is held to a minimum by having enough methylamine in the reaction mixture to tie up the
phenyl acetone, and by keeping the solution fairly diluted, so that they are less likely to bump into one
another.
The psychedelic amphetamine M DM A can similarly be made cleanly and on a large scale by the same
method, One simply uses methylenedioxyphenylacetone, made according to the directions in the previous
chapter, in place of phenylacetone, It reacts in exactly the same way to give around 90% yields of
MDMA from the m-d-phenylacetone,
When it is desired to make benzedrine Irom the phenyl acetone, or a psychedelic amphetamine such as
MDA or TMA-2 from the appropriately substituted phenylacetone, then the preferred catalyst for the
reduction is Raney nickel rather than platinum, In this case, ammonia is used to form the Schiffs base
with the phenyl acetone, which then reduces to the desired amphetamine through the absorption of
hydrogen Irom the catalyst. Even better results are obtained when the ammonia is used in the form of
ammonium acetate, because ammonia in this form is much more efficient at forming the Schiffs base
with the phenylacetone than straight ammonia,
Raney nickel is a much less convenient catalyst to use than platinum, It is attracted towards magnets,
just like iron filings, so magnetic stirring inside a hydrogenation bomb isn't possible with Raney nickel.
Hydrogenations done with this catalyst also generally require much higher hydrogen pressures be applied
inside the bomb, and that heating of the mixture be done, Platinum, on the other hand, works just tine at
relatively low hydrogen pressures and at room temperature, Magnetic fields don't affect it, so magnetic
stirring can be used with this catalyst. It is much more convenient to use,
Reductive alkylation using platinum catalyst can be done inside a very easily constructed apparatus,
For example, a champagne bottle of about 1 .5 liter capacity can be used, Champagne bottles are built to
withstand pressure, and have no problem holding up to the approximately 30 pounds of pressure used in
the reduction, The glass is quite inert to chemicals, so it is desirable from that point of view as wel l . On
the downside tor this reaction vessel, there is no obviously easy way to attach pressurized lines to the
bottle other than using hose clamps, or inserting a stopper into the neck and wiring it into place, Glass is
brittle, and may break i I' the clamps are tightened down too much, Heating isn't possible using this glass
container, as this will likely cause it to crack, and then burst under the 30 pounds of pressure, Coating the
bottle with fiberglass resin helps avert this danger.
An alternative is "The Poor Man's Hydrogenation Device," It is an aluminum fire extinguisher which
has been emptied of contents, washed, and then coated on the inside with either Teflon or Tenon paint
such
Chapter Eleven
The Way of the Bomb
89
as Xylan 1 006. See Advanced Techniques of Clandestine P,ychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture for
more on this topic. The fire extinguisher has the advantages of greater strength, easy attachment of
pressurized hydrogen hose lines, and its own built-in pressure gauge.
To do a Y2 pound batch in a hydrogenation bomb, start with a 1 000 or 1 500 ml beaker. Put 500 ml of
1 90 proof vodka in the beaker, followed by 200 ml of 40% methylamine solution in water. While stirring
slowly add 200 ml of phenyl acetone. The Schiffs base will form right there, and generate a fair amount
of heat. Pour this mixture into the hydrogenation bottle, then add 5 grams of platinum oxide catalyst
(Adam's Catalyst). Using anhydrous methylamine from a cylinder would be even better. By tipping the
cylinder upside down, liquid methylamine can be added to the alcohol. In this case around 1 00 ml of
methylamine would be enough.
For most of us, both 40% methylamine in water or the anhydrous methylamine are unavailable, as they
are List 1 chemicals. Home brew methylamine is generally made in the form of methylamine
hydrochloride. See the methylamine recipes in this book, and a couple more good ones in Advanced
Techniques of Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture. To use methylamine
hydrochloride, I would think that it would have to be free based, because methylamine hydrochloride
isn't vcry soluble in alcohol at room temperature.
To do this variation using methylamine hydrochloride, one again starts with 500 ml of 1 90 proof
vodka, and places it in a 1 000 or 1 500 ml beaker. To this add 1 80 grams (4.5 moles) of sodium hydroxide
(NaOH). Stir to dissolve it to the extent possible. Then with cooling and stirring add 300 grams (4.5
moles) of methylamine hydrochloride. Add the methylamine slowly, so that the heat made by
neutralizing the hydrochloric acid doesn' t make the methylamine free base fume off. Stir until the NaOH
pellcts have disappeared, and have been replaced by a heavy precipitate of salt.
1 don't know if free NaOH would be harmful to the efficiency of the catalytic hydrogenation, but I
think it would be better to play it on the safe side. It is then better to be a little bit light on the usage of
NaOH rather than adding an excess of it.
When the NaOH pellets have completely dissolved, then the salt formed by the neutralization should
be filtered out. The clear, filtered methylamine solution in alcohol can then be used just as in the
previous example. Two hundred ml of phenyl acetone or methylenedioxyphenylacetone if MDMA is
being made, is then added to the methylamine solution. After stirring the mixture and allowing it to cool,
it can be poured into the hydrogenation appaatus shown in Figure 32:
Attached
to cylinder
Gauge
Tubing lea\dn g outSide
'-Ctl8mpegne cottle
,.. ,.;:w..... .. --,MagnetiC stirlier
o
Figure 32
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
90
A magnetic stir bar is slid down into the bottle, and regardless of the variation used, about 5 grams of
platinum black or platinum oxide (Adam 'S Catalyst) will be enough for the purpose.
The apparatus shown in Figure 32 can be constructed by anyone with access to machinist's tools.
Alternatively, the clandestine operator can have it made for him with little or no chance of anyone
suspecting its real purpose. The threads are fine, and coated with Fonn A Gasket immediately before
assembly. The valves are of the swage-lock type.
Before beginning production using this device, the joints are checked for leakage by brushing soapy
water on them and looking for the tell-tale bubbles.
The chief danger in using the hydrogenation apparatus is from fire due to leaking hydrogen coming
into contact with a spark or flame. The magnetic stirrer is a possible source of static-induced sparks. To
eliminate this danger, it is wrapped in a sturdy bread or garbage bag. This prevents hydrogen from
coming into contact with it. Good ventilation in the production area likewise prevents hydrogen from
building up in the room.
To begin production using this device, the champagne bottle is attached to the rig immediately atler
ti lling with the reactants. The air is sucked out of the bottle by attaching the exit valve, a vacuum line
leading to an aspirator. After sucking out the air for 30 seconds, this valve is closed, and hydrogen is fed
into the bottle from the cylinder until it has pressurized to a few pounds above nonnal air pressure ( i .e., a
few pounds show on the gauge). Then the input valve is closed, and the bottle is vacuumed out once
more. Now the bottle is practically free of air. The exit valve is closed once again, and hydrogen is let
into the bottle until the gauge shows 30 pounds of pressure. This is 3 atmospheres of pressure, counting
the 1 5 pounds needed to equal air pressure. Magnetic stirring is now started, and set at such a rate that a
nice whirlpool fonns in the liquid inside the bottle.
The hydrogen used in this reaction is of the purest grade available. Cylinders of hydrogen are obtained
at welding supply shops. which generally have or can easily get electrolytically produced hydrogen. This
is the purest grade. The cylinder must have a regulator on it to control the pressure of hydrogen being
delivered to the bomb. The regulator must have two gauges on it, one showing the pressure in the
cylinder, the other showing the pressure being fed into the line to the bomb.
With "The Poor Man's Hydrogenation Device," all the construction is omitted. After filling the
extinguisher about half ful l of reaction mixture, the top is screwed back on. A vacuum line is attached to
thc spray nozzle of the fire extinguisher, the valve is opened by squeezing the spray lever, and the air
suckcd out. Then the hydrogen line is attached, and about 30 pounds of hydrogen gas pressure put into
the extinguisher tank.
After beginning stirring the contents of the bomb, an induction period of about an hour or so usually
follows during which nothing happens. No hydrogen is absorbed by the solution during this period. It is
not known just why this is the case, but nothing can be done about it. Use of pre-reduced platinum
catalyst does not eliminate this delay. (Pre-reducing is a procedure whereby the platinum catalyst is
added first, and then contacted with hydrogen to convert the oxide of platinum to the active metaL)
In an hour or so, hydrogen begins to be absorbed by the solution, indicating production of
methamphetamine. The pressure goes down on the gauge. More hydrogen is let in to maintain the
pressure in the 30 pound range. Within 2 to 4 hours after uptake of hydrogen begins, the absorption stops.
This indicates the end of the reaction.
The valve on the cylinder is now closed, and the exit valve slowly opened to vent the hydrogen gas
olllside. Now the bottle is removed from the apparatus, and the platinum is recovered for reuse by
filtering the solution. The platinum is stored in absolute alcohol until the next batch. Many batches can
be run on the same load of platinum catalyst, but it eventually loses its punch. It is then reworked in the
manner described later.
Chapter Eleven
The Way of the Bomb
91
The filtered reaction mixture is then poured into a 2000 ml round bottom flask, along with 3 or 4
boiling chips. The glassware is set up as shown i n F igure I I in Chapter Three. The chemist heats the oil
no hotter than 1 1 00 C, and distills off the alcohol and water. When the volume of the mixture gets down
to near 500 ml, he turns off the heat and transfers the reaction mixture to a 1 000 ml round bottom flask
with 4 boiling chips. He sets up the glassware for fractional distillation as shown in Figure 1 3 i n Chapter
Three. and continues distilling off the alcohol. The temperature shown on the thennometer should be
about 800 C. When the volume of the reaction mixture gets down to about 300 ml, he turns off the heat
and lets it cool off. He attaches a 250 ml round bottom flask as the collecting flask and begins a vacuum
distillation. The last remnants of alcohol are soon gone, and the temperature shown on the thennometer
climbs. If he is using an aspirator, when the temperature reaches 80° C, he changes the collecting flask to
a 500 ml round bottom tlask and distills the methamphetamine under a vacuum. If he is using a vacuum
pump. he begins collecting methamphetamine at 70° C. He does not tum the heat setting on the buffet
range above 1 /3 of the maximum. Virtually all of the material distilled is methamphetamine. He will get
between 200-250 ml of clear to pale yellow methamphetamine, leaving about 20 ml of residue in the
flask. A milky color to the distillate is caused by water being mixed with it. This is ignored, or removed
by gentle heating under a vacuum.
The distilled methamphetamine is made into crystals of methamphetamine hydrochloride in the same
way as described in Chapter Five. H e puts about 75 ml of methamphetamine in each Erlenmeyer flask
and adds ether or toluene until its volume reaches 300 ml. Then he bubbles dry hydrogen chloride gas
through it and filters out the crystals fonned. The yield will be close to Y2 pound of pure
methamphetamine.
Making and Reworking Worn Out Platinum Catalyst
Ready-made platinum oxide (Adam's Catalyst) is available tram scientific supply houses at the steep
price one would expect for platinum compounds. It's not on any reporting lists, and I don't think it's a
particularly "hot" item at the time I am writing this. However, being able to bypass these snitch dens is
always of value. Platinum catalyst can be made either from platinum metal, or from the chloride salts of
platinum. The metal is easily picked up at dealers of precious metals and coins in the fonn of ingots and
coins. The chloride salts of platinum can be easily obtained from suppliers of precious metal salts to
electroplaters. Go to the Metal Finishing Handbook and Directory and look in the index under platinum
plating baths for a list of suppliers. For a really thorough discussion on making platinum catalyst, see
Organic Syntheses, Collective Volume I . Look in the table of contents under Platinum Catalyst for
Hydrogenation.
The process used to tum platinum metal into active catalyst is identical to the method used to recycle
worn out platinum catalyst into reborn material. The first step is to dissolve the metal in aqua regia. Aqua
regia is a mixture of three parts hydrochloric acid, and one part nitric acid. Only laboratory grade acids in
their concentrated forms are used for this process. Lower grades may well introduce catalytic poisons
into the precious metal. The nitric acid is the 70% material. The hydrochloric acid is the 37% laboratory
material. About a pint of mixed acid serves well to dissolve the few grams of platinum needed to run
man-sized batches of methamphetamine. The acids are simply mixed, and then the platinum metal is
added. A few fumes of N02 are given off in the dissolution process. Occasional swirling and some
heating speeds the process of dissolving the platinum. The dissolution converts the platinum to
chloroplatinic acid H2PtCI6. This substance is the starting point for both of the alternative pathways to
active platinum catalyst.
When all of the platinum metal has di sappeared into solution, heat is applied to boil away the acid
mixture. Then some concentrated hydrochloric acid is added. and this too is evaporated away to dryness.
Secrets of Metbamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
92
The addition and evaporation of hydrochloric acid is repeated several times until the residue is free of
nitrates.
With chloroplatinic acid thusly obtained, the manufacturing chemist has two alternative methods with
which to convert it into active material ready for use. The lirst method is the classical route involving a
fusion of the chloroplatinic acid, or preferably its ammonium salt, with sodium nitrate at a temperature of
about 4500 C. This method entails the obvious difficulty of accurately measuring and controlling such a
high temperature. One can read all about this method in Organic Syntheses, Collective Volume I , pages
463 to 470.
The second method uses sodium borohydride to convert the acid directly into platinum black. This
method is simpler and produces a much more active catalyst. The procedure is based on the method given
by Brown and Brown in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Volume 84, pages 1 493 to 1 495
( 1 962) . The yield is about 3 grams of the extra high activity catalyst, and does the job of 5 grams of the
catalyst prepared by the classical method.
To prepare this catalyst, 8 grams of chloroplatinic acid is dissolved in 1 00 ml of absolute alcohol.
Then, in another beaker, .8 grams of laboratory grade sodium hydroxide is dissolved in 1 0 ml of distilled
water. This is di luted to 200 ml of total volume by adding absolute alcohol, and then 1 0 grams of sodium
borohydride is added. The alcohol-NaOH-water-sodium borohydride solution is stirred until the
borohydride is dissolved. The borohydride solution is now added to the chloroplatinic acid solution with
vigorous stirring. It is added as quickly as possible without letting the contents foam over. A large
amount of hydrogen gas is given off while the borohydride reduces the chloroplatinic acid to platinum
black. This process is done in a fume hood or outside to prevent hydrogen explosions.
About one minute after all the borohydride solution has been added, the excess borohydride is
destroyed by adding 1 60 ml of glacial acetic acid or concentrated hydrochloric acid. The solution is then
filtered to collect the platinum black. It is rinsed with a little absolute alcohol, with added Ii Iter paper and
all (to prevent loss of catalyst sticking to the paper), directly into the champagne bottle lor immediate
usc. I r it must be stored before use, it is put in a tightly stoppered bottle filled with absolute alcohol.
As an alternative, one could simply add the jet black suspension of the platinum catalyst in the alcohol
and borohydride reduction mixture directly to the hydrogenation bomb without bothering to destroy the
excess borohydride len in the solution or trying to filter out the very small particles of platinum black
catalyst.
Two other methods exist lor converting chloroplatinic acid to Pt02 catalyst. One is slowly adding,
with stirring, the chloroplatinic acid to a water solution containing an excess of NaOH, then filtering out
the catalyst and rinsing it otf. See Zeitschriji der Anorganische Chemie, Vol. 40, page 434 ( 1 904), and
Vol. 44, page 1 7 1 ( 1 905). The other method employs formaldehyde to reduce the chloroplatinic acid. See
Berichre der Deurschen Chemi.l'chen Gesellschaji, Vol. 54, page 1 1 3 and page 360 ( 1 92 1 ).
Making Benzedrine or
Psychedelic Amphetamines from Phenylacetone(s)
In this procedure, methylamine isn't needed. That's one hassle avoided. That hassle is replaced with
thc need tor bulky and unwieldy equipment to be constructed. As was mentioned earlier, Raney nickel is
the preferred catalyst for these reductive aminations. It can't be magnetically stirred because it is
attracted to magnets. Much higher pressures of hydrogen are required when using this catalyst, and
heating of the hydrogenation mixture to around 800 C should be done.
Chapter Eleven
The Way of the Bomb
93
To construct a hydrogenation device suitable for use in this reaction, one must be able to weld
stainless-steel. Let's start with the construction of the hydrogenation bottle, and use as the example a
bottle of about one gallon capacity.
Top View
G
T
1
Stainless steel pipe (5") / & faucet valve
/
I I
Side 􀁶ew
􀌴 16 c. 􀌵
Figure 33
I f the underground chemist has to make his own one gallon reaction bottle, he uses stainless steel 1 /8
to 31 1 6 inch thick, such as a section of stainless-steel pipe. For a volume of about one gallon, it should be
about 1 6 cm in diameter and 20 cm in height. The bottom is Tig welded on, this process being much
easier i f it starts out a few millimeters larger in diameter than the pipe section.
..... I1.dd1Io •
• Id ,Rldilld __ _
!lOll (t􀀧_dld ""
wltll e.,)
Roctl.,
•••
Figure 34
51.,
""'.,
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
94
The top of the tank has 2 holes drilled in it. One small one in the center of the tank is an entrance for
the hydrogen gas. This has a section of stainless-steel pipe about 5 inches long welded around it. It is
usually necessary to melt in some stainless-steel welding rod while making this Tig weld, to get it strong
enough. This top section is then welded onto the top to create the reaction vessel shown i n F igure 3 3 .
A steel rocking frame i s then welded onto the outside of the reaction vessel a s shown i n Figures 33 and
34. The area where it is welded should be reinforced. All welds are done with a Tig welder.
The chemist can now assemble the bomb. He starts out with heavy wooden planks as the base. This
will keep vibration to a minimum. He sets up and bolts down the frame. He attaches some clamps to this
frame, then puts sheaths and bearings on the arms of the steel rocking frame, and suspends the reaction
vessel about 6 inches off the ground. It should swing back and forth easily.
Figure 35
He attaches a band around the reaction vessel, just below where the steel rocking frame is attached to
the reaction vessel. The band is attached to the rocking arm, which is attached to a spindle on the driving
pulley, as shown in Figures 34 and 3 5 . Both these joints should swivel easily. The driving pulley is about
1 0 cm in radius. The pulley on the motor has a radius of about 2 cm. The spindle, which extends from the
driving pulley to the rocking arm, is about 3 cm from the center of the driving pulley.
The motor is the usual 1 760 rpm type of motor, with a power of at least 1 /30 hp. When the motor is
turned on, it spins the driving pulley, which moves the rocking arm back and forth, which in turn shakes
the reaction vessel.
The chemist is now ready to test the system. He opens up the valve and puts 2000 ml of distilled water
in the reaction vessel. He closes the valve and turns on the motor to begin shaking. I f any water comes
out the top of the stainless-steel pipe, he secures the wooden base 10 minimize vibration. He shuts it off
and opens the valve, then siphons out all the water.
He now runs a line of heavy rubber tubing from the hydrogen cylinder to the stainless-steel pipe. He
crimps in the end of the pipe, then pushes the rubber hose down over the pipe, at least halfway to the
tank. He superglues it to help hold it in place. Then he covers the entire length of the hose with a series of
pipe clamps so that it does not blow out or slip off the pipe. This hose is slung over a sling in the frame
so that it leads straight down to the reaction vessel. There must be enough slack to allow for the rocking
mOlion.
Chapter Eleven
The Way of the Bomb
95
If any water came out of the pipe in the test run, the hose must have catalytic poisons removed from it
by boiling it i n 20% sodium hydroxide solution, then rinsing it otf in boiling water. The chemist
closes the valve and begins putting pressure in the tank, starting with a pressure value of 50 psi. He
brushes soapy water around the joints to look for any leaks. If there aren't any, he works the pressure up
to 300 psi. I f leaks are found, he tries brazing over the faulty joint. H i s welds must be nearly perfect.
First, the chemist must tind out how high the heat must be set to get an 800 C temperature in the
contents of the bomb. He fills the bomb half-full of isopropyl rubbing alcohol and turns on the heat. He
keeps track of the temperature of the alcohol while stirring it with the thermometer. H e finds the heat
setting needed for an 80° C temperature and how long it takes to reach that temperature. Then he
removes the isopropyl alcohol tram the bomb and rinses it out with ethyl alcohol.
Heating for the hydrogenation bottle is supplied by wrapping it with heating tape. Either just enough
heating tape is used to reach the required 800 C temperature, or preferably a lot of heating tape is used
and the wiring for the heating tape is hooked up to an adjustable transformer to control the amount of
heat supplied.
That is quite an engineering job, isn't it? In Advanced Techniques oj" Clandestine Psvchedelic &
Amphetamine Manuja" cture 1 propose a convenient tabletop MDA recipe. This uses a Raney nickel
cathode to do the hydrogenation by means of electrically generated hydrogen on the nickel cathode
surface. I don't know how good the results are using this technique. It certainly is much more convenient
than constructing this monstrosity'
A variety of hydrogenation mixtures have been used over the years to convert phenyl acetone or
substituted phenylacetones to the amphetamine. I n the earliest works, strong ammonia solution (28%
NH3, 56% NH40H) was simply added to an alcohol solution of the phenylacetone, and then the mixture
hydrogenated using Raney nickel catalyst. They claimed pretty good results. Later workers trying to
recreate these good results didn't get such satisfying yields. They found that liquid anhydrous ammonia
added to the alcohol solution ofthe phenylacetone in alcohol worked much better. Ammonia is much less
willing to form the Schiffs base with phenylacetone than methylamine. Less water in the solution
encouraged the Schiffs base to be formed, and yields up to 80% from m-d-phenylacetone were obtained.
This method is good enough to be used in production situations. I f cylinders of anhydrous ammonia
aren't easily available to you, see Advanced Techniques of Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine
Manujaclllre for the chapter detailing a convenient method for making alcohol saturated with ammonia.
This method produces a fairly anhydrous solution.
The preferred hydrogenation solution for the reductive amination of phenyl acetone and substituted
phenyl acetones is given in US Patent 3 , 1 87,047. The solution proportions are:
3 kilos of phenylacetone or substituted phenylacetone
1 .2 kilos of ammonium acetate
1 80 ml of glacial acetic acid
9.5 liters of methanol
300 ml of water
500 grams of Raney nickel catalyst
A one gallon hydrogenation bottle will hold approximately one-seventh of the above-stated
hydrogenation solution. That would till the bottle approximately half full, which is about the maximum
amount one would want to fill the hydrogenation bomb. So one would simply use about one-seventh of
the ingredients listed above. This mixture shouldn't be mixed up before use, as the Schiffs base will start
to polymerize and undergo other unwanted reactions on standing for prolonged periods.
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Using a funnel, the reactants are added to the hydrogenation bottle. Raney nickel generally comes
commercially as a suspension in alcohol. It should be thoroughly shaken before measuring out the
amount of Raney nickel added, so that a homogenous mixture is being measured out.
When the reactants have been added to the bomb, the cap is screwed onto the addition portal. making
sure the threads are clean, and that the cap has been tightened enough to prevent leakage. A pressure of at
least a couple hundred pounds per square inch of hydrogen is then let into the bomb; heating is begun
along with the shaking of the hydrogenation bottle. Hydrogen absorption by the solution starts almost
immediately, and speeds up as the mixture warms. The hydrogen pressure is maintained by periodically
opening the valve to the hydrogen cylinder.
A few hours after the mixture gets warmed up, the absorption of hydrogen by the solution stops. It is
now time t o get the product: Heating is stopped, and once the solution has cooled down close t o room
temperature, the shaking is stopped. All valves from the hydrogen cylinder are checked to make sure they
arc tightly closed. Then with good ventilation, the cap is first loosened on the hydrogenation bottle to
vent off hydrogen pressure. Then the cap is removed, and the contents of the bomb poured or pumped
into a one gallon beaker or jug.
The Raney nickel catalyst must tirst be removed from the product mixture. This can be done by letting
the mixture sit and letting the catalyst settle to the bottom of the container. Then the product mixture can
be decanted off of the settled catalyst. Another way to remove the catalyst is to filter it out. This is much
laster. One must be careful filtering out Raney nickel catalyst because it is pyrophoric. That means that
when it dries out and is exposed to air it first starts to smoke, then bursts into flames. This is quite
dangerous because the methanol solvent is flammable as hell. When filtering the catalyst, keep it wet by
rinsing it with more alcohol solvent. Whichever method of removing the catalyst is used, it should be
saved because it should be reusable several times. The catalyst is kept submerged under alcohol in a
bottle or jar until its next usc.
The product mixture should next be poured into a distilling flask. The apparatus is set up for
distillation, then the methanol is distilled off. The residue left inside the distilling flask is allowed to cool
down. When it has cooled, a 1 0-20% solution of sodium hydroxide should be added slowly with
occasional shaking of the contents of the flask. When enough sodium hydroxide solution has been added
to leave the water layer inside the flask strongly alkaline (pH 1 3+) then a product layer of amphetamine
wi II Iloat on top of the water. It should be no more than yellow colored. A strong smell of ammonia
should also be noted from the free basing of the ammonium acetate. Add about four or live volumes of
toluene for each volume of phenyl acetone used in the batch, and shake the mixture in the flask to extract
all the amphetamine into the toluene. This layer will float on top of the water when shaking is stopped.
This layer should be separated off using a sep funnel. This amphetamine-toluene solution can be allowed
to sit lor a couple hours to settle out entrained water, then after pouring the toluene-amphetamine
solution otIthe settled water, the solution can be poured into a large filtering flask, and a vacuum applied
to it. This will cause the ammonia in the solution to be sucked out. Some shaking while under vacuum
will help speed along the removal of ammonia. Your nose can be the guide as to when all the ammonia
has been removed li'om the solution. Then bubbling with dry HCI through the solution can be done just
as described in Chapter Five to get crystals of amphetamine hydrochloride. These are filtered out as
described in Chapter Five.
Alternatively, one can distill the toluene-amphetamine solution, and then dilute the distilled
amphetamine with some Iresh toluene, and bubble it with HCI as described in Chapter Five. The yield in
either case will be around a pound from the roughly 450 ml of phenylacetone used in this example.
Raney Nickel Catalyst
Chapter Eleven
The Way of the Bomb
9 7
Ready- made Raney nickel catalyst, sold a s a suspension in alcohol o r water, i s available from
scientific supply houses at a fairly steep price. I ' m not sure just how "hot" this material is to purchase
through regular channels. Buying the material ready-made will assure one of having a good and active
catalyst.
Scientific supply houses also sell Raney alloy, or aluminum nickel-alloy - the material from which
Raney nickel catalyst is made. This sells at a more reasonable price, but I ' m also unsure of just how
"hot" it is.
In Advanced Techniques of Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture, I describe melting
your own Raney alloy in a high temperature crucible. This isn't very hard to do, and is very low profile
indeed! Let me improve the procedure given i n that book. If one takes a clean file and tiles off the
required amount of nickel metal from the nickel anode, these small particles of nickel metal melt into the
molten aluminum much easier than larger chunks of nickel metal. The result is a more homogenous and
more easily made alloy. Nickel is about as hard as iron, so filing chunks of nickel metal down to grit is
not very difficult to do.
Making Raney nickel catalyst from the Raney alloy, either purchased as such or homemade isn't vcry
hard to do either. The alloy is a 50-50 mixture of nickel and aluminum. By reacting the finely ground
alloy with sodium hydroxide solution, most of the aluminum dissolves out, leaving the Raney nickel
catalyst. The catalyst retains a few percent of aluminum mixed in with the nickel, and this few percent of
aluminum is very important in its activity. Otherwise one could just use nickel metal and expect to see
catalytic activity. Let's make a batch of Raney nickel catalyst from Raney alloy.
Here's how it's done. In a 2000 ml beaker, the chemist dissolves 1 90 grams of sodium hydroxide
pellets in 750 ml distilled water. The solution is cooled down to 10° C by packing the beaker in ice. He
adds 1 50 grams of the nickel aluminum alloy to the sodium hydroxide solution. It is added slowly and
with vigorous stirring. The temperature of the solution must not get above 25° C. The sodium hydroxide
reacts with the aluminum in the alloy and dissolves it, producing aluminum hydroxide and hydrogen gas.
The nickel is left as tiny black crystals. The hydrogen which bubbles out of the solution causes foaming,
so the alloy is added slowly enough that the foaming doesn't get out of control. If that fails, I ml of noetyl
alcohol helps to break up the foam. It takes about two hours to add all of the alloy to the sodium
hydroxide. When all of the alloy has been added, the stirring is stopped and the beaker is removed from
the ice bath. The bubbling of hydrogen gas from the solution continues as the beaker warms up to room
temperature. Hydrogen gas is not poisonous, but it is very flammable. Smoking around it can cause an
explosion.
When the bubbling of hydrogen from the solution slows down, the beaker is set in a large pan of hot
water. Then the water in the pan is slowly heated to boiling. This will get the hydrogen bubbling again,
so it is heated on an electric heater in a well-ventilated area. This heating is continued for 1 2 hours.
Distilled water is added to the beaker to maintain its original volume.
Alier the 1 2 hours are up, the chemist removes the beaker from the boiling water bath and stirs it up.
Then he allows the black Raney nickel catalyst to settle to the bottom of the beaker, and pours otf as
much of the sodium hydroxide solution as possible. The nickel is transferred to a 1 000 ml graduated
cylinder with the help of a little distilled water. I f the nickel catalyst is allowed to dry out, it may burst
into !lames. It must be kept covered with water. Again the chemist pours off as much of the water as
possible. Then he adds a solution of 25 grams of sodium hydroxide in 250 ml of distilled water to the
nickel in the graduated cylinder. The cylinder is stoppered with a cork or glass stopper (not rubber) and
shaken for 1 5 seconds. Then it is allowed to settle again and as much of the sodium hydroxide solution as
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possible is poured off. The catalyst is now ready to have the sodium hydroxide removed from it. All
traces must be removed, or it will not work. The chemist adds as much distilled water to the cylinder as it
will hold, then shakes it to get the nickel in contact with the clean water. He lets i t settle, then shakes it
again. When the nickel has settled, he pours off the water and replaces it with fresh distilled water. This
washing process is repeated 25 times. It takes that much to remove all the sodium hydroxide from the
catalyst.
After the water has been poured off from the last rinse with distilled water, 1 00 ml of rectified spirit
(95% ethyl alcohol) is added to the nickel and shaken. After the nickel has settled, the alcohol is poured
off and the washing is repeated two more times with absolute ( 1 00%) alcohol. The result is 75 grams of
Raney nickel i n alcohol. It is transferred to a bottle that it will completely fill up. If necessary, more
alcohol ( 1 00%) is added to fill up the bottle. Then the bottle is tightly stoppered. When the chemist is
ready to use it, he shakes it to suspend the nickel and measures out the catalyst. One ml contains about .6
grams of Raney nickel catalyst.
It has been claimed that a more active catalyst can be made by adding the sodium hydroxide solution to
the nickel-aluminum alloy instead of vice versa. But when this is done, care must be taken that the foam
doesn 't get out of control. Also, the alloy must be stirred into the solution so it can react. Other than that,
the catalyst is prepared in exactly the same way.
Raney nickel is a pain in the ass to use, largely because its magnetic properties prevent the use of
magnetic stirring during reduction. There are other nickel catalysts that are said to resemble Raney nickel
in activity. Even better, they aren't pyrophoric, so that danger is eliminated. They are also said to work at
fairly low hydrogen pressures and without the need for heating to be applied. "The "Poor Man's
H ydrogenation Device" could be used instead of that shaker bottle monstrosity!
These catalysts are made by the reduction of the common nickel salts such as nickel chloride or sulfate
by borohydride or by zinc dust. These common nickel salts are widely used in electroplating. For some
directions, see Journal 01 Organic Chemistry, Volume 35, page 1 900 ( 1 970) and Chem. Commun., 1 973,
page 553 and Bull. Chern. Soc. Japan, Volume 33, page 232 ( 1 960). It's worth checking out!
One tinal topic must be addressed while on the subject of hydrogenations. That subject is the use of
catalytic converters from cars as hydrogenation catalysts. I 've been hearing these stories for about a
decade now. I don't know how well it would work. It may well be the equivalent of an urban legend. We
dope cookers have our own lore and mythology, you know?
The converter contains a mixture of platinum and palladium thinly spread over the surface of a
supporting medium. Palladium behaves quite similarly to platinum as an hydrogenation catalyst, except
that it remains active in acid solutions.
To use this material as an hydrogenation catalyst, a new catalytic converter should be obtained. An old
used one from the junk yard will not do, because the catalyst may have been poisoned from the use of
bad fuel, and it will also likely be covered with a sooty film. Cut open this new catalytic converter to get
the converter element inside. The catalyst itself is a mass of BB-sized pellets packed inside the converter.
These should be removed and washed clean in soapy hot water, followed by a rinse with rubbing alcohol.
There are problems associated with the use of this makeshift hydrogenation catalyst. The amount of
catalyst used must be greatly increased because these pellets don't possess the enormous surface area that
a finely divided material has. Catalytic hydrogenation takes place at the surface of the metal, so this is an
important point. Further. these pellets aren't easily stirred up in the solution to catch a breath of fresh
hydrogen. so they can quickly go dead. They are better used in a bomb which is agitated by shaking.
Also. their mass makes them likely to break a hydrogenation bomb made of glass, so a bomb constructed
of metal is more compatible with their use.
References
Organic Reactions, Volume 4, page 1 74.
Chapter Eleven
The Way of the Bomb
99
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Volume 6 1 , pages 3499 and 3566 ( 1 939):
Volume 66, page 1 5 1 6 ( 1 944): Volume 70, pages 1 3 1 5 and 2 8 1 1 ( 1 948).
Reductions in Organic Chemist/y, by Milos Hudlicky.
Practical Catalytic Hydrogenation, by Freifelder.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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1 00
Chapter Twelve
Reductive Alkylation without the Bomb
The process of reductive alkylation uSing the hydrogenation bomb, as you saw in the previous
chapter, is not without difficulties or dangers, Just for starters, consider the danger of hydrogen gas
building up in a poorly ventilated workplace, Add to that the danger of the bomb blowing up if the
welding of the seams is not done welL There is also sometimes a problem making catalyst of predicatable
activity so that consistent results are obtained,
All of these problems, except for the hydrogen gas danger, can be eliminated by instead using activated
.Iuminum to convert mixtures of methylamine and phenyl acetone to meth, I n this method, the aluminum
turnings take the place of hydrogen gas and the catalyst in the reductive alkylation process, The yields are
very good, the process is very simple, and no special equipment is required, The reaction is also quick
enough that it can be used in large-scale production,
Activated aluminum is next to impossible to purchase, but very easy to make, The raw material is
aluminum foi L The foi l is amalgamated with mercury by using mercury chloride, The result is aluminum
amalgam,
To make activated aluminum, the chemist takes 1 00 grams of the aluminum foil, and cuts it into strips
about 2V, cm wide, and 1 5 cm long, He folds them loosely, and puts them into a 3000 ml glass beaker or
similar container, He does not stuff them down the neck of a flask or similar container from whence they
would be hassle-some to retrieve, He packs them down lightly so that they are evenly arranged, then
covers them with a , I % solution by weight ( I gram in one l iter of water) solution of sodium hydroxide,
He warnlS the mixture by setting it into a hot water bath until a vigorous bubbling of hydrogen gas has
taken place for a few minutes, He is careful here that the mixture does not overflow! Then he pours off
all the sodium hydroxide solution as quickly as possible, and rinses the strips with distilled water, and
then with 1 90 proof vodka, This preliminary treatment leaves an exceedingly clean surface on the foi l for
amalgamating with mercury,
While the surface of the strips is still moist with vodka, he adds enough of a 2% by weight solution of
mercury ( 1 1 ) chloride (aka mercuric chloride, HgCI2) in distilled water to completely covcr the foiL He
allows this to react for about 2 minutes, then pours off the mercury solution, He rinses otl the strips with
distilled water, then with 1 90 proof vodka, and finally with moist etheL Moist ether is either purchased as
is, or made by adding water to anhydrous ether with stirring until a water layer begins to appear at the
bOll om of the ether, The chemist uses this material immediately after making it,
Most people have found that this method of amalgam preparation to be more work than it's worth,
Better to follow the simpler procedure that Dr, Shulgin uses in his work. He takes 1 00 grams of clean
aluminum foil, cuts it into one inch squares, then covers these foil cuttings with 3000 ml of water
containing 25 grams of mercuric chloride, The amalgamation is then allowed to proceed until a light
grey precipitate is formed, some fine fizzing begins, and an occasional silver streak can be seen on the
aluminum, This takes 1 5 to 30 minutes depending upon conditions like temperature, etc. Then the water
solution is drained off the aluminum, and the aluminum is then rinsed twice with 3000 ml portions of
water, After draining off the water, the amalgam is used pronto, Method Five and Six's procedures are the
best,
Method One
Chapter Tweil'e
Reductive Alkylation without the Bomb
101
In this method, the activated aluminum reacts with alcohol and water to produce hydrogen gas. This
hydrogen then reduces the Schiffs base fonned from methylamine and phenyl acetone to give
methamphetamine.
The chemist needs a magnetic stirrer-hotplate to do this reaction. On top of the stirrer-hotplate. he
places a Pyrex bowl or cake dish large enough to hold a 3000 ml flask. The bowl or dish cannot be made
of metal. because the magnetic stirrer will not work through it. He places the 3000 ml flask in the dish
and fi lls it with cooking oil until the oil reaches about halfway up the sides of the flask. He must be sure
to leave enough room for the oil to expand as it heats up. He puts the magnetic stirring bar in the flask
along with 1 600 ml of absolute alcohol or 1 90 proof grain alcohol. Then he adds 340 ml of
phenylacetone and 450 ml of 40% methylamine in water. Now he turns on the magnetic stirrer and begins
heating the oil in the dish. He keeps track of the temperature of the oil with a thermometer, and does not
allow it to go above 1 00° C. While the oil is heating up, he adds I SO grams of activated aluminum to the
flask. He makes sure that the stirring is fast enough that the turnings do not settle to the bottom of the
flask. The reaction mixture will quickly begin to turn grey and foamy. The aluminum is added at such a
rate that the bubbling and foaminess it produces does not overflow the flask. When all of it has been
added, a condenser is fitted to the flask, and water flow i s begun through it.
The chemist now lets them react for 8 hours. He keeps the temperature of the oil bath at 1 00° e, and
the stirring strong. The activated aluminum slowly dissolves and produces hydrogen gas. The explosive
danger from this gas is eliminated by running a length of tubing from the top of the condenser out the
window. The fumes from the reaction are noxious, so this is far better than just staying upwind.
When the 8 hours are up, he removes the flask from the oil bath and wipes the oil off the outside of the
flask. He decants the solution to remove the aluminum sludge, then rinses the sludge with some more
alcohol to remove the last traces of product from it. The rinse alcohol is added to the rest of the filtered
product.
The underground chemist can now distill the product. He pOllrs it in a 3000 ml round bottom flask that
is clean and reasonably dry. and adds a few small pieces of pumice. He places the flask on the electric
buffet range, then sets up the glassware for fractional distillation, as shown in Chapter 3. He begins
heating it. The first thing that distills is a mixture of alcohol, water, and methylamine. This occurs when
the temperature shown on the thermometer is about 7S-S0° C. He collects about 1 600 ml of this mixture,
then removes the flask from the heat. He lets it cool down, then pours the contents of the 3000 ml flask
into a 1 000 m l flask, along with a few fresh boiling chips. He puts about 1 5 ml of alcohol in the 3000 ml
flask. swirls it around to dissolve the product left clinging to the insides, then pours it into the 1 000 ml
flask.
The chemist again sets up the glassware for fractional distillation, with a 250 ml flask as his receiver.
He applies a vacuum, preferably from an aspirator, and begins vacuum distillation. When the boiling gets
under control, he begins heating the flask. The last remnants of alcohol and water will soon be gone, and
the temperature shown on the thennometer will climb. When it reaches about 80° e with an aspirator. or
about 70° C with a vacuum pump, he quickly changes the receiving flask to a clean, dry 500 ml flask, and
reapplies the vacuum. He will get about 350 ml of clear to pale yellow methamphetamine free base. A
lew milliliters of tar will be left in the distilling flask. The liquid free base is converted to crystals by
dissolving it in ether or toluene and bubbling dry Hel through it, as described in Chapter Five.
The underground chemist gets an even purer product hy varying this procedure slightly. Once the 1 600
ml of alcohol, water, and methylamine is distilled off, he pours a mixture of 650 ml of 28% hardware
store variety hydrochloric acid and 650 ml of water into what remains in the 3000 m l flask, after it has
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cooled down. A lot of heat is produced in the mixing because the methamphetamine free base is reacting
to make the hydrochloride, so he adds it slowly, then swirls it. When it has cooled down, he stoppers the
3000 ml flask with a cork or glass stopper and shakes it vigorously for 3 to 5 minutes. It should pretty
much all dissolve i n the hydrochloric acid solution. Now he adds 200 ml of ether or toluene to the flask
and shakes it up well. The ether or toluene dissolves any unreacted phenyl acetone and tar. He lets it sit
for a few minutes. The ether or toluene layer floats to the top. He pours it slowly into a 1 000 ml sep
funnel, so that the top layer all gets into the sep funnel. Now he lets it set, then drains the lower acid layer
back into the 3000 ml flask.
The acid must now be neutralized to give back amphetamine tree base, so it can be distilled. The
chemist mixes up a solution of 350 grams oflye in 400 ml of water. When it has cooled down, he pours it
slowly into the acid solution in the 3000 ml flask. A lot of heat is generated from the reaction. When it
has cooled down, he stoppers the flask and shakes it strongly for about 5 minutes. Upon standing, the
amphetamine forms a layer on top. He slowly pours it into a 1 000 ml sep funnel. He drains the water
layer back into the 3000 ml flask. The methamphetamine layer in the sep funnel may have some salt
crystals floating around in it. He adds 1 00 ml of toluene to it plus a couple hundred ml of a dilute lye
solution. He stoppers and shakes the mixture. The salt will now be dissolved in the water. He drains the
water layer into the 3000 ml flask and pours the methamphetamine-toluene solution into a clean 1 000 ml
tlask. There is still some methamphetamine left in the 3000 ml flask, so he adds a couple hundred ml of
toluene to it. [I' there is a lot of undissolved salt in the flask, he adds some more water to it. Now he
shakes the flask to dissolve the meth in the toluene, then lets it set. The toluene comes up to the top. He
pours it off into the sep funnel, and drains off the water layer. He pours the toluene layer into the 1 000 ml
flask with the rest of the product.
He can now begin distilling it. He adds a few boiling chips, sets up for fractional distillation, and
proceeds as described in Chapter Five. The yield once again is about 350 ml of free base, which makes
close to 400 grams of pure crystal.
Method Two
This method is not as good as the first one. It takes longer, it uses up more chemicals to make a given
amounl of product, and less can be produced at a time.
The equipment is set up as in Method One. Into the 3000 ml flask is placed 1 575 ml of 1 90 proof
alcohol and 1 50 ml of distilled water. Then the chemist adds 1 50 ml of phenylacetone and 220 ml of 40%
methylamine i n water. He begins magnetic stirring and adds 1 60 grams of activated aluminum. He heats
the oi I bath to 1 00° C or so and attaches a condenser to the 3000 ml flask. He begins water flow through
the condenser and genlly boils the contents of the flask for 1 6 hours. At the end of this time, he removes
the flask from the heat and lets the aluminum sludge settle. He fi lters the alcohol solution, rinses the
sludge with alcohol and adds the filtered alcohol to the rest of the product. Then he proceeds as described
in Method One. The yield is about 1 50 ml of methamphetamine.
Method Three
This method is not as good as Method One either. Ether is used as the reaction solvenl, which adds
danger and expense. The ether is a chemical which should be rarely used by clandestine chemists.
Another problem with this reaction is that it is done so dilute that large amounts can't be made at one
time.
In the same set-up used in Methods One and Two, the underground chemist places 1 000 ml of absolute
ether in a 3000 ml flask. Then he adds 1 00 ml of phenylacetone and 1 60 ml of 40% methylamine. He
Clrapter Twelve
Reductive Alkylation witlrout tire Bomb
1 03
begins stirring and adds 65 grams of activated aluminum. He attaches an efficient condenser, runs cold
water through it, and heats the oil bath to 45-50° C. He gently boils the solution for 6 hours. The
activated aluminum reacts with the water in the methylamine to produce hydrogen.
When the six hours have passed, he distills off the ether and treats the residue as described in Method
One, i.e., distills it under a vacuum, etc. The yield is about 90 ml of meth.
For more information on this method, see U . S . Patent Nos. 2, 1 46,474 and 2,344,356.
Method Four
This variation on the activated aluminum method of reductive alkylation has the advantage of using
methylamine hydrochloride directly in the reaction soup. Since methylamine is now very dangerous or
impossible to obtain commercially, and also since the best method for making methylamine yields
methylamine hydrochloride, the usefulness of this variation is obvious.
This method involves the addition of an alcohol solution containing the Schiff's base formed between
methylamine and phenylacetone onto the activated aluminum. In the other methods, the opposite order of
addition was employed. To maximize yields of product, the competing side reactions are suppressed. In
the case of activated aluminum methamphetamine production, the main side reaction is the reduction of
phenyl acetone into an interesting, but quite useless pinacol. It has the structure shown below:
Pinacol
OH OCHz-t-CI+J
OCHz-􀀶-CI+J I
OH
This side reaction i s minimized b y keeping the amount o f water in the reaction mixture t o a minimum,
and also by using a healthy excess of methylamine. This scheme of things encourages the phenyl acetone
to tie itself up with methylamine to form the Schiff's base, rather than float around freely in solution
where it could be reduced by the aluminum.
To do this reaction, two 2000 ml volumetric flasks are obtained. Volumetric flasks work well for this
reaction because the chemist can swirl around their contents quite forcefully without danger of spillage.
They also pour pretty well. One volumetric flask is for preparing the activated aluminum, and is also the
ultimate reaction vessel. The other volumetric flask is for the preparation of the Schiffs base. The lab
work is organized so that both products are ready to react at about the same time.
Into the volumetric flask destined to be the u ltimate reaction vessel, the chemist places 1 08 grams of
aluminum foi l. It is cut into one inch squares. The best brand of aluminum foil for this purpose is Heavy
Duty Reynolds Wrap. It is then treated with sodium hydroxide solution as described in Method I . After a
rew good rinses to remove the sodium hydroxide, it is ready to become activated aluminum. To do this,
the volumetric flask is filled almost to the neck with distilled water, containing about 2V, grams of
HgCI2. The flask is swirled every few minutes for the next 30 minutes. During this time, the water
becomes a cloudy grey color, and the aluminum loses its shine. The water is then decanted off the
aluminum, and the flask is filled up with fresh distilled water to carry away unreacted mercury. After a
period of swirling, the rinse water is poured off, and the rinse repeated with a fresh portion of distilled
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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water. On the last rinse, the chemist makes sure that the water drains off well. This leaves activated
aluminum ready to go.
In the second volumetric flask, Schiffs base is made. To do this, 1 63.5 grams of sodium hydroxide is
dissolved in one liter of 1 90 proof vodka. To this is added 270 grams of methylamine hydrochloride. This
methylamine is dry so that the chemist is not weighing water contamination. If this is home brew
methylamine hydrochloride. the first crop of crystals is acceptable material, but the second and third
batches of crystals are recrystallized as described in Organic Syntheses, Collective Volume I . Look in the
table of contents for methylamine hydrochloride. The mixture is kept cool during the addition to prevent
methylamine gas from escaping. Good stirring is also essential. The result of this operation is an alcohol
solution of methylamine. Some salt and water are formed.
To make the Schiffs base, 200 ml of phenyl acetone is then added to this solution. The addition
produces a fair amount of heat, and some methylamine fumes are driven off as a result. Active swirling
of the flask keeps this to a minimum. The chemist also tips the flask during swirling to dissolve any
phenylacetone which may be stuck up in the neck of the flask. This is the Schiffs base solution.
To do the reaction. the Schiffs base solution is poured onto the activated aluminum. Once the pouring
is complete, they are swirled together energetically for a few seconds, then a thermometer is carefully
lowered into the flask. Following this, a section of plastic tubing is stuffed into or over the top of the
volumetric flask, and led outside. This is for fume control. The reaction mixture is swirled continuously
for the tirst few minutes. The temperature rises quite rapidly because the reaction is really vigorous. It is
necessary to have a bucket of ice water close by to dunk the reaction vessel into to keep it under control.
The experimenter strives to keep the reaction mixture in the 50 to 60° C range. After the initial rush,
occasional swirling is acceptable, so long as the temperature guidelines are followed. After 90 minutes,
the reaction is complete.
At least in the case of MDMA, for meth, one should cook more aggressively. Once the initial rush of
the reaction is over, heat should be applied to bring the mixture to reflux as soon as it is safe to do so.
Serious experimenters should also note that Dr. Shulgin likes to have some free NaOH floating around
the reaction media, along with salt. Even more serious experimenters should note that the original patents
for this process stated that best yields were obtained when the hydrogen gas generated was held in by
means of a pressure vessel. An emptied fire extinguisher may well be the best reaction vessel.
To process the product, the alcohol solution containing the product is poured off into the distilling
flask. The mud-like gunk at the bottom of the flask contains a fair amount of trapped product. This gunk
i s untreatable as is, but with some lightening up, it can be filtered. A lab product called Celite is added to
the gunk until it appears more amenable to filtration. As an altemative, washed white sand. found in the
cement section of your friendly neighborhood store, is a good substitute. This is mixed in witb the gunk
until it lightens up a bit. Then two portions of 200 ml of warm vodka ( 1 90 proof) are mixed in and the
trapped product is filtered out of the gunk. These gunk filtrates are added to the main product, and the
whole mother lode readied for processing.
The first step is to place all the liquid into the distilling flask along with a few boiling chips, and
remove the alcohol with a vacuum. A fractional distillation then gives pure methamphetamine free base
ready for crystallizing into tbe hydrochloride.
The same method can be used to give MDMA just by substituting MDA phenylacetone for regular
phenyl acetone.
Method Five
This is the so called Laboratories Amidos recipe. If you don't feel like reading a French patent, the
description of the recipe can be found in Chemical A bstracts, Volume 62, column 5228 ( 1 965). This
procedure mainly varies from the other processes given in this chapter in that a smaller amount of
Clrapter Twelve
Reductive Alkylation witlrol/l lhe Bomb
105
mercuric chloride is used, but this smaller amount of mercuric chloride isn't rinsed off of the aluminum
foil and removed from the reaction mixture, Rather, this smaller amount of mercuric chloride is allowed
to remain in the reaction mixture, where presumably it just keeps on working forming freshly
amalgamated aluminum during the course of the reductive alkylation. The word out there is that this
variation is a good recipe to use for this method of making meth or M DMA from the phenylacetone.
To do the reaction, start with a 1 000 ml flask, and place inside that flask 40 ml of phenylacetone or md-
phenylacetone, followed by 200 ml of 1 90 proof vodka, and 200 ml of a 25% solution of methylamine
in water. This solution can be made from methylamine hydrochloride just by dissolving the required
amount of methylamine hydrochloride in water (roughly 1 00 grams of methylamine hydrochloride
diluted to 200 ml with water) and then adding the calculated amount or slightly more NaOH to the water
solution of the methylamine hydrochloride with cooling and stirring. In this case that would require about
60 grams of NaOH. The salt formed by this neutralization isn't harmful, and may even be beneficial, so
this neutralized methylamine solution can be just poured into the mix as is without any fil tering.
Next add 40 grams of aluminum to the flask. The patent srecifies aluminum turnings, but I would think
that aluminum foil fresh off the roll and cut up into one inch squares would work just as well. Then
tinally add .3 gram of mercuric chloride. Swirl or stir this mi xture to get the mercuric chloride dissolved,
and aluminum amalgam formed on the surface of the aluminum. Mercuric chloride dissolves very slowly
even with stirring, so let one's eyes be the guide to when the mercury has formed an amalgam on the
surface of the aluminum.
Once the amalgam has formed, rig the flask for retlux, and heat the mixture to boiling for a couple of
hours. At the end of the heating period, allow the mixture to cool down, then rig the tlask for distillation.
Apply a vacuum from an aspirator to boil off the alcohol and the methylamine. Some heat will have to be
applied to the flask to make this distillation proceed at a reasonable rate.
When the alcohol and methylamine have distilled off, the residue inside the flask should be poured
into about a liter or so of ice water. Rinse the inside of the flask with water and add it also to the ice
water.
Then to the ice water mixture. add about 1 20 grams of potassium hydroxide (KOH) pellets. Stir the
mixture until the pellets have dissolved. The KOH will react with the residue of aluminum in the mixture
to form aluminum hydroxide. Hydrogen gas will fizz out of the solution during this process and produce
some foul mist. One is advised to stay upwind, and add the KOH at such a rate that the mixture doesn't
foam over. The KOH will also react with the mercury in solution to form the hydroxide or oxide of
mercury. This too will fom] a sludge in the water solution.
When the fizzing of the aluminum has subsided, the mixture should be strongly shaken for a few
minutes. Any gas given off should be vented occasionally. Then extract out the meth or MDMA with two
200 ml portions of toluene. After these extracts have been separated off the water layer, they should be
filtered if any sludge is seen floating around the extracts. This should completely remove traces of
mercury_
Next mix up about a pint of 1 0% HCI solution. This is made by starting with 30% hardware store
hydrochloric (muriatic) acid. and diluting it with two volumes of water. Place the toluene extracts into a
large sep funnel, then add the pint of 1 0% HCI to the sep funnel. Shake strongly for a few minutes. The
meth or MDMA will form the hydrochloride salt, and dissolve in the dilute acid. What remains in the
toluene solution will be bunk that can be thrown away. One can check the toluene for the presence of
phcnylacetone, but I doubt that a significant amount will be found.
After the shaking, allow the mixture to sit in the sep funnel for a while. The toluene solution will rise
to the top, and the acid solution of the product will be on the bottom. Separate the two, then return the
acid solution to the sep funnel. Now to this acid solution, add a 20% solution of lye in water until the
mixture is strongly alkaline (pH 1 3+ to pH papers). This addition should be done slowly with shaking
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1 06
between adds of lye solution. As the mixture gets hot, take time to allow it to cool. Roughly 1 00 grams of
lye should be enough to make this solution strongly alkaline, but let p H papers confirm the situation. As
the acid gets neutralized, the free base of meth or MOMA will form and float on top of the water
solution.
When the solution has been made strongly alkaline, shake some more, and allow the mixture to cool.
When cooled down, extract out the product with two I SO ml portions of toluene. The pooled extracts can
be allowed to sit for a while to settle out any entrained water, then poured into a fresh container and
bubbled with HCI to get crystals of meth or MOMA. Alternatively, the toluene extracts can be placed
into a distilling flask, and fractionally distilled. This is done just as described in Chapter S. Then the
distilled meth or MOMA can be diluted with a couple hundred ml of toluene and bubbled with dry HCI
to get crystals of meth or MOMA. In either case, the yield would be around 30 grams of product.
Distilling would of course give a purer product.
Method Six
" The Racer's Edge"
Methylamine is the crucial ingredient required in all methods of producing meth or MOM A from their
respective phenylacetones. There are several recipes for cooking one's own methylamine in the next
chapter. but if one has chosen the activated aluminum reduction as the meth production route, then it is
more than just convenient to also use activated aluminum to make the methylamine. How the gods have
smiled upon us to order the laws of chemistry in such a way that activated aluminum is also the most
effective way to convert nitromethane to methylamine !
Nitromethane is pretty easily available at hobby shops where it i s sold as fuel for model airplanes and
race cars. Gallon jugs full of the fuel are likely to be lining the wall in one comer of any store catering to
the needs of the model enthusiast at a price of roughly $25 each. This fuel is sold in concentrations of
1 0% to SO% nitromethane dissolved in methanol solvent. For the purposes of this reaction, any fuel 1 0%
concentration and above will work just fine.
Now to convert the nitromethane model airplane filel to methylamine, one needs a 2 or 3 necked flask,
a good condenser, and a sep funnel. The flask should be at least 2000 ml in capacity. Into the flask put
about I SO grams of heavy duty aluminum foi l cut up into one inch squares. Next, measure out enough
model fuel so that one has roughly 1 60 ml of nitromethane. If it is 1 0% nitromethane, that would mean
using roughly 1 600 ml of fuel. 20% nitromethane fuel would require the use of half that amount, and
stronger fuels would require that even less be used, but they would have to be diluted with methanol to
be used. To the fuel mixture, now add SS ml of water. This is very important to getting the reaction to
turn out correctly, as some water is needed to get the activated aluminum to work. Stir or shake the fuel
mixture to get the water evenly dissolved in.
Now add j ust enough of the model fuel mixture to the Ilask to just barely cover up the aluminum foil.
Finally add 112 gram of mercuric chloride to the flask and swirl to get i t spread around.
The aluminum foi l w i l l begin to amalgamate pretty soon, so quickly attach the condenser to one neck
of the flask and the sep funnel or dropping funnel to the other. If there is a third neck on the flask. stopper
it. Swirl the flask every couple of minutes to mix the ingredients, and begin a flow of cold water through
the condenser. It should be as cold as possible and siphoned ice water from a pail as described in the Nmethyl
formamide chapter would be best.
The contents of the Ilask will begin to get hot as the reaction kicks in. One should be noting significant
heating within I S minutes. It is likely to boil on its own due to the heat of reaction. If a significant
heating of the solution isn't noticed within 20 minutes. immerse the flask in boiling hot water to kick start
Chapter Twelve
Reductive Alkylatioll without the Bomb
1 0 7
hings. I t i s more likely that the solution will get hot enough that the flask should b e wrapped i n cold wet
owels to calm things down.
Another thing which will be noted as the initial reaction kicks in is that some methylamine gas is
:scaping out the top of the condenser. You neither want to breathe in this stuff, nor lose it to the air.
,imply attach some tubing to the top of the condenser and lead it into some dilute hydrochloric acid
,olution. There the bubbles of methylamine gas will be caught as methylamine hydrochloride. You can
ater evaporate that solution down and obtain some extra methylamine. It is cleaned up as described in
he next chapter.
.vhen the initial rush of the reaction has subsided, take some of the remaining model fuel-water mixture
lnd pour it into the sep funnel attached to the flask. Drip in this solution at such a rate that the boiling of
he solution stays managable. Continue adding this solution until all of the original solution you have
neaslired out has been added. This will take at least half an hour. During the course of the reaction,
:ontinue to swirl the flask every couple of minutes to keep the aluminum from getting stuck on the
)ottom of the flask and covered with goo.
In about an hour, the reaction will begin to slow. When it has stopped boiling, take a pipette and
.vithdraw about \0 ml of the reaction mixture. Squirt it into a beaker half filled with water. Next, take
;ome hardware store 30% hydrochloric acid, and dilute it with two volumes of water. Mix well, then
lsing a pipette, measure out again about 1 0 ml of the acid solution and with stirring slowly add the acid
to the methylamine reaction mixture until a pH of about 7 is reached. A pH meter is very handy for
tracking this reaction. Note how much acid was needed to react with the methylamine. I f 10%
nitromethane fuel was used, the amount of acid required should be 5 to 7 ml. If 20% nitromethane was
used, the amount of acid required would be double that. If the amount of acid required is significantly
less. then the reaction isn't complete, and the mixture should be boiled for another hour or so. I f this still
doesn't bring the reaction to completion add about 200 ml of 50% sodium hydroxide to the reaction
mixture, and let it boil some more. This last resort shouldn't be done routinely because it makes your
product less suitable for direct use in the next stage of the reaction, which is cooking meth or X from the
methylamine just made. One might well have to distill a mixture to which sodium hydroxide has been
added.
This reaction has just made roughly 3 moles of methylamine dissolved in methanol. That is about the
right amount to use to convert one mole of the phenylactone to meth or X . One mole of phenyl acetone is
roughly 1 35 ml, and one mole of m-d-phenylacetone is around 1 60 ml. We now proceed to the next stage,
which is using this methylamine to make the product.
I f NaOH did not need to be added to complete the reaction, just let the reaction mix cool and settle.
Then decant off the product methylamine solution through a filter to remove aluminum debris and keep it
in a stoppered bottle while preparing the next stage of the reaction. How to dispose of the mercury
amalgamated sludge left over is covered later in this chapter.
Making Product
Into the same three necked flask used to make the methylamine (once it has been cleaned out and dried)
put roughly 40 grams of heavy duty aluminum foi l cut up into one inch squares. Then add around 1 00 ml
of clean methanol to cover up the aluminum foi l . Add more methanol if they aren't submerged. Finally,
add 1 14 gram of mercuric chloride, and swirl it a bit to mix.
As it is dissolving, get the methylamine solution in methanol just made and add it to the flask, and swirl
some more. Attach a condenser to the flask. Finally, add one mole of the phenyl acetone of your choice
and 30 ml of water. Mix some more, then add a magnetic stir bar for stirring action. Allow the reaction to
kick in, then supply heat as needed to keep it boiling for a few hours. Your reaction is complete.
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Let the debris settle for a bit as it cools, then decant the reaction mixture through a filter. The larger
particles can be caught first with a stainless steel screen before going through the finer fi lter. To the
debris left in the flask, add 1 00 ml of methanol and heat to boiling to get trapped product out. Filter that
solution and add it to your main load of product.
Now one has to distill off the methanol from the reaction mixture. Simply pour the filtered reaction mix
into the original reaction flask after it has been cleaned out, and rig for simple distillation. Boil off most
of the methanol from the product until it seems that there are two layers forming in the distilling flask, or
until one is down to roughly 200 ml left in it, whichever comes first. Then let it cool.
It's now time to get the product. When the solution has cooled down, add about 200 ml of 1 0% sodium
hydroxide solution in water to the flask, and shake it for a couple of minutes. Then add about 400 ml of
toluene or xylene to the flask and shake some more. When the layers separate upon standing, the product
will be in the toluene layer, which will float above the sodium hydroxide and water layer.
Pour the mixture into a separatory funnel, and then drain off the water layer. The toluene layer should
then be poured into a distilling flask. One then distills off the toluene or xylene as in the previous
examples, and then the product is distilled under a vacuum as in the other examples. One will get roughly
an 80% yield of Iree base meth or MDMA, which is then dissolved in several volumes of toluene and the
crystals of product are obtained by bubbling dry Hel gas through this solution of product in toluene. just
as in the other examples.
Aluminum Amalgam
Question: "Why won't my aluminum amalgamate?" - Someone on the Internet
Answer: The questioner here refers to the methods given earlier in this chapter wherein aluminum metal
amalgamated with mercuric chloride solution produces aluminum amalgam, which can be used as a
reducer for the Schiffs base produced by mixing methylamine and phenyl acetone or methylamine and
M D-phenylacetone to yield methamphetamine or "X" respectively.
If we look in Reagents fbI" Organic Synthesis, Vol. I . by Fieser, under aluminum amalgam, we find
two procedures for making aluminum amalgam. In the first procedure, the oil and grease free aluminum
is first etched with dilute sodium hydroxide to the point of strong hydrogen evolution. Using really dilute
sodium hydroxide solution, like the one-hall% solution recommended in the book you are now reading,
the solution is going to have to be heated to get a strong hydrogen evolution.
Once the aluminum starts to fizz well, the sodium hydroxide solution is decanted off, and the metal is
washed once with water so that the surface still retains some sodium hydroxide solution. Sodium
hydroxide clings to surfaces, so this isn't a difficult requirement to meet.
A one-half % solution of mercuric chloride in water is then poured on top of the aluminum until it i s
submerged. After about a two minute reaction time, the mercuric chloride solution is decanted oft􀽼 and
the process repeated with some fresh mercuric chloride solution. The light brown smut which formed on
the aluminum metal surface trom the sodium hydroxide etch should now all be gone, and replaced with a
shiny surface layer of aluminum amalgam. It is now ready to use, once rinsed free of the mercuric
chloride solution.
In variation number two given in Reagents for Organic Synthesis, the surface of the aluminum foi l is
ilrst sandpapered, then it is immersed in mercuric chloride solution to form the aluminum amalgam.
Experience has shown that when using clean aluminum foi l fresh off the roll, the preliminary sodium
hydroxide etch or sanding of the surface can be dispensed with. It just takes considerably longer for the
amalgam to form because the surface oxide layer on the aluminum has to be broken before amalgamation
can proceed. Let your eyes be your guide to the completion of the process. According to PIHKAL. the
amalgamation is allowed to proceed until the surface of the aluminum looks grey with occasional silver
Chapter Twelve
Redactive Alkylation without the Bomb
109
spots, and fine bubbles of gas form. This can take over 20 minutes using aluminum foil straight off the
roll.
Another question which must be asked is, "Is the mercuric chloride dissolved in the water solution
used for amalgamation, or is it still fl oating around in a crystalline state'>" Mercuric chloride is the most
slow-assed dissolving substance I have ever seen! Stirring the solution helps to speed up somewhat the
dissolving process, as does grinding the crystals in the water solution with the end of a glass rod, but the
dissolving is still a painfully slow operation. Until those crystals of mercuric chloride dissolve, they can't
amalgamate the aluminum metal. If you are just tossing the mercuric chloride in water, and then pouring
it on top of the aluminum. this is the likely cause of failure to get aluminum amalgam.
Another question which must be asked is, "Why are you choosing this method of reduction to get the
amphetamine?" The method is simple, and the yields are respectable, but equally simple and higher
yielding alternatives are available. The use of mercury in drug synthesis just gives me the Will ies. This is
especially true if the cooker is less than highly skilled, and if one doesn't have access to the proper
equipment. Getting one's hands on good glassware to use for reactions and for distilling the products is a
greater challenge every day. If expedient methods of product purification must be used. the synthetic
route should be chosen to produce as clean and desirable crudc product as possible.
For example, sodium cyanoborohydride is a very effective reducer for methylamine / phenylacetone
mixtures. It works equally well with methylenedioxyphenylacetone / methylamine mixtures to give "X"
or Ecstasy.
To use this method, put 250 grams methylamine hydrochloride into about 1 1 00 011 of methanol or 95%
ethanol ( 1 90 proof vodka). Then with good stirring, add 66 011 of phenyl acetone or
methylenedioxyphenylacetone, followed by 30 grams of sodium cyanoborohydride. Adjust the pH of the
continuously stirred mixture to pH 6. To measure pH, dampen some pH paper with water, then put a drop
of the reaction mixture on the pH paper. To adj ust pH, use concentrated HCI or sodium hydroxide. In this
case, I believe hydroxide would be called for. Maintain pH at 6 for a day or so until the reaction is
complete. This is indicated by the stabilization of pH.
Pour the reaction mixture into about 2V, gallons of water, and make the solution strongly acidic with
HC!. Extract the water solution with about 500 011 of toluene. You get this at the paint thinner section of
the hardware store. Save this extract, it may contain some phenylacetone.
Then the water solution, which contains the product, is made strongly alkaline (pH 1 3+ to pH papers)
by adding sodium hydroxide or lye slowly with stirring. The free base of the product meth or "X" will
come out of solution as small droplets which will over time work their way to the top of the solution.
Once the solution has cooled down. it should be extracted with two 250 ml portions or toluene. This
toluene extract will contain the product, and it should be fairly clear, with maybe some yellow coloration.
Allow it to sit for several hours, so that any entrained water can settle out of the toluene.
The toluene extract is next poured into a fresh container, taking care to leave any water droplets which
settled out behind. Bubbling dry HCI gas through the solution will precipitate out the hydrochloride salt
of the product as nice white crystals. They are filtered Ollt, rinsed with some more toluene. Slicked dry of
solvent and then spread out to dry on a plate. This procedure of crystallization is described in greater
detail in Chapter Five.
In Dr. Shulgin's experiments in PIHKAL, he got nearly 1 00% yield of meth and "X" using this
procedure. That means I (one) 011 of the phenyl acetone will give about one gram of prodllct.
Unused methylamine from the reaction, which is a very valuable commodity, can be recovered from the
alkaline water solution by heating it to boiling, passing the vapors up through an ice water cooled
condenser, and then passing the methylamine gas into hydrochloric acid to form methylamine
hydrochloride again. Sec Chapter Four for a drawing of the apparatus. A lier evaporating away the excess
hydrochloric acid, crystals orthe methylamine hydrochloride are obtained.
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The main drawback to this method is the fact that cyanoborohydride is pretty much only available from
scientitic supply houses such as Aldrich. Those folks were born to be inveterate snitches. Any business
that sells List I chemicals has to have an approved snitch plan in place. Of course, mercuric chloride is
also mainly available from these same supply houses, but it has many more uses than cyanoborohydride.
Cyanoborohydride is almost exclusively used as a reducer for Schiffs bases.
Clandestine chemists have recently found that when making M DMA, the much more common
chemical, sodium borohydride, can be used. In Advanced Techniques I gave a lot of coverage to this
chemical, and how it can be obtained so I won't waste space here to repeat. What they found was that
using almost water free reaction conditions, the methylenedioxyphenylactone could be reduced to
MDMA in almost 1 00% yields using methylamine free of water and sodium borohydride as the dry
powder. They put their m-d-phenylacetone into a flask, and then added three moles of methylamine in
methanol. The most convenient way of doing this is to put three moles of methylamine hydrochloride
into 1 000 or so ml of methanol, and then adding three moles of KOH to free base it, and after a good mix
and reaction of half an hour, filtering out the salt which forms. One could also use the fairly dry methanol
solution of methylamine which is made in Method 6 of this chapter. Once the two of them are mixed,
slowly add about one-tenth the weight of sodium borohydride as compared to the phenylacetone. The
addition should take at least half an hour, and the schiffs base will be turned into M D M A . Then the
MDMA can be recovered just as in the sodium cyanoborohydride method just mentioned. The bad thing
about this method is that it doesn't work for making meth from phenyl acetone, as even small amounts of
water ruin the yield. Check out Journal of Organic Chemistry Volume 28, pages 3259-61 ( 1 963) for some
background on this reaction route. The free wheeling experimenter looking to break new ground may
wish to try dimethylaminoborane instead as the reducing agent. This substance is easily obtained in large
amounts from the reducer component of many electroless nickel plating baths which produce a nickelboron
alloy. Check the MSDS sheet of the electroless nickel product before buying some, and keep in
mind that most electro less nickel baths produce a nickel-phosphorus alloy instead by using sodium
hypophosphite as the reducing agent.
This leaves catalytic hydrogenation of the methylamine/phenylacetone mixture using platinum catalyst
as the non-toxic and non-polluting method of choice. Catalytic hydrogenations using platinum catalyst
have been done for over a century. This speaks to the simplicity and effectiveness of the procedure. The
yields from catalytic hydrogenation are about the same as using cyanoborohydride.
The best hydrogenation vessel for clandestine cooking is an aluminum tire extinguisher, emptied and
cleaned out (see 'The Poor Man's Hydrogenation Device" in Advanced Techniques of" Clandestine
Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture). Then a magnetic stir bar is put in the fire extinguisher bottle
followed by 1 50 ml of phenylacetone followed by 300 ml of 1 90 proof vodka. Then 1 50 ml of 40%
methylamine in water is added. As an alternative, an equivalent amount of methylamine hydrochloride
can be put in a beaker with the alcohol, and an equimolar amount of sodium hydroxide added to free base
the methylamine. Then this mixture is poured into the extinguisher. Finally, about 3 grams of platinum
catalyst is added. The top is screwed on the extinguisher, and most of the air pulled out with an aspirator.
Then 30 pounds per square inch pressure of hydrogen is added and stirring begun. After an induction
period of about half an hour or so, uptake of hydrogen begins. The pressure is maintained at 30 psi for
the few hours it takes to complete the reaction.
Then the catalyst is tiltered out for reuse. The unused methylamine is boiled out and piped into
hydrochloric acid for reuse. Then the alcohol is evaporated away, and the residue is then either distilled
under a vacuum, or simply dissolved in about 700 ml of toluene. Bubbling dry HCI through this toluene
solution will give crystals of the amphetamine hydrochloride as in the last example.
Chapter Twelve
Reductive Alkylation without the Bomb
1 1 1
Question: "What do I do with my mercury waste?" - Somebody else on the Internet
Answer: You take the same approach that we industrial chemists have been using for decades now. First
of all, you choose to use a process that doesn't make such intractable waste. If you just are cooking a
little bit, one can pour the remains of amalgamated aluminum down the toilet and let the metropolitan
sewage plant deal with it.
If one is making greater amounts of mercury waste than that, the only responsible thing to do with it is
to mix up some concrete, and while it is still wet, stir the mercury waste into it. After it has set up, the
rock can be tossed anywhere. The mercury will be trapped for as long as the cement lasts. We should be
talking thousands of years there.
The use of mercury in certain reactions needs to be condemned. For example, phenyl acetones can be
made from allylbenzenes by reaction with mercury acetate followed by oxidation with chromic acid. The
waste potential in this route is enormous, without discussing the use of mercury in drug synthesis. Such
methods are best left alone.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
1 12
Chapter Thirteen
Methylamine
Methylamine is very high on the do-not-ever-purchase-through-regular-commercial-channels list. As
stich, any meth production scheme that uses the phenyl acetone route will also have to produce its own
methylamine. This is no great challenge. I n the days before methylamine became commercially avai lab Ie,
researchers and practical cookers in industry always had to make their own. To our benefit, they left good
directions for us to follow. See Organic Syntheses, Collective Volume I , pages 347-9.
2H-C9- H +
Formaldehyde
NH 'HCI
, , H H Ammonium
chlande
Methylamine
hydrochlori de
o + H-C''O H FormiC acid
The reaction to produce methylamine is cheap, but requires a lot of labor. Two molecules of
formaldehyde react with ammonium chloride to produce a molecule of methylamine hydrochloride and
formic acid. Both starting materials are easily obtained in 5-gallon-pail or 50#-bag sizes from commercial
chemical outlets serving industry.
The glassware is set up as shown in Figure I I in Chapter Three. The chemist places 1 000 grams of
ammonium chloride and 2000 ml of 3 5-40% formaldehyde in the 5000 ml flask sitting in the pan of oil.
(These chemicals need not be a very high grade; technical grade is good enough.) He puts a thermometer
in the oil next to the flask and heats the oil to 1 05° C or so, with the aim of heating the contents of the
tlask to about 1 00° C or so. A thermometer inserted into the flask is used to monitor its temperature. A
bubbling reaction kicks in, and a condensate made up of formic acid and methyl collects in the receiving
flask. When this distillation slows in a couple of hours, raise the temperature inside the flask to 1 04° C,
but no higher. Continue heating at this temp until no more distillate comes over (4 to 6 hours). Periodic
applications of aspirator vacuum to the batch will increase yield of methylamine because it pulls the C02
out of the .reaction mixture.
Then he turns off the heat and removes the flask from the pan of oil. Some liquid will have collected i n
the 2000 m l flask; h e throws i t out and rinses the llask with water. The 5000 m l flask i s set i n a pan of
room temperature water to cool it off. A good amount of ammonium chloride crystals precipitate from
the solution. He does not want these chemicals, so he filters them out. He returns the fIltered reaction
mixture to the 5000 ml flask and again sets up the glassware as shown in Figure I I . A 250 ml flask is
used as the collecting flask. The reaction mixture should be clear to pale yellow.
He turns on the vacuum source and attaches it to the vacuum nipple of the vacuum adapter. He boi Is
off the water and formic acid in the reaction mixture under a vacuum. Heating the flask in
the oil pan speeds up the process, but the oil is not heated above 1 00° C. When the volume of the
contents of the flask is reduced to about 1 200- 1 300 ml, he turns off the vacuum and removes the flask
from the oil pan. The flask is put in a pan of room temperature water to cool it off Some more crystals of
ammonium chloride come out of solution. He filters out these crystals and pours the filtered reaction
mixture into a 2000 mf flask. He sets up the glassware as before, and again boils off the water and formic
acid under a vacuum. He does not heat the oil above 1 00° C.
Chapter Thirteen
Methylamine
1 1 3
When the volume of the reaction mixture has been reduced to about 700 ml, crystals of methylamine
hydrochloride begin to form on the surface of the liquid. It looks a lot like a scummy film. When this
happens, the vacuum is disconnected and the flask is removed from the oil bath. The flask is placed in a
pan of room temperature water to cool it off. As the flask cools down, a lot of methylamine
hydrochloride crystals come out of the solution. When the flask nears room temperature, it is cooled off
some more with some cold water. This will cause even more methylamine hydrochloride to come out of
the solution.
The chemist filters out the crystals and puts them in a Mason jar. The crystals look different from the
crystals of ammonium chloride, so he should have no trouble telling the two apart. These crystals soak up
water from the air and melt, so he does not waste time getting them i n the Mason jar after they are
filtered.
He pours the filtered reaction mixture into a 1 000 ml round bottom flask and again sets up the
glassware as shown in Figure I I . He reattaches the vacuum and continues boiling off the water and
formic acid under a vacuum. When the volume of the mixture reaches 500 ml, he removes the flask from
the hot oil and places it in cool water. As it cools off, more crystals of methylamine hydrochloride
appear. He filters the cold reaction mixture to obtain these crystals. He transfers them to a beaker and
adds 200 ml of cold chloroform to the beaker. He stirs the crystals around in the chloroform for a few
minutes, breaking up any chunks. This dissolves any dimethylamine hydrochloride in the product. He
filters the crystals in the beaker, then puts them in the Mason jar along with his first crop of methylamine
hydrochloride crystals. He throws away the chloroform and returns the reaction mixture to the 1 000 ml
tlask.
He boils the reaction mixture under a vacuum again. When its volume reaches about 1 50- 1 70 ml, he
turns off the vacuum and removes the flask from the hot oil. He pours the reaction into a beaker and stirs
it as it cools down, to prevent it from turning into a solid block. Once it has cooled down, he adds 200 ml
of cold chloroform to the slush. He stirs it around with a glass rod for a couple of minutes, being sure to
break up any chunks. The mixture is then filtered. The crystals of crude methylamine hydrochloride are
kind of gooey, so it may not be possible to filter out all the chloroform.
This batch of crystals is added to the Mason jar along with the rest of the crude product. The yield of
crude product is around 425 grams. It absorbs water easily from the air, and melts. Its smell has been
described as "like old woman's pussy." The main contaminant of the crude product is ammonium
chloride, along with some dimethylamine hydrochloride, and some of the reaction mixture. The 425 gram
yield of crude product is therefore deceivingly high.
Purification would best start with drying under a vacuum. This could be conveniently done by placing
the crude crystals into a large vacuum flask, stoppering the top of the flask, and applying aspirator
vacuum for about half an hour. Gentle heating of the flask with warm water during the vacuum drying
helps speed along the process, as does some shaking around of the contents of the vacuum flask. If one
has an aspirator that likes to spit back water into flasks under vacuum, then one should use a vacuum
pump.
Now to get nice and pure crystals of methylamine hydrochloride, we leave those crude crystals in the
filtering flask, and add around % of a quart of 1 90 proof vodka to the crystals. One hundred ninety proof
vodka won't dissolve ammonium chloride, but it will dissolve methylamine hydrochloride when it is hot.
Leave the top of the filtering flask stoppered to prevent steam from getting into the flask, then warm up
the flask using hot water. Water fresh off the stove, almost boiling hot, would be best. Swirl around the
flask as it warms to get the methylamine hydrochloride dissolved.
Once the alcohol solution gets hot, stop the swirling to let suspended crystals settle out. Then decant
off the alcohol solution, taking care to keep the crystals inside the flask. Filtering is necessary. Then put
the alcohol which has been decanted from the flask in the freezer. As it gets cold, methylamine
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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1 14
hydrochloride crystals will come out of solution. When the alcohol is good and cold, filter to collect
these pure crystals of methylamine hydrochloride. Store them in a Mason jar with a lid.
Return the filtered cold alcohol to the filtering flask containing the crude product. Once again heat the
alcohol with swirling to dissolve some more methylamine hydrochloride. Then let the suspended crystals
settle once again. and decant the alcohol as before, and cool that down in the freezer to get another crop
of pure methylamine hydrochloride. A few cycles through this process will get all the methylamine
hydrochloride soaked out of the crude product and recovered as pure recrystallized methylamine
hydrochloride. The yield of pure methylamine hydrochloride will be around 350 grams or so.
Sometimes, the methylamine hydrochloride is used directly as such in the reaction, such as, for
example, in reductive alkylation using aluminum foil as the reducer. More generally, the free base is
used. To obtain a strong solution of methylamine in water, 1 00 grams of methylamine hydrochloride is
placed in a flask with 50 ml water. This is chilled in an ice-salt bath to a temperature nearing 0° F. Then a
cold solution of 60 grams of NaOH in 1 00 ml water is slowly added with stirring. The addition must be
slow enough, and the cooling strong enough, to avoid losing the free base as a gas. Methylamine solution
produced in this way is roughly comparable to the commercial 40% methylamine, except that it also
contains salt and maybe a little NaOH if too much was added.
This solution should either be used immediately, or stored i n a tightly stoppered bottle. Refrigeration
of the solution is optional, but desirable.
Other methods of making methylamine exist, but they are not well-liked by the pioneers mentioned at
the beginning of the chapter. Presented here is their preferred method. For example, it can be made i n
7 1 % yield b y reacting methyl iodide with hexamine, also known as hexamethylene tetramine. Good
directions for making this substance from ammonia and formaldehyde can be found in Home Workshop
Explosives by yours truly. The production details for methylamine are found in the Journal a/ the
American Chemical Society. Volume 6 1 , page 3585 ( 1 939). The authors are Galat and Elion.
It can also be made by degrading acetamide with Clorox. See Journal 0/ the American Chemical
Society. Volume 63. page 1 1 1 8 ( 1 939). The authors are Whitmore and Thorpe, and the yield is 78%.
It can also be made via the CuTtius reaction in a yield of 60%. See Helvetica Chimica Acta, Volume
1 2 , page 227 ( 1 929). The authors are Naegeli, Gruntuch and Lendnrff.
If one has easy access to mercuric chloride, methylamine can be made from nitromethane fuel by using
amalgamated aluminum. This is covered in the "Reduction without the Bomb" chapter.
References
Journal a/the American Chemical Society, Volume 40. page 1 4 1 1 ( 1 9 1 8).
Chapter Fourteen
The Ritter Reaction: Amphetamines Directly From A llylbenzene
Chapter Fourteen
The Ritter Reaction:
Amphetamines Directly From Allylbenzene
1 1 5
A most interesting sidelight appears in a n article b y Ritter and Kalish found in the Journal of the
American Chemical Society, Volume 70, pages 4045-50 ( 1 948). This sidelight was a bit of research done
by a grad student as part of his master's thesis. The grad student just happened to work out the
experimental details for converting allylbenzene directly into amphetamine.
The main thrust of the article was the good Dr. Ritter telling of his new method for converting double
bonds into amines. The method which he pioneered has since come to be known as the Ritter reaction.
This versatile reaction can well serve the underground operator as an alternative pathway to the
amphetamines.
The Ritter reaction in general is a reaction whereby ami des are made by adding an alkene to a mixture
of a nitrile in sulfuric acid. After the amide is made, it is then boiled in hydrochloric acid solution to give
the corresponding amine.
The particular variation on this theme in which we are interested deals with the case in which the
alkene is the now familiar and highly useful allylbenzene. When it is added to a solution of acetonitrile in
sulfuric acid, the following reaction takes place:
@-CHtCHlICIIz + CIIJClN
Altylbenzene plus acetonitrile
a I H-N-CCIIJ
@-CllztHCIIJ
Sulfunc aCid (cata􀀴st)
Acetyl amide of amphetamine
The acetyl amide thusly produced is not isolated and purified. Rather, it is added in the crude state to
hydrochloric acid, and boiled for several hours. A hydrolysis reaction almost identical to the one seen in
Chapter Five takes place producing the prototype amphetamine, benzedrine.
HCIIHzO
reacts 'Nittl hydrochlonc acid
The acetyl amide of amphetamine is very similar to the formyl amide of methamphetamine produced
by the Leuckardt-Wallach reaction. Its main difference is that it is more difficult to hydrolyze to
amphetamine by the action of boiling hydrochloric acid. It must therefore be boiled with the acid for a
longer period of time than the formyl amide. The manufacturer may well find it to his advantage to boil
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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1 1 6
the tar left over at the end of the process once more with fresh hydrochloric acid. This will l i kely yield an
additional measure of amphetamine from the stuhbornly unreactive amide.
This small hassle with the hydrolysis process could be avoided if HCN were used as the nitrile in
sulfuric acid solution. However, the extreme danger of dealing with hydrogen cyanide more than
outweighs the additional work needed when using acetonitrile.
To do the reaction, a solution of 450 grams (243 ml) of concentrated sulfuric acid in 400 grams (530
ml) acetonitrile is made by slowly adding the acid to the acetonitrile. Both ingredients are cold when they
are mixed together. and the temperature of the mixture is kept in the 5- 1 0° C range during the mixing by
setting the reaction container i n ice. An admirable reaction vessel is a glass beer pitcher.
When the addition of the acid to the nitrile is complete, the pitcher is taken out of the ice, and 236
grams (262 ml) of allyl benzene is slowly added to it with stirring. The mixture quickly turns an orange
color, and begins to warm up.
Stirring is continued and the temperature of the mixture fol lowed. It slowly climbs to 50° C. and then
more rapidly to 80° C, as the color of the mixture darkens.
This is a tenfold scale up of the original recipe, so be watchful and protected in case the reaction gets
out of control. One wouldn't want this mixture to go postal on you. Once the 80° C temperature is
reached, pour the mixture out of the pitcher, and onto a few pounds of ice cubes. Smaller batches can be
cooled just by immersing the reaction vessel in ice, but on this scale, go right onto ice.
Once the reaction mixture has cooled down, the acid should be neutralized by slowly pouring it into a
1 5% solution of lye dissolved in water. About a pound of lye will be required to neutralize all the sulfuric
acid and produce an alkaline solution. Most of the unreacted acetonitrile will end up in the water layer.
but some will evaporate during the neutralization. Stay upwind!
The neutralization of the acid by the lye solution produces a great deal of heat. The lye solution is
gently stirred during the addition, and then stirred more vigorously during the following minutes. After a
few minutes of stirring, the mixture is allowed to sit for a few minutes. A yellow oily layer floats on the
top of the solution. This yellow oil is the crude amide. I f the oil were to be allowed to sit for a while
longer, it would begin to form crystals of crude amide. There is no need for this. however. so the
processing continues immediately.
The top yellow layer is poured off into a sep funnel, and any water carried along is drained otT. Then
the yellow oil is poured into a 2000 ml round bottom flask. It is now ready for hydrolysis with
hydrochloric acid solution to make amphetamine. The approximate volume of the crude amide is
determined, and five times that volume of 1 5% hydrochloric acid solution is added to it. Fifteen percent
hydrochloric acid solution is easily made by starting with the 28% hardware store hydrochloric acid, and
adding just about an equal volume of water to it. A wise move here is to rinse the inside of the sep funnel
with acid. This rinses off the amide c linging to the glass insides of the sep funnel.
When the acid has been added to the amide, the mixture is swirled. They usually mix together well. I f
they don't, stronger acid is used. Adding some ful l strength acid to the mix should do the job. Then a few
boiling chips are added to the flask, a condenser attached to the flask, and heat applied to boil the mixture
at reflux.
The reflux boiling is continued for 1 0 hours. During this time the mixture will turn black. At the end of
the boiling period. the mixture is allowed to cool down. When it is cool, 200 ml of toluene is added to the
flask. The mixture is shaken well for a couple of minutes, then allowed to sit. The toluene floats up to the
top. and has dissolved in it most of the unreacted amide, and other unwanted garbage.
The toluene layer is then poured off into a sep funnel. and any water layer carried along drained back
into the flask. The toluene layer is poured off into another container for future processing. It may be
difficult to tell exactly where the toluene layer ends and the water starts because of their similar color. A
sharp eye and good lighting help to spot the interface of the two fluids.
Chapter Fourteen
The Ritter Reaction: Amphetamines Directly From Allylbenzelle
1 1 7
The acid solution of the amphetamine i s now made alkaline to liberate the free base for distilling. To
do this. lye is added to the acid solution in the 2000 ml flask. Assuming the use of about 1 200 ml of 1 5%
hydrochloric acid solution, one 1 2 oz. can of lye does the job. The mixture is first swirled to release heat,
then shaken vigorously for live minutes. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of vigorous and
prolonged shaking here because the amphetamine base initially formed tends to dissolve unneutralized
amphetamine hydrochloride. The oily droplets protect the hydrochloride from contact with the lye
solution unless the shaking is strong and prolonged.
When the shaking is completed, the mixture is allowed to cool down. Then 300 ml of toluene is added
to the flask, and shaking continued lor a minute or two. After sitting for a couple of minutes, a tolueneamphetamine
layer noats above the water layer. This is poured off into a sep funnel, and the tolueneamphetamine
layer poured into a 1 000 ml round bottom flask.
The amphetamine-toluene mixture is distilled i n exactly the same manner as described in Chapter Five.
The boiling point of benzedrine is 1 0° to 20° C lower than meth. The yield of benzedrine is in the range
of 1 00 to 1 50 m!.
The benzedrine produced by this reaction is either used and removed as is, or it is converted to
methamphetamine. A very good and simple process for doing this can be found in the Journal o/ the
American Chemical Society, Volume 62, pages 922-4. The author is Woodruff. The yield for this process
is over 90%, so a greater volume of methamphetamine comes out of the reaction than the benzedrine
input. This is because the gain in molecular weight achieved by adding the methyl group outweighs the
small shortfall from 1 00%. yield. For those who have difficulty reading the Woodruff article, meth is
described as B-phenylisopropylmethylamine. The amine is benzedrine.
A more recent and much more convenient procedure can be found in Tetrahedron Letters Volume 48.
pages 7680-82 (2007). This simple methylation procedure uses formaldehyde plus zinc dust to convert
Benzedrine to meth in almost 1 00% yield. Let's take an example starting with two grams of ordinary
amphetamine or Dexedrine. It could even have been extracted from Adderall pills, but let's start with the
ordinary amphetamine hydrochloride.
Two grams of amphetamine hydrochloride are dissolved in 20 ml water. Now the buffer solution is
made that controls the pH of the reduction. Add 1 .6 ml of 85% phosphoric acid to the water solution.
Next add .95 grams of sodium hydroxide to the water solution, and mix to get the sodium hydroxide
dissolved. Finally add .9 ml of 37% formaldehyde solution and 1 .6 grams of zinc dust. Stir lor half an
hour at about 30 C.
The zinc dust will lizz as it dissolves in contact with the acid buffer solution. It is pumping hydrogen to
the Schiff base formed between the amphetamine and the formaldehyde, and reducing it to meth. One
must be careful not to use more than the 1 .5 moles of formaldehyde to one mole of amphetamine ratio
used here, as that would produce dimethylamphetamine. Longer reaction times also contribute to
dimethylamphetamine production.
At the end of the reaction period, Illter out the zinc metal dust with coffee filters. Rinse the filter with
clean water, and let this add to the main reaction solution. Now add lye to the reaction mixture until the
pH is above pH 1 3 . On this scale. a sep funnel is the best place to do this neutralization. Strong shaking
should be used to make oily droplets get into contact with the lye water. Once the solution has cooled
down, extract the water solution with about 50 ml of toluene. Separate off the toluene, wash it with some
water to remove any formaldehyde, then after the entrained water has been shed, bubble dry Hel gas in a
clean dry beaker to get the crystals of meth hydrochloride.
I r the benzedrine product is used as is, the producer makes it as the hydrochloride salt. This is made
the same way as methamphetamine hydrochloride. An alternative to the hydrochloride salt is the sulfate
salt. This more hasslesome procedure calls for the use of cooled solutions of amphetamine base to
alcohol and cooled solutions of sulfuric acid in alcohol. Furthermore, a recrystallization from alcoholSecrets
or Metbamphetamine Man ufacture
Eighth Edition
1 18
ether is required because trapped excess sulfuric acid in the crystals causes them to tum to mush or
worse. By using HCI gas, the excess acid floats off as gas.
An excellent review of this reaction can be found in Organic Reactions, Volume 1 7. Nearly double
these yields should be obtained if the underground chemist is willing to risk using hydrogen cyanide
instead of acetonitrile. The hydrogen cyanide is made inside the reaction flask from sodium cyanide and
sulfuric acid. For complete directions, see Organic Syntheses, Collective Volume 5, pages 47 1 to 473.
The name of the compound is alpha, alpha, Dimethyl beta phenethylamine.
My opinion is that anyone attempting this variation with hydrogen cyanide i n any place other than a
well ventilated shed, well upwind from the batch, is just nuts. This variation isn't recommended, nor do I
know if i t has been specifically tested for efficacy with allylbenzene. It sure as hell is worth checking out,
if the required precautions are taken for dealing with hydrogen cyanide solution. This is not for
beginners!
Chapter Fifteen
Methamphetamine/rom Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetamine/rom PPA
Chapter Fifteen
Methamphetamine from Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetamine from PPA
Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine
1 / 9
Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are structurally mirror images o f each other. This is possible because
they have a chiral center. the carbon atom attached to the alcohol group of these two substances.
Theoretically, reduction of these two materials should both give the same product, the "d" isomer of meth
because when the alcohol group is reduced, the chiral center disappears.
This is not to say that the two materials are interchangeable. Pseudoephedrine is less willing to
undergo reduction in a couple of the methods given in this chapter than is ephedrine. In particular,
hydrogenation methods which work by forming the acetic acid ester will be difficult with
pseudoephedrine. The production of Cat by chromic acid oxidation will also tend to fail with
pseudoephedrine.
The most popular clandestine methods for producing meth work almost equally well with either
ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. These two most popular methods are the lithium in anhydrous ammonia
reduction, and the hydroiodic acid and red phosphorus reduction. So long as the meth chef is planning to
do the cooking with either lithium metal or the hydroiodic acid methods, little difference will be noted
between the products obtained using either ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.
The standard procedures for cooking meth using ephedrine or pseudoephedrine have traditionally
started with obtaining pills containing these ingredients and then extracting them. Now all pills
containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine are "show ID" items. The serious cook will be well advised to
check into the Cooking Ephedrine chapter found in this book.
Procedure for Obtaining:
Pure Ephedrine, Pseudoephedrine or PPA from Stimulant and/or Cold Pills
No aspect of methamphetamine manufacture has changed so radically in the past few years as the
composition and availability of the OTC "stimulant" pills which are useful as raw-material feed-stock for
methamphetamine production. Back in early '92, when I penned the third edition to this book, ephedrine
pills were available by mail order. These pills were quite well-suited for a very simple water extraction to
get out the active ingredients, because they were about 30-40% active ingredient, and the fillers were
mostly non-water soluble. Sudafed pills were almost that easy to extract, except that they had a red
colored coat that had to be soaked off in solvent before commencing a water extraction of them.
Since that time, the mail-order outfits have been heavily leaned upon. Several of their heads are now in
the slammer. Other such companies have been taken over and are now agents of the enemy. I wouldn't
trust most of them as far as I could spit. All ephedrine orders now must be accompanied with photocopies
of driver's licenses, etc. Ephedrine is now on the chemical diversion list with no minimum threshold
quantity. To quote one of the DEA's top dogs on this matter: "We're keeping track of where they are
gOll1g."
Pseudoephedrine, aka Sudafed, and PPA, aka phenylpropanolamine or Dexatrim, are now subject to
close sales scrutiny as well due to the Meth Act of 1 996, passed in response to the 4th edition of this
book, and the "Patriot Act" which followed several years later. A single sale limit of24 grams of base,
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
1 20
which corresponds to a little under 500 of the 60 mg pseudoephedrine pills or a little over 300 of the 75
mg phenylpropanolamine pills, has been established. Mail-order pill companies are now required to turn
over, on a regular basis. a complete customer list with names and addresses and amounts purchased.
Retail purchases of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine are now similarly tracked. One must show ID and
have one's name and address recorded in a log book to buy a limited quantity of these pills at an intlated
price. Herbal ephedra is similarly restricted and tracked unless one grows his own in the desert.
As a result, it must be emphasized that the procedures given in this chapter are most suitable for
making "stash" amounts of meth. Large pill purchases will attract the heat like blood i n the water does
sharks. The recipes given in this chapter can easily be scaled down to whatever amount of pill feedstock
one is able to obtain. If one cooks his own ephedrine from the health food store amino acid alanine, then
production can easily be scaled up instead.
The " doctoring" or the pills over the past several years has been similarly dramatic. I n the case of
ephedrine pills, the first thing which was done was to add more filler to make them less suitable to a
simple water extraction. The more filler, the more water required to extract the active ingredient, and the
more inert pill-gunk co-extracted. This gunk had a bad effect on the meth-production reactions, which
follow the GIGO principle.
Then the pill doctoring became more scientific. The insoluble filler was replaced by some type of
water-soluble fiber which played much greater havoc with the ensuing reaction if no purification beyond
just water extraction was done. Even in the case of making cat, it would screw up the reaction by causing
the entire reaction mixture to take on a milkshake consistency upon neutralization with NaOH. The gunk
equally filled the water and toluenc layer (which, by the way, were pretty hard to spot because of the
floating gunk). Thc floating gunk could be filtered out of the toluene layer, and the hydrochloride then
precipitated, but thc octane numbers were greatly reduced below normal.
The next version of ephedrine pills contained 25 mill igrams of ephedrine along with 1 00 milligrams of
guaifenesin. They were available at gas stations and other SlOres because they came under the definition
of "mixture" in the Chemical Diversion Act, and so were not regulated.
These I 00 milligram guaifenesin pills were followed by 200 milligram guaifenesin pills, which is what
are on the market now. The definition of "mixture" has been changed so that ephedrine pills containing
guaifcnesin are just as reportable as the olhers.
The best extraction procedure to use has changed a lot with the passage of time, and the introduction of
new pill formulations. I'll go through the various pill extraction techniques which have been used over
the past decade so that the reader can have a sense of history on this subject. It's also wise to cover the
old methods because many of the old techniques can be made useful again with some tweaking to
counteract the effects of new polluting ingredients in pills. Let's start with the basic pill extraction
procedure. It's an extension of the old standard water extraction procedure that was so successful with
the old mini-thin ephedrine pills. It also used work tine with the old types of pseudoephedrine pills.
The tirst step is to grind the pills. A mortar and pestle gives the best grind size, as overly fine grinding
makes the subsequent filtering steps more difficult. With herbal extract pills and Ma Huang, the initial
grind should be done in a blender, mixing the substance to be ground with its initial grind charge of 1 -2%
hydrochloric acid (hardware store muriatic acid diluted 1 5-30 fold) and blenderizing at medium high
speed until small particles are obtained.
The next step atier the grind is to determine whether these pills need to be degummed and desplooged.
The ephedrine-guaifenesin pills are really loaded with gum. They must be degummed and desplooged by
soaking the ground up pills in toluene, then filtering. Other types of pills I've come across aren't so
loaded with this ingredient. although it may be more prevalent in the future. Failure to degum and
desplooge these pills results in a milkshake later when the water extract is made basic and extracted with
solvent. lt also rcally slows up the filtering of the water extract.
Chapter Fifieen
Methamphetamine from Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetamine/rom PPA
121
I think this emulsion-forming ingredient is some type of fatty acid which forms a soap when sodium
hydroxide is added later on to free base the ephedrine, or whatever. Toluene is also quite good at
removing guaifenesin from pills. Colored pills should be tested with solvent. If toluene is going to be
used as the extractant at the end of this procedure, check to see if toluene dissolves the coloring matter. If
it does, then soak the ground up pills in toluene and filter to remove the color. Ditto if Coleman camper
fuel is going to be used as the final extractant. Allow the ground up pills to dry after desplooging so that
the solvent is removed from them.
Then water extraction is done. Mix 1 ,000 ground up pills with 350 ml of water, and stir for about an
hour. Another variation is to just mix 1 ,000 pills with 350 ml water, and after the pills have softened,
mush them up and stir for an additional hour.
Now the pill mush should be filtered. Vacuum fi ltration through a Buchner funnel is greatly preferred.
because it will suck the filter cake dry, giving better extraction with less use of water. The need to keep
the amount of water used to a minimum arises from the fact that the "pill extraction deterrents" are less
soluble in water than the desired ingredient, so the more water used, the more effective they are. It may
be difficult to get the mush to filter easily through filter paper, so a preliminary fi ltering through clean
white cotton cloth cut like a filter paper will be helpful in these cases.
The filtrate should be clear, and very bitter tasting, as it contains the active ingredient. Hopefully, most
of the pill fillers didn't dissolve, and they are sitting in a filter cake in the Buchner funnel.
Now take this filter cake of pill sludge, remove it from the filter, and mix it with an additional 300 011
of water. Stir this around for an hour, then filter this. If a Buchner funnel was used, this is enough water
to extract the pills. If only gravity was used to aid filtration, then the pill sludge should be soaked with a
final 1 00 011 portion of water, and filtered.
To the combined tiltrates, add a dash of hydrochloric acid to suppress steam distillation, and boil its
volume down to about 200 ml. With pseudoephedrine, this isn't so important because it isn't as watersoluble
as ephedrine or PPA free bases, but the volume should be reduced some for it, too.
Now let the solution cool, and then add 20% NaOH or lye solution with stirring or shaking until the
solution is strongly alkaline to litmus paper. Indicating pH paper should say 1 2+. A p H meter may not be
as useful as paper for this reading. The solution at this point should smell strongly of the kind of fishy
free bases.
Extract the water solution with about 1 00 011 of toluene. This solvent can be found in the paint-thinner
section of the hardware store or paint-supply outlet. If you can't find this solvent, Coleman camper fuel
will work almost as well. The water layer should remain a liquid, and the toluene layer should be clear
and transparent. If the particular "deterrent" formulation results in a milkshake consistency, just estimate
how much is that top 100 011 of solvent, separate it off, and tilter it. Rinse the filtered out gunk with
solvent. Repeat this extraction with two additional portions of toluene. With the ephedrine-guaifenesin
pills, extract with petroleum ether, hexane or Coleman camper fuel.
The combined toluene extracts should be placed in a 400 ml beaker and allowed to sit for a few hours.
This serves two purposes: first, entrained water w i l l settle 10 the bottom of the beaker and stick to the
glass. When it is poured into a fresh beaker, the water will be removed. The second reason involves an
observation I made some time ago with one particular "deterrent" formulation. In that case the water
layer became almost solid after the second toluene extraction, because the solvating action of ephedrine
free base was lost for these tillers. The toluene extract in this case, upon standing, grew a mat of white
solid about v.- to Y,-inch thick on the bottom of the beaker. After letting this mat grow, and pouring the
solution off of it, all proceeded well from that point.
Once the toluene has been poured into a fresh beaker, dry Hel gas should be bubbled through it to
precipitate pure ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or P P A hydrochloride. This is done just like the bubbling to
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
1 22
get meth hydrochloride in Chapter Five. The yield from 1 ,000 25 mg ephedrine pills is about 20 grams,
from 1 ,000 60 mg pseudoephedrine pills about 50 grams, and from 1 ,000 75 mg PPA pills is about 65
grams.
Then after extracting the acid concentrate, this concentrate should be made strongly alkaline by adding
lye solution and shaking. We now have free base as in the pill example. It can be extracted out with
toluene, just as with pills. and the hydrochloride collected by bubbling with HCI, just as with pills.
Another pill extraction procedure which was briefly touched upon in the fourth edition of this book has
proven quite useful when extracting those 200 milligram guaifenesin pills. Through the fifth edition of
this book and partway through the l i fe of the sixth ed until roughly the beginning of 2004, this method
also was very effective in extracting the various brands of pseudoephedrine pills.
First the pills are finely ground in a blender. Shaking the blender some while it is running will help to
get large pill chunks off the bottom of the blender and into the blades. Next one can pour the powdered
rills into a beaker, and desplooge with roughly one ml of toluene for each pill used. Stir it around for
about half an hour, then filter. Spread the pill mass out to air dry. I ' m not really certain if this step is
ahsolutely necessary. Feel free to skip the toluene desplooge step, and see if it makes any difference.
Return the dried pill mass to the beaker, and add about 4 grams of lye for each 1 00 of the 25 mg
ephedrine pills used. Stir this in. Then slowly add 9 1 % isopropyl rubbing alcohol, or hardware store
denatured alcohol, or 1 90 proof vodka with stirring until a moderately runny paste is achieved. Too much
alcohol could make it difficult to precipitate the hydrochloride crystals at the end of this process. Using
water instead of alcohol can result in a regrettable mess, especially if too much water is used. That
extraction deterrent formulation really kicks in with water, and a horrendous milkshake emulsion easily
forms. Stick to alcohol. and use the minimum amount required to get a light paste.
Stir this fairly light paste for about half an hour. The lye dissolves, and produces the free base of the
ephedrine. We now extract out the ephedrine free base.
Add 50-75 ml of Coleman camper fuel for each 1 00 pills used, and stir this mixture for about half an
hour. Then filter the mixture. Doubled up coffee filters or lab filter paper will be fine enough to catch the
pill particles. A clear blue filtrate should result. The blue color is from the camper fuel; it causes no
problems.
Rerum the pill mass to the beaker, and add another 50-75 ml of Coleman camper fuel for each 1 00 pills
used. Stir this for about half an hour, then filter.
The combined clear blue filtrate is now ready for bubbling with dry HCI. This is done just like in all
the other examples where we bubble dry HCI to get the crystalline hydrochloride product. The blue color
of the camper fuel doesn 't color the crystals at all, so long as it is sucked away using a Buchner funnel
and vacuum flask. I f you don't have such equipment, a final rinse of the crystals with toluene will wash
off the camper fuel.
Camper fuel evaporates quickly, and doesn't leave a lingering smell on the crystals of ephedrine
hydrochloride. One can expect to get close to 1 00% extraction of the pills by this method. so long as the
pills were finely ground in the first place. Your Uncle has tried and likes this method!
Others have also used this method, and offered their variations on the techniques. Suggested
retinement number one is to replace the Coleman camper fuel with the naphtha, a common solvent which
one can pick up at the hardware store. People have found that naphtha evaporates away faster than
Coleman camper fuel, and that it is also a considerably cleaner solvent than camper fuel.
All of these methods use a lot of solvent, and so produce a lot of waste solvent. The question naturally
arises, "What do I do with my waste solvent after it has been used?" There is an easy answer to this. One
should never pour waste solvent down the drain, or dump it into the ground, or otherwise dispose of it
haphazardly. What one should do is store the used solvent in champagne bottles or other containers that
can be sealed up. Then at the earliest convenient moment, pay a visit to the waste oil recycling drop off
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point. These can be found in most any town. Just pour your waste solvent into the waste oil container.
The waste oil will be recycled as a fuel, and your solvent will do no hann there.
The years 1 999 through 2008 brought with them a series of unfortunate events for meth cookers. Bad
news item number one was the pulling from the shelves of products containing phenylpropanolamine.
This unfortunate occurrence was due to a number of strokes traced back to taking too much Dexatrim and
related products. The resulting lawsuits and FDA restrictions meant the end for OTC (Over-the-Counter)
phenylpropanolamine.
Of even greater signifIcance for meth cookers has been the gradual appearance of and now market
domination by a series of "doctored" OTC pseudoephedrine pills. These pills fIrst showed up in Australia
in late 1 999. The parent company distributing these "gak" pills chose Australia as their test ground
because if people keeled over from ingesting the mile long list of "inert ingredients" the publicity in the
US would be much easier to kill. One must also consider that the price that a lawyer can extract for a
dead Aussie is much less than an American lawyer could get for dead Americans. Add to that the fact
that the Aussies had a nice and growing clandestine meth "problem" based upon pseudoephedrine pills.
The Aussies were the perfect test market for these new pills.
Once Warner Lambert demonstrated that their new pill formulations didn't seem to kill people, and
also showed that the new pill formulations confused the hell out of clandestine chemists trying to extract
them to use as raw material for meth cooking, the pills moved to the US. Then, as of spring 200 1 , was
very hard, regardless of brand, to lind a pseudoephedrine pill which one could extract by the old method
of grinding the pill, and extracting with water or alcohol. These "simple extractions" should now be
considered to be completely worthless for the pills now on the market.
The new pseudoephedrine pills can be recognized by looking at the list of inert ingredients on the pill
package. The list of ingredients will be a mile long, and will include such things as povidone,
eros povidone, lactose, carnauba wax, acacia gum, Xanthane gum, soaps like stearic acid or magnesium
strearate, polymers with many names like Polyox or Pluronic. They may also choose to say "may contain
one or more of the following" or they may just say, for ingredients, see US Patent 6, 1 36,864 or World
Patent 00/ 1 5261 and US patent application 20050256 1 9. These patents make for great reading. I ' m
mentioned over and over. Check them out. The reader i s well advised not to pay too much attention to the
listed ingredients on a pill package. The fonnulators are not required to list them all.
The new pseudoephedrine pills were roughly modeled after the gas station ephedrine pills. This should
come as no surprise, since the same crew was responsible for them. It is also possible to extract them by a
roughly similar method to that used with the gas station ephedrine pills. The difference at present is that
the new pseudoephedrine ( Sudafed) pills are much more heavily loaded with waxes like carnauba and
gums like acacia. Dragging these waxes and gums into a meth production batch will kill the yield, and
make isolating any product very hard. The whole idea behind these patents, which claim to make "illicit
drug product impossible," is that they are formulated so that the "gak" which has heen added gets
brought over through the extraction process into the batch, thereby ruining any batch.
A method which worked on these new pseudoephedrine pills is to lirst grind them in a blender. It is
hard to get a line grind because they are so gummy. Then soak the ground-up pill mass in at least 3 ml of
toluene for each pill used. Stir the mixture tram time to time, and after a couple hours of soaking, lilter
off the toluene, and allow the pill mass to dry. Then free basing using isopropyl alcohol/lye or lye
solution in water can be done just as given previously. This is fooled by extraction of the free base using
toluene rather than naphtha or camper fuel. There is no need to use the naphtha to extract these pills since
they don't contain guaifenesin. After a couple extractions with toluene, the pooled toluene extracts can
be with dry HC I to gel nice looking crystals of fairly pure pseudoephedrine. With the present
formulations on the market, this procedure will give a clean enough pseudoephedrine to make meth.
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Further cleaning of the pseudoephedrine crystals could be done by taking the crystals, and for each gram
of crystals, dissolving it in 1 0 ml of water. Add lye with strong shaking until the pH of the water is 1 2+ to
pH paper. Now extract the water with some toluene, and bubble the toluene extract with dry HC I to get
really pure pseudoephedrine.
This procedure worked well until late 2003, although towards the end of that period, new pill
ingredients were added that required the product pseudoephedrine to be soaked in a little cold methyl
ethyl ketone (MEK) and then filtered to get a clean product. Then a new generation of gas station
ephedrine pills appeared which were completely unextractable by the old method. Within 6 months, the
same formulation had spread to the pseudoephedrine pills as well, and clandestine chemists everywhere
were stumped as to how to defeat this new menace.
The culprit behind this plague for meth cooks was US Patent 6,359,0 1 1 , again by those jackasses at
Warner Lambert. This Patent relied heavily upon polymers to mess up the extraction and isolation of
ephedrine or pseudoephedrine tram pills, and included polymers which mimic the solubility of ephedrine
and pseudoephedrine so that chemical methods of isolation of the product were next to impossible. The
polymers would be pulled into whatever product could be isolated from the pills, and they would proceed
to kill any reaction used to convert the ephedrine or pseudophedrine into meth.
I love a good challenge like this from "the man". It's always been my belief that playing offense i s
much easier than playing defense, s o I knew the Patent holders were i n a losing game. The question was
just how to crack this new and heavily polymer dependent formulation.
A ticr about a month of thinking about the subject in my spare time (oh, there is so little of that ! ) and a
couple of weeks of experimentation again in that very rare spare time, I hit upon the Achille's Heel of all
formulations dependent upon polymers.
Polymers are built up of smaller subunits linked together into long chains. The most common linkage
used in the pill additives is the ester link. When I was a kid, I used to watch Granny Clampett cook lye
soap by the Cement Pond. She was cleaving ester links in fat to make soap. If Granny can cleave esters,
so can I to get something more interesting than lye soap. I knew that once the links were broken in the
polymers, they would no longer have the solubility characteristics which make them such a problem.
There are two general methods for cleaving esters, be they in polymers or anywhere else. They are
alkaline hydrolysis and acid hydrolysis. Granny was doing an alkaline hydrolysis of the ester links in fat
by the Cement Pond using lye. which is NaOH. For the cleavage of the pill polymers, the morc general
chemical method is called for. That method is hydrolysis using potassium hydroxide (KOHl in alcohol
solvent.
To put this method into use, I revived the old alcohol extraction method. To hydrolyse, the alcohol
should be the azeotropic mixture. This gives maximum yields, as less or more added water cuts the yield
of the desired product. There are two commonly available azeotropic alcohols. They are 95% ethyl
alcohol. exemplified by 1 90 proof vodka and hardware store denatured alcohol, and 9 1 °;;, isopropyl
alcohol found in the bandage section of your local drug store. I chose the latter for my work because it
doesn't have as great a smell as the denatured alcohol found in the hardware store.
The extraction method I discovered didn't require the pills to be pre-soaked in solvent to remove their
copious supply of gums and waxes prior to extraction. The KOH hydrolysis removed them as well as the
new breed of polymer additives. Simply add the sudafed pills to a blender, and grind them up. When the
dust settles inside the blender. empty it onto a plate and then use a spoon to chrush any pill bits and
pieces which escaped grinding in the blender. When finished with that job, just put the ground up pill
mass into a beaker or measuring cup with a pour spout.
An example batch size of 1 00 sudafed pills containing 30 mg each of pseudoephedrine will require
about 250 to 300 ml of alcohol to extract completely. Measure out about 1 00 ml of alcohol and add it to
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the pill mass, then stir. An orange red solution will start to form immediately as the pills extract. Swirl or
stir around this mixture from time to time for about an hour, then it is time to collect the fi rst extract.
Generic sudafed pills obtained from Walgreens are very closely formulated according to the previously
mentioned Patent. Obtaining the first extract from them is very simple. Just pour the mix through a coffee
filter and collect the filtrate. Brand name Sudafed pills and Walmart store brand pills are of a bit more
advanced formulation which plugs filters. For them, just let the pill sludge in the beaker settle for about
an hour, then pour off the alcohol solution Irom the pill sludge. Try to keep as much of the pill mass in
the original container as possible.
If filtering was done, then return the fi ltered pill mass to the original beaker or cup. Then add another
roughly 1 00 ml portion of alcohol to the pill mass for another extraction. If pouring off o f the first soak
was done, then just add another 1 00 ml portion of alcohol to the pill mass. Let the next pill soak proceed
lor an hour or so like the first one with some swirling or stirring. Then lilter or decant off the second
alcohol soak just like the first one.
Finally, do a third alcohol soak of the pill mass with another roughly 1 00 ml of alcohol just as before.
By now, the alcohol extracts are becoming pale in color, indicating that the pills are nearing complete
extraction. Filter or decant this soak just like the previous ones.
If the pills being used allowed one to fiiter, then the next step can be done immediately. That step is
hydrolysis with KOH. If filtering was skipped due to Ii Iter plugging pi lis, then let the extracts settle
overnight to shed t10ating crap. I am told that putting some sand into the Illter one is using defeats the
filter plugging qualities of these new pills, so do give this a try. It is far preferable to filter the pill
extracts, as this allows more complete extraction.
Now for the big part of the show the KOH hydrolysis. The combined alcohol extracts are now poured
into a Pyrex beaker. A Mr. Coffee pot will do fine if you don't have a beaker. Put it on a stove top at
medium heat, and then add 20 grams of KOH pellets lor each 1 00 of the 30 mg sudafed pills extracted. If
one has picked up the new 60 mg sudafed pills, then one would use 40 grams of KOH per one hundred
pills, and of course the amount of alcohol required to extract them would be double as well. Do avoid the
new 1 20 mg sudafed time release pills, as they are of a gooey formulation you don't want to mess with.
The goo is their time release mechanism, and is unl ikely to spread to the lower dose pills. Multi
ingredient pills like Sudated with Tylenol or guifenesin can't be successfully cleaned up using this
method.
The question which is likely to pop into one's head at this point is "Where do I get KOH?". This close
chemical cousin of lye, NaOH, is pretty easy and safe to get from those mail order chemical outlets who
advertise in the classilieds sections of some magazine. Keep the order to KOH, and there will be little
chance of bad things happening as a result. An alternative source can be found at everybody's favorite
department store which is open 2417. Head to the plumbing section, and you will lind a product which is
roughly 50% KOH and 50% NaOH. This can be used in a pinch, just by upping the amount used to about
1 5 grams per hundred pills. One can also do some internet shopping. Search under "soap making". KOH
is used to make soft soap. One can also search under "hide tanning". KOH is used in that craft as well.
Avoid solutions of KOH in water, as the alcohol already has the best amount of water for the reaction in
it. I f you can only get a KOH solution in water, boil it down. In no case just use NaOH, as it doesn't
work. Also avoid getting hardware store drain openers which contain KOH plus bleach. The bleach will
simply destroy the pseudoephedrine or ephedrine in the extract and leave you with nothing. As the KOH
pellets dissolve into the alcohol extracts, they begin to chew up the polymers, gum and waxes in the pills.
This only happens when the alcohol solution is at or near boiling, so a gentle boiling of the alcohol is
needed. Adjust the heat setting on the stove top accordingly. Within a few minutes of boiling with the
KOH, you will note that the original red orange color of the alcohol extract is fading rapidly, and that an
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oily layer is forming at the bottom of the beaker, or Mr. Coffee pot, whichever you are using, Continue to
gently boil for half an hour and then set aside to cool. With the variety of pills exemplitied by the
Walgreens store brand which closely follows the Patent fomlUlation, you will have a coffee colored oil
layer at the bOllom of the beaker, and a weakly colored alcohol solution containing the pseudoephedrine
you want floating above it. Just pour this mix into a sep funnel and let the oil settle to the bottom and
drain it off to get rid of the crap you just destroyed. We can now move on to the evaporation and getting
product portion of the process.
With the brand name Sudafed pills and the Walmart store brand pills, the ones which plugged up the
filters, the KOH boil takes a bit of a different course. With these pills, as the KOH dissolves in and the
alcohol gets boiling, the red orange color fades, and the solution turns milky. Don't be alarmed by this,
as the milky appearence is caused by li ttle white flakes of crap which you have destroyed. Boil in this
case for half an hour just as with the previous example. The only difference is after it is done boiling. In
this instance, let the solution cool and settle overnight or at least for several hours. The white flakes will
settle out leaving a clear alcohol solution containing the pseudoephedrine, and a mat of gooey white
tlakes overlaying a layer of gak oil on the bottom of the beaker. When fresh, this oil will most times be
yellow colored, but in a few hours it too will tum coffee colored. The white tlake mat is gooey, and given
a few hours it sticks to itself. Then in this case, one can just pour off the alcohol solution from the white
tlake mat and oil layer to get a clean alcohol extract.
Now to get the product! Pour the cleaned alcohol extract into a clean beaker, or a tetlon coated pan.
Then simmer down the alcohol extract. There are two points here to be wary of. Point number one is that
alcohol is flammable, and mildly toxic. Be sure to use a good draft of air to clear the vapors away from
the boiling spot. Alcohol isn't nearly as flammable as naptha or other solvents,but fire precautions need to
be observed.
Point number two concerns the last phases of the evaporation. It is Y E R Y important that one not boil
down the solution to dryness. This will result i n a yellow colored product that is crap. As the solution
gets to nearly all evaporated down, switch to boiling water heat, or just lettinf it evaporate with some aid
of heat and blowing off the alcohol vapors. It is far better to let a bit of alcohol remain than bum the
product!
Now the remaining product in the bottom of the flask will consist of left over KOH, pseudoephedine
tree base, and assorted crap. Start by adding about 50 ml of water for the 1 00 pill batch example to the
beaker. Swirl it around, and let it work for a few m inutes. Then pour it into a sep funnel. Homemade
substitutes for sep funnels are easily constructed. Check out Jack B. Nimbles' book for starters to get
some ideas. Then add 50 ml of toluene or xylene to the beaker to dissolve your product. Swirl and let it
work for a few minutes, then pour that 100 into the sep funnel. Chase the residue in the beaker with a
little bit (about 1 5 ml) more toluene ( that means add a bit more ! ) and pour it too into the sep funnel.
Now we are on our way home. Shake that sep funnel for about half a minute, and let it set to settle the
layers. In the case of the close Patent formulation pills, the water layer will look like Pepto-Bismol.
Using the pills which give a milky look upon boiling, this color will nol be seen in the water layer. Drain
air the water layer, and add about 50 ml of waler for this 1 00 pill example. Shake the toluene or xylene
layer again with this fresh water. Now let things settle in the sep funnel. You should have a clear toluene
solution floating above a reasonably clear water layer.
Drain off the water. Now check the toluene layer. [t should be just clear solution. If there is tloating
crap in it, pour it through a coffee filter. This will give you a clear toluene or xylene solution containing
the pseudoephedrine Iree base. Let is set in this beaker for a couple of hours to settle any water you
dragged in.
Then pour it into a clean beaker, and bubble the solution with dry HCI gas. You will get roughly 70%
yield of the possible pseudoephedrine available from the pills after you filter out the pseudephedrine
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hydrochloride, and rinse the product with fresh touene or xylene. This is the same HCl bubbling
procedure which has been used throught this book, and for the last 20 years. Become familiar with it!
Gas station ephedrine pills are almost entirely soluble in alcohol. The complication with them is that
they contain guifenesin. This material ruins the results! This method is only applicable to single active
ingredient pills.
1 know what you are going to say at this point.."That seems like a complicated procedure". Actually, it's
really simple. It's just that 1 put in all the possible details for you. It's just an extension of a method which
was used to extract the pills from the mid 90's.One could even add the old method of blowing into the
bottom of the beaker to get rid of the last of the alcohol to reveal big crystals of pseudoephedrine. Now
add to that KOH boil, and destroyed crap removal, and you have the exact same method which was used
roughly 1 0 years ago with the pills that 1 prescribed a solvent pre-soak and water extraction for.
Extraction methods do turn a circle. If this method seems complicated to you, check out my website
www.unclefesterbooks.com. The Cookin' Crank with Uncle Fester video will make it all just as plain as it
really is.
The next reasonable question is ... "l just can't get KOH ! " . 1 worked out a method just for poeple like
you, but the yield is closer to 50% rather than the 70% gotten from my original method. Dig harder for
KOH, but here it is:
The pill extraction is done exactly like before, except when it is time to boil the pills add instead 20
grams of KCI. This is salt substitute found at your grocery store. Read the label, and get the brand that
just says KCl with a couple of other minor ingredients. Then as the pot is warming up to a boil, slowly,
with stirring add 1 0 grams of NaOH ( lye) per one hundred pills used. The best stirring tool is a rubber
spatula, and stir well because the alcohol can only dissolve around one gram per 250 ml alcohol, and you
want that bit of KCl to react to make KOH plus NaC!. This is making KOH on the sly. The adding of
NaOH should take about 20 minutes, with lots of stirring. A big snow fest ofNaCI crystals in the solution
will be seen during this process.
About the time that the last of the NaOH has gone into solution, it's time to boil this mix. During the
course of a half hour boil, the initial red orange color of the alcohol will fade to a shade which is best
described as melon. Then set aside the beaker, and allow the mixture to cool and settle.
The next thing to do is to pour the alcohol solution off of the settled layer of salt on the bottom of the
beaker. Using a coHee filter makes this separation much more efficient. Then the alcohol solution is
carefully boiled down, just as i n the previous example. When it gets close to being evaporated down to
the bottom of the beaker its best to let the evaporation finish by itself at room temperature. or with mild
heating.
Now add about 50 ml of water to dissolve the salt, KOH and NaOH in the bottom of the beaker. Let it
work for about 1 0 minutes, and pour the water solution into a sep tunnel. Then put about 50 ml of
toluene or xylene into the beaker to dissolve the residues of pseudoephedrine in the bottom of the beaker.
Let that soak work for about 1 0 minutes, then add this also to the sep funnel. Finally, chase the last bits
of product out of the beaker with a rinse using about 1 0 or 1 5 ml of toluene or xylene. Pour this into the
sep funnel as well.
The sep funnel is then shaken hard for about 20 seconds, and set aside to settle. What is left of the
orange color will go into the water layer at the bottom of the sep tunnel. A lot of floating crap will be
seen. as well as a fairly clear toluene layer at the top.
Now drain off the water layer. You will note that the floating crap is in both the water layer and the
toluene layer. You don't want to be draining off and throwing away the toluene, because that is where
your product is. It's better to be leaving some of the water rinse in the sep funnel at this stage than
throwing away your toluene product layer.
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When the water layer has been drained away, add 50 ml of clean water to the sep funnel, and shake
again. When the mix inside the sep funnel settles i n a few minutes, you will see a nicely clear toluene
layer at the top mixed with 110ating l1akes of crap, and a lightly colored water layer at the bottom mixed
with floating flakes of crap. Drain off the water layer, and pour the toluene layer through a cotfee lilter to
remove the floating crap.
Rinse out the sep funnel with water to remove clinging flakes of crap from the glassware, then pour the
filtered toluene back into the sep funnel and drain off any water whieh carried through the fi ltration.
Then pour the toluene layer into a clean beaker and let it set for an hour or so to shed any water still
entrained in the toluene. Finally. pour the toluene into a clean beaker and bubble dry HCI gas through it
to get crystals of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride. Filter them out with a coffee Ii Iter, rinse them with a
fresh portion of toluene, and spread them out on a plate to dry. The yield in this case will be around 50%
of the maximum possible. In the case of 1 00 of the 30 mg pseudoephedrine pills, that will be around a
gram and a half of product.
This variation isn't as good as the one using only KOH pellets, but it does avoid any problems
associated with getting them as it uses instead KCI salt substitute and lye. I tried one more variation on
this procedure. That variation was to use water to extract the pills, and then to the filtered water extract I
added 3-5% by weight of sulfuric acid and boiled for about 45 minutes. I obtained the product by making
the solution basic by adding lye to the solution when it was cool, and then extracted the product with
toluene. washed it a couple of times with water, filtered the toluene extract, and then bubbled dry HCI
gas through it. In that instance I got less than 50% yield of a product which was still dirty and would need
to be recrystallized to be used successlully in making meth.
This procedure worked well for a couple of years. Then they countered it. First a filter plugging
ingredient was put into the Sudafed pills. This required an acetone pre-soak of the ground up pills to
remove this plugging ingredient. Then the amount of KOH required to get a good hydrolysis of the pill
polymers rose from 10 grams per 1 00 pills to 20 grams and then beyond that. Then the boiling time with
the KOH rose into the range of roughly 45 minutes to get reasonably complete hydrolysis. Then
something in the pills began to come through into the product and wreck the reaction to make meth using
hydroiodic acid. I don't know what that ingredient is because the pills are now locked behind a counter
and require showing ID to obtain. I am told European versions of the Sudafed pills still respond well to
the boiling KOH treatment as 01'2008.
The "grow your own" option with ephedra is still wide open if one lives in hot and dry places such as
the American Southwest or Australia. The seeds can easily be found on search engines under "ephedra
seeds" and they are completely legal in the U S . One would simply start them out indoors in small peat
planters late in winter using very light sandy soil, and then transplant them outside i n the spring to grow
wild. In a couple of years they will have grown enough for yearly harvests in the fall. The leaves, which
look like pine needles, are simply clipped off with a shears. They are then dried in the sun before they
become mildewed. Such rot would destroy its content of the desired ingredients. Another way to destroy
the alkaloid content of the ephedra is to put them in an oven and bake to dry. The maximum heat allowed
for drying is 1 20 F.
The ephedra plant is a perennial with a reasonably long life. It is considered to have hit the prime of life
with year four, but harvests can begin on it in the fall starting with year two. A particularly good plant
may have as much as 4% active ingredients in the dried leaves, but I or 2% is more typical. Only plants
grown in hot and dry areas will produce much ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in the leaves.
Regardless of whether one has ephedrine pills, pseudoephedrine pills or ephedra, a big challenge is to
extract the active ingredients in an efficient manner. The pill formulations have been continually
evolving over the years to make them more difficult to extract by chemical means. I have come up with a
way to once again defeat the latest pill formulations. This method is taken from a Chinese procedure for
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extracting both the ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from ephedra and I have found that it works equally
well on both ephedrine pills and pseudoephedrine pills. Time release pseudo pills may not respond so
well to this method, but all other types of pills are extracted quite easily and efficiently. The original
reference can be found in Chemical Abstracts Volume 54, column 7979.
First one starts with grinding up the pills or dried ephedra in a blender. The ground up material is then
put into an erlenmeyer flask. About 2/3 ml of water is added for each 25 mg ephedrine pill or 30 mg
pseudoephedrine pill. Ephedrine pills sold at gas stations commonly have 200 mg guaifenesin in addition
to the ephedrine. Pseudoephedrine pills may contain this or Tylenol, or they may be simply pseudo pills.
The method works regardless of these additives. Time release 1 20 and 240 mg pills should be avoided. If
one has 60 mg pseudoephedrine pills, the amount of water added may be correspondingly increased. For
ephedra, one should add 1 00 ml water for each 1 0 grams of ephedra. The pills are just allowed to soak
out their active ingredient into the water over the course of an hour or so with the help of some swirling.
The Ilask should be no more than one quarter full. With ephedra one should heat the mixture to just
below boiling for half an hour to simmer out a tea from the herb. Be sure steam does not escape from the
simmering tea.
The next thing to do is to base the alkaloids so they can be steamed out. To do this, add roughly one
quarter volume of washing soda (sodium carbonate found in the laundry section of the grocery store)
relative to the original volume of the ground up pills or ephedra. Once that is mixed in, add 50 grams of
Lite Salt (50-50 salt and KCl blend found in the grocery store) for each 1 00 ml of water added to the
pills. The salt mixture will raise the boiling point of the water and make it possible to steam out the
pseudoephedrine. Then rig up the steaming apparatus shown below:
• - 1 A pressure cooker is the source for the steam which heads to the Erlenmeyer flask through some plastic
tubing. A two holed stopper is placed in the neck of the flask and two sections of glass tubing are put in
the stopper. A longer section of glass tubing which extends almost down to the bottom of the flask is the
steam inlet. It is best if this piece of glass is constricted a bit at the tip so that the steam comes gushing
out in a jet. This is done simply by heating a section of glass tubing with a flame spreader attachment on
a propane torch until the glass glows red. Then just pull and the melted glass area will stretch and finally
pull apart. Take a triangle shaped file and saw into this stretched glass area at the point where the internal
diameter of the glass tubing is about the thickness of the lead in a pencil. That is roughly the size of the
portal one wants the steam erupting from. Blow through the tubing to make sure it is not plugged!
The shorter section of glass tubing in the two holed stopper is the steam outlet. It should not extend
much beyond the stopper so that splashing in the flask is not likely to be sent up the outlet and into the
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
1 30
product. One wants to collect steam only! A piece of plastic tubing is then attached to this section of
glass tubing and lead into a 40 oz beer bottle which sits in a minnow pail. Ice is added to the minnow pail
to make sure that the beer bottle is kept cold enough during the steaming to catch all the steam being
pumped to it. With pieces of wire and a pliers tighten up the connections of the plastic tubing to the top
of the pressure cooker, and at both the inlet and outlet glass sections. Loss of steam means loss of
product!
The pressure cooker is placed on one stove burner, and the Erlenmeyer flask is placed on another. The
minnow pail with the beer bottle is placed off to the side. The pressure cooker, roughly 2/3 full of water,
is brought up to a boil at high heat. When it is just beginning to pump out some steam, the heat is backed
otT to the medium range so that the amount of steam coming out of it can be handled by the system. The
Erlenmeyer flask is warmed up at medium heat and kept in that range. Note the original level of water in
this flask. Adjust the heat on the flask so that the water level remains constant. This is very important
because diluted salt water will not get hot enough to steam out pseudoephedrine. A variation which I
have not yet tried is to add roughly 5% by volume of glycerine to the water in which the ground up pills
are soaking. This would act like anti-freeze and raise the boiling point on the steaming mixture even
more. That would correspond to a considerably faster and probably more efficient steam extraction.
When the steam lirst gets to the beer bottle, there is a chance it might break from the heat. This would
be bad' A one gallon Ireezer storage bag wrapped around the beer bottle during the early stages of the
steaming will save your product should this happen. Be sure to have a reserve beer bottle at the ready.
Putting about half an inch of water in the beer bottle at the start and leading the steam line all the way
down into this chilled water will minimize the chance of breakage due to heat.
Continue the steaming until about a pint of water has been collected for each 50 of the 25 mg ephedrine
or 30 mg pseudoephedrine pills used. It is likely to take almost two hours to pump a pint or so of steam
through a small apparatus, but bigger ones could be easily rigged along the same lines. A pint of steam
will be plenty to get the goods out of 1 0 grams of ephedra as well. Taste a bit of the steam product. You
will note the taste of the desired product in it. The water will be cloudy. If one is steaming "red hots",
one will note that the pill mass is now tan colored rather than red orange.
To get the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine out of the steam product in the beer bottle, it must tirst be
made acidic. Add about half a shot of hydrochloric acid to the water and mix it in. This point is very
important because some of the detergent package from the pills steams into the product. Now pour the
stcam distillate from the beer bottle into a large beaker or a glass baking dish and begin to simmer it
down at gentle boil. This serves both to reduce the volume of the water to a more workable size. and to
steam distill off the detergents from the pills. This acidification and simmer down should also be done i f
ephedra was used.
Once the volume of water has been reduced to about one filih its original size the boil down is stopped.
Transfer the water to a sep funnel, and extract the acid water with some toluene to remove any
extractable garbage. Toss away the toluene extract, then add some lye to base the ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine (pH 1 3 plus), shake it up, then add some toluene or xylene and shake again to extract
out the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. Separate the toluene extract, and then extract the water layer one
more lime with another portion of toluene or xylene. Combine the extracts and let them sit in a beaker for
a couple of hours to shed entrained water. Then pour the toluene into a clean and dry beaker being sure to
leave behind droplets of shed water on the bottom of the beaker. Bubble dry HCI gas through it to get
very clean crystals of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine hydrochloride i n pretty good yield.
Pill formulators may well add things in the future to mess up this simple procedure. They are likely to
be detergents that steam distill. Let the taste test on the original steam distillate be your guide as to
whether you have steamed the goods. Dodging detergents is not that hard. In most cases it involves not
adding too much base to let them kick in their tTothing shit. Basing with washing soda and then a small
Chapter Fijieen
Methamphetamine from Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetaminefrom PPA
131
kicker of lye will generally get one past detergents. If all else fails with experimentation, then simmering
down the now acidic steam distillate will give one plenty of room to experiment. Neither ephedrine nor
pseudoephedrine will simmer ofT once the solution is made acidic. One must be careful not to burn the
product near the end of the simmering down process. Once simmered down, the residue could be cleaned
up by soaking it in a solvent like ethyl acetate. This material will not dissolve ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, but will dissolve many unwanted materials. One could also try
recrystallizing the crude and polluted product from boiling hot acetone or MEK. Other things to try are
rinsing the crystals with a bit of ice cold acetone, or rinsing them with some ethyl acetate.
Another tactic to pursue is to use a bit of sulfuric acid rather than hydrochloric acid to acidify the steam
distillate. If one would acidify the steam distillate collected in the beer bottle to roughly pH one or two.
then the sulfate salt will be fonmed of the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. The sulfate salt does not
dissolve well in alcohol. That opens up the possibility of simmering down the steam distillate very
carefully so as not to burn it at the end, and then extracting the residue with toluene and next alcohol to
remove garbage carried over with the desired product. Then basing the product could be done followed
by extraction and crystallization as the hydrochloride salt.
The pill fonmulators have one more card to play, and we may see it sometime soon. That card is to
replace the natural "d" isomer of pseudoephedrine with the synthetic "I" isomer. Reduction of this "I"
isomer would then give only the very weak "I" isomer of meth. A Patent has already been published
claiming tbat the "I" isomer of pseudoephedrine works just as well as the real McCoy for cold relief. I f
this new product should come to replace the pseudoephedrine presently on sale, the following procedures
will prove very helpful. One can racemize "I" pseudoephedrine to "d,I" pseudoephedrine. Reduction of
this product would then give "d,I" meth, which is a very nice buzz indeed. In fact it is much better than
the strictly "d" isomer meth one generally gets from ephedrine or pseudoephedrine as the starting
material.
Racemization of Pseudoephedrine
This procedure is taken from Chemical A bstracts, Volume 23, pages 3452-4 ( 1 929). It yields racemic
ephedrine or racephedrine from pseudoephedrine, thereby allowing the use of pseudoephedrine to get d,lmeth.
Pseudoephedrine hydrochloride prepared as described above is dissolved in 25% hydrochloric acid
solution. Stronger acid must be avoided, as the use of this stronger acid would produce a significant
amount of chloroephedrine. One hundred ml of 35% lab-grade Hel can be diluted to 25% by adding 40
ml of water. In the example given in the Chemical A bstracts, a fairly dilute solution of pseudoephedrine
was used, but I can't think of any reason why one can ' t mix this solution much stronger. Adding more
pseudoephedrine to a given volume of Hel solution allows much more material to be processed at once,
and also makes recovery by extraction at the end of the process much easier.
This solution of pseudoephedrine in Hel is then heated at 1 000 C for at least one day, preferably two.
Heating the solution to reflux is to be avoided, as correspondents have infonmed me that reflux
temperatures lead to the burning of the product. Simply heat the flask in an oil bath whose temperature is
kept at about 1 000 C. A reflux condenser must be attached to the flask to keep the acid from evaporating
away. In the example Irom Chemical A bstracts, the acid was heated inside a sealed tube, but I can't see
why this simpler procedure won't work just as well.
At the end of the heating period the solution is cooled, and then sodium carbonate is added to the acid
solution a bit at a time until all of the acid is neutralized. This point can be spotted because the carbonate
will stop fizzing once all the acid is gone. Now shake the solution strongly for a few minutes to ensure
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
132
that all of the racephedrine hydrochloride has been converted to the free base. Then extract a couple of
times with toluene. The pooled toluene extracts can then be bubbled with HCI gas to precipitate the
product as the hydrochloride.
METHOD # 2
The hot hydrochloric acid isomerization has the advantage of using easily available hardware store
muriatic acid to do the job. The drawback is the tendency this method has of burning the product. A
much more refined procedure can be found in US Patent 2,2 1 4,034. To use this isomerization method,
one will have to get a chemical named sodamide, aka sodium amide (NaNH2). This material is
reasonably cheap and isn't on anyone's "watch list" at the present time. It's also a dangerous chemical
which can suck up water and C02 from the air and become explosive. Keep bottles of this powder tightly
sealed. Weigh and use portions of this substance quickly, and on dry days. Don't leave it laying around in
the open air! Wipe residue of the powder off the threads of the bottle before resealing it. This white to
greenish substance turns yellow or brown when it has reached a dangerous state. Small amounts of
contaminated soadamide can be just flushed down a toilet, but if you have more than a gram or so of
dangerous material. the way to neutralize it is to pour in enough xylene or kerosene to easily cover all of
it. then add a 1 0% solution of alcohol in toluene or kerosene slowly with agitiation to the contaminated
sodamide until most of it has reacted. Then it can be flushed.
To use sodamide to isomerize "I" pseudoephedrine, one starts with a solution of pseudoephedrine free
base in solvent. This is pretty convenient, as all the pill extraction methods given here at one point end up
with a solution of the free base in solvent just before bubbling dry HCI to get the hydrochloride crystals.
The best solvents for this isomerization procedure are high boiling point liquids such as xylene or
kerosene. Both of these materials can be picked up at the hardware store.
The examples given in the Patent are for 50 gram batches of pseudoephedrine, but the method can of
course be scaled up or down as desired. 50 grams of pseudoephedrine free base dissolved in roughly 500
ml of xylene or kerosene is placed into a ! ODD ml flask. The glassware is then rigged for simple
distil lation as shown in Fig. I I , and roughly 1 0% of the solution is distilled off to make sure that all
water is gone from the mixture. If kerosene is being used as the solvent, the oil bath will smoke a lot and
may burn before it gets hot enough to boil the kerosene, so in that case heat the flask directly on the
bu ffet range.
Once about 1 0% of the solvent has been distilled oft􀽻 let the solution cool down to about 1 00 C. Then
add roughly 7.5 grams of powdered sodamide in small portions to the flask with some swirling between
adds. Ammonia will be fumed off of the mixture as the sodamide goes in.
When the sodamide has been added, rig the glassware for reflux as shown in Fig. 1 0. It is important
that the mixture be protected from atmospheric moisture, so don't skip the drying tube, or at least use a
balloon over the top of the condenser.
Now gently boil the the solution at reflux for at least a couple of hours. Two hours is about right using
kerosene. Xylene boils at a lower temperature, so stretching the reflux out to three hours or so is probably
a good idea using that solvent.
When the retlux boil is finished, let the solution cool down. Then add around 200 ml of 5%
hydrochloric acid solution to the t1ask and shake. This will pull the isomerized pseudoephedrine into the
acid solution and out of the solvent.
Pour the liquid into a sep funnel, and drip out a little bit of the lower layer, which is the acid layer onto
a pH paper. The paper should tell you that this water is still acidic. If not, add a bit more acid until the pH
paper says that the water is acid. This is important, as the pseudoephedrine will not be extracted from the
solvent unless the water layer is acid.
Chapter Fifteen
Methamphetamine from Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetaminefrom PPA
133
Once the water has been con finned as being acidic, drain off this acid layer into a beaker. The solvent
can then be thrown away.
Finally, slowly add lye to the acid water in the beaker with stirring until pH paper tells you it is pH
1 3+. Once it has cooled down, you can then pour the water into a sep funnel. Add a few hundred ml of
toluene or other convenient solvent, and bubble dry Hel gas through it to get crystals of isomerized (d,l)
pseudoephedrine Hel which are then filtered out and dried as usual. If one is planning to use the lithium
metal in anhydrous ammonia reduction method for making meth, the bubbling with dry Hel can be
skipped, and the free base solution used as is. In that case, using ether starting fluid as the extraction
solvent would be the best choice.
This method should also be useful to isomerize the "I" meth extracted from Vick's inhalers to "d,l"meth.
I ndirect Reduction
A popular alternative method for making methamphetamine uses ephedrine as the starting material.
This method was not covered in the original edition of this book. It is now presented in all its glory for
the education of the reader.
The reasons for the popularity of this method are twofold. Firstly, this method does not require the use
of methylamine because the methylamino group is already incorporated in the ephedrine molecule.
The utility of this method is not limited solely to ephedrine. Pseudoephedrine and
phenylpropanolamine can also be used as starting materials. This means that Sudafed and Dexatrim, and
their generic equivalents, can be used as raw materials for clandestine amphetamine manufacture. The
active ingredient is easily separated from the diluents in the pills by the method given in this book.
The bad thing about this method is that foul impurities generated during the manufacturing process are
easily carried into the final product. Due care must be practiced by the chemist during the purification to
exclude this filth. Unscrupulous and/or unskilled manufacturers tum out large volumes of crank
containing this abomination. The impurities not only ruin the finer aspects of the meth high, but they also
have a pronounced deleterious effect on male sexual function.
Study the compounds pictured below, and compare them to the meth molecule:
H CH, \ I
N
@-􀂟H-CHCH,
OH Pseudoephedrine
H CH, \ I OH N ,t;;'\". I I 0-CH-CHCH,
Ephednne
H H \ I OH N &,-􀃢CI H-CI HCH, Phenylpropanolamine
One can quickly see that all a chemist needs to do to tum ephedrine into meth is to replace the alcohol
OH grouping with a hydrogen atom. This is not done directly. Instead, a two-step process is used
whereby the OH is first replaced by a chlorine atom, and then this chlorine is removed by one of several
reductive processes, to be replaced with a hydrogen atom. To i llustrate:
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
134
H CIt,
\ I
OH ' @-ttt-t1l"Ols EpIlednne
'CI,
Phosphorus
Pentachori de
H CIt,
Chlorephedrin. \ I
a H 􀅊 I
􀅋1I-(􀅌CIt,
􀂞
Methamphetamine
There are several general methods for converting an alcohol group into a chlorine atom. Substances
such as thionyl chloride (SOCI2), phosphorus pentachloride (PCIS), phosphorus trichloride (PCI3),
phosphorus pentabromide (PBrS) and phosphorus tribromide (PBr3) can all be used to convert the
alcohol group to either a chloride or bromide. Essentially the same reaction conditions are followed when
using any of the above listed substances. The only difference is how much ephedrine or PPA
( phenylpropanolamine) the substance can chlorinate or brominate. See the table below:
Substance
SOCh
PC h
PBr)
PC l s
PBrs
Molecular Weight
1 1 9
1 37
271
208
430
Reacts with
this many
moles of
ephedrine
I
2
2
3
3
molecular weight of ephedrine HCI=202,
PPA-HCI = 188
Using the above table, a person can quickly calculate how much ephedrine or PPA will react with a
given amount of chlorinating agent. Use of excess chlorinating agent will result in a higher percentage
yield based on the ephedrine used, but atler a point, this is wasteful. The following example takes this
l argess to an extreme. but achieves 1 00% conversion of ephedrine to chloroephedrine. This procedure
can be followed with all the chlorinating agents. The reaction is fairly easy to do. The main precautions
are to make sure that the glassware is free of water, and taking one's time to be sure the mixture stays
sufticicntly cold. It is also wise to avoid doing this reaction in very humid conditions.
The following procedure for the conversion of ephedrine, raccphedrine or PPA to the chloro
compound and then its reduction can be found in Chemical A bstracts. Volume 23, page 3453. It results in
a little racemization, but mostly keeps the structure of the starting material.
To do this reaction, a 2000 ml Erlenmeyer flask is filled with 360 ml of chloroform and 360 grams of
pels. This mixture is then cooled down in ice water, and once it has cooled down, 240 grams of
ephedrine Hel is added in little portions, with shaking of the slushy reaction mixture after each add of
ephedrine, racephedrine or PPA. The addition should be completed in about y, hour. Then, for an
additional two hours, the reaction mixture should be shaken to mix around the contents. Cooling in ice
must be continued throughout the reaction time to keep the contents from overheating.
Chapter Fijleen
Methamphetamine from Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetaminefrom PPA
/35
When two hours of reaction time has passed, let the contents settle in the flask. After about 45 minutes,
when all has settled inside the flask, the mixture is carefully decanted off into a one-gallon glass jug.
Great care is taken during this decanting to make sure that all of the settled PCI5 remains behind. If any
of it were mixed in with the product chloroephedrine it would be reduced in the succeeding
hydrogenation to phosphine, PH3, an exceedingly deadly gas. If it appears any is being carried along, the
mixture is filtered.
The PCIS left in the flask should be rinsed with 1 50 ml of chloroform to get the trapped product out of
it. This is done by adding the chloroform, shaking the sludge to mix, allowing it to settle, then decanting
otT the chloroform as before into the glass jug.
There will be a lot of unused PCIS in the flask, and it would be a shame to just trash it. The obvious
thing to do is to save it by stoppering the flask, and try using this material to run another batch.
Next, the product is precipitated from the chloroform solution in the gallon jug. This is done by slowly
adding ether or, better still, mineral spirits (cheap and easily available in large amounts) to the gallon jug
until it is nearly full. For best results, the mixture in the gallon jug is continuously stirred during the
addition of the ether or mineral spirits. Chloroephedrine does not dissolve in ether or mineral spirits, so
as the solution changes from chloroform to predominantly ether, the product is thrown out of solution in
the I()fm of crystals. If an oily layer forms at the bottom of the jug, this means a dirty batch. The oil may
eventually crystallize, but more likely it must be separated, dissolved in an equal volume of chloroform,
and precipitated once again by adding ether or mineral spirits.
After the addition of the ether or mineral spirits, a large mass of crystals fills the jug. This is the
product. The jug is stoppered, and put into the freezer overnight to let the crystals fully grow. The
crystals are then filtered out and rinsed down with a little bit of cold acetone. Then the crystals are spread
out to dry on china plates or glass baking dishes. The yield of chloroephedrine hydrochloride is in the
neighborhood of 250 grams.
A similar recipe can be found in US Patent 6,399,828. In this example they use thionyl chloride to
make chloroephedrine, and they did it as follows:
Into a 500 ml round bottom t1ask they placed 1 50 ml of thionyl chloride and 55 grams of ephedrine
hydrochloride. Pseudoephedrine hydrochloride would probably work just as well in this reaction. One
should also be forewarned of the noxious fuming properties of thionyl chloride, and if it gets on your skin
it will eat holes through it unless promply rinsed otf.
They next rigged the t1ask for reflux, and boiled the solution for about an hour. Once the reaction
mixture had cooled down, they then evaporated away the remaining thoinyl chloride under a vacuum to
get a crystalline mass of crude chloroephedrine in the bottom of their flask.
They next added a few hundred ml of ether to the flask, and stirred up the crystals to allow the ether to
wash off unwanted residues from their surfaces. They then filtered out these washed crystals, and once
they had collected and dried them, they recrystallized them. In this instance, they used methanol to
dissolve the chloroephedrine, and then precipitated the pure chloroephedrine by slowly adding ether with
stirring until no more crystals came out of solution. They are then spead them out to dry as in the
previous example.
The discerning reader will note that in the Patent example, they used no chloroform as the solvent for
their reaction. One must understand that patents are also sales pitches, and they were less than artful in
their demonstrations of "Prior An", to try to show the superiority of their new method. By using no
chloroform solvent in this recipe for chloroephedrine, they got 50-60% yield of chloroephedrine. I f one
had used a hundred ml or so of chloroform along with the 55 grams of ephedrine and 1 50 ml of thionyl
chloride, the expected yield would be around 90%. Making the "Prior Art" look bad is just one of the
things you have to be aware of when reading a Patent.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
1 36
Production of Meth
To make meth from chloroephedrine, the chlorine atom is replaced with hydrogen. This reduction is
accomplished by any of several methods. Lithium aluminum hydride does the best job of completely
converting the chloroephedrine into meth, but it is very expensive, and a watched chemical. Zinc dust. on
the other hand, is cheap and easily available, but it leaves a large proportion of the chloroephedrine
trashed. The most practical and effective way to turn out large volumes of meth is by catalytic
hydrogenation. It is possible to use Raney nickel as the catalyst for this hydrogenation, but it has to be
used in quite large amounts to do a good job. Ammonia, amine or some other base also has to be added to
the bomb in an amount equal to the chlorine given otT by the chloroephedrine, i.e., one mole of
chloroephedrine would require one mole of ammonia, amine or other base added. Platinum can also be
used to reduce the chloroephedrine, but it too has to be used in large amounts to get good results.
Funhermore, it is rapidly poisoned by the hydrochloric acid generated by the removal of the chlorine
atom from chloroephedrine unless one mole of base per mole of chloroephedrine is included in the
hydrogenation mixture. But I have seen one example in which good yields were obtained with Pt and
chloroephedrine without addition of any base.
The best catalyst to use for this reduction is palladium, in the form of palladium black on charcoal, or
palladium on barium sulfate. The palladium stands up well to the chlorine, and can be used to run many
batches before it needs to be recycled. Palladium works fine at low pressures of hydrogen, and can be
used with the champagne bottle hydrogenation system pictured in Chapter Eleven.
Important: The valve on the hydrogen tank is only opened when adding more hydrogen to the bomb.
Otherwise. it 's kept closed. Failure to do this may result in explosive accidents '
"The Poor Man's Hydrogenation Device" is a good deal more resilient than a champagne bottle. and it
will only accept a feed of hydrogen when its valve is opened. It also is much easier to seal against leaks.
So long as the inside surface is coated either with Teflon or high phosphorous electroless nickel, this
container for hydrogenation is superior to the champagne bottle used in the following example.
To do the reaction. a champagne bottle of at least 1 .5 liter volume is filled with 50 grams sodium
acetate (anhydrous) and 700 ml of distilled water. The pH of this solution is then made neutral (pH 7) by
dripping in diluted acetic acid. This forms an acetic buffer which prevents the solution from becoming
acidic when chloroephedrine hydrochloride is added to it. It also neutralizes the hydrochloric acid formed
when the chlorine atom is removed from the chloroephedrine molecule. Then 40 grams of 5% palladium
black on charcoal (palladium content 2 grams) is added. and finally 1 25 grams of chloroephedrine
hydrochloride is added.
Palladium on BaS04 catalyst gives a faster reduction. but barium compounds aren't as easily available
as activated C. The choice is up to the reader.
Sodium acetate is now on California's list of less restricted chemicals, so it is wise to avoid using
sodium acetate as such. This is not the least bit troublesome. and shows just how stupid the people are
who put it on the restricted list. To avoid the need for sodium acetate purchases, acetic butTer is made
trom vinegar and sodium hydroxide. To do this, 700 ml of vinegar is used instead of distilled water. Jt
should be the cheapest grade of white distilled vinegar, because this is likely to be made just by diluting
glacial acetic acid with water down to a 5% strength. Then to this 700 ml of vinegar, sodium hydroxide
pellets are slowly added until the pH of the solution is around 7. This takes about 22-23 grams ofNaOH.
The champagne bottle is then attached to the hydrogen line pictured in Figure 32 in Chapter Eleven,
and the air is sucked out and replaced with hydrogen as described in that chapter. Then the pressure of
hydrogen is increased to 30 pounds. and magnetic stirring is begun. The solution soaks up hydrogen for
several hours, during which time the pressure is maintained around 30 pounds by letting more hydrogen
into the bottle.
Chapter Fifteen
Methamphetamine from Ephedrille or Pseudoephedrille
Amphetamille from PPA
13 7
When absorption of hydrogen ceases after several hours (up to one day for Pd/C ), the reaction is
complete, The hydrogen valve is turned off at the cylinder, and hydrogen inside the bottle released
outside through a line of tubing as described in Chapter Eleven. Stirring is stopped, and the palladium on
charcoal catalyst is allowed to settle in the bottle. When it has settled, the solution is carefully poured out
of the bottle into a beaker, taking care to try to leave all the catalyst behind in the bottle. The solution is
then filtered to remove suspended Pd on charcoal catalyst. The catalyst is returned to the bottle, which is
then refilled with a ti"esh batch, or filled with hydrogen to protect the catalyst. If another batch isn't going
to be done soon, rinse the catalyst with some water.
Before proceeding further with the processing of the filtered batch, it is wise to look more closely at
the nature of the byproducts produced by this method of making meth. There are twin villains to be dealt
with here:
H \ /CiI3 Cl N ;;:;\,... I I &,CH-CHCH, Chlorephedrine
1.2-dimethyl-3-phenyt / CiI3
N
@-CH-tHCH, Azindine
These substances, or closely related ones, will always be formed when making meth by this method.
The chloroephedrine is the result of incomplete reduction to meth, and the aziridine the result of an
intermolecular reaction between the chlorine atom and the nitrogen atom of the chloroephedrine. lt is
likely that the aziridine byproduct is more easily formed when the bromoephedrine variation of this
synthetic route is chosen. There are two things which aid in the formation of the aziridine. They are
exposure to strong bases such as lye, and heat. To minimize formation of the aziridine, one first of all
aims for as complete a reduction as possible of the chloroephedrine to meth. Next, during processing, one
backs off on the heavy duty use of lye, using bicarb instead to neutralize the last of the acid. Finally, the
distil lation is done as quickly as feasible under vacuum to get the least heat exposure to the unreduced
chloroephedrine. Obviously, the first point is the most important.
To proceed, the filtered batch is reacted with lye with strong shaking until litmus paper says that the
pH is around 7. Then bicarb is added to tinally make the solution basic. One needs only go over pH 7
here. Neutralization is complete when fizzing stops when adding bicarb. The fizzing and venting of C02
gas is a hassle at this point, but it is worth it to avoid the formation of the aziridine. A 2000 ml Ilask is a
good vessel in which to do the neutralization procedure. One must periodically vent off the built up C02
gas after bicarb has been added.
Upon standing after the shaking, a layer of meth floats on top of the water layer. Then 200 ml of
benzene or toluene is added, and the jug is shaken again. Aller standing for a couple of minutes. the
benzene-meth layer floats nicely upon the water. This is carefully poured off into a sep funnel, and the
benzene-meth layer is poured into a 500 ml round bottom Ilask. The water layer is discarded.
Next, the product is distilled as described in Chapter Five. Here also is a point at which lazy or underequipped
operators err and thereby leave their product polluted with chloroephedrine. You see, it is next
to impossible to completely convert the chloroephedrine into meth. The conversion can be encouraged by
using plenty of catalyst, sufficient pressure, and ample reaction time in the bomb, but there will still be
some left unreacted. As the catalyst wears out from doing repeated batches, the proportion of
chloroephedrine in the product will increase. Only by doing careful fractional distillation, can the
chloroephedrine be removed. Chloroephedrine's solubility characteristics are so similar to meth 's that it
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
138
can't be removed by crystallization or rinsing the crystals. When doing the distillation, the melh distills al
the usual temperature range. The next fraction whieh distills is chloroephedrine. Since this
chloroephedrine can then be cycled back into the hydrogenation step, it makes both economic and ethical
sense 10 remove it from the product. By skipping the fractional distillation, lazy operators cost
themselves an added measure of meth yield from their raw material inputs.
The chloroephedrine tree base thusly obtained is too unstable to keep as such. It must immediately be
reacted with HCI to form the hydrochloride.
It has become kind of obvious that you wonderful readers out there have been having trouble using the
table presented earlier in this chapter so some examples of the use of other chlorinating agents other than
PCI5 are called for. See Chemical Abstracts, Volume 23, page 3453. For example, with thionyl chloride
(SOCI2), one puts into a flask 1 00 ml of chloroform, 1 00 ml of thionyl chloride and a magnetic stirring
bar. The contents are chilled in an ice bath, then 50 grams of ephedrine or racephedrine is slowly added.
Stirring in the ice bath is then continued for a few hours, as the reaction of SOCI2 is slower than that of
PCI5. After the reaction time is up, about 500 ml of ether or mineral spirits is slowly added with stirring
to precipitate the chloroephedrine hydrochloride. This is filtered out, rinsed with a liltle cold ether, and
spread out to dry as in the previous example.
In the above example, the 1 00 ml of SOCl2 could have been replaced with 60 ml of PCI3, or 65 ml of
PBr3.
Along a similar line, a correspondent named Yehuda has wrinen to tell of his experience with Ihe use
oftrichlorethane as a chloroform substitute. He was nol pleased with the results, and wrote with his
homebrew method for making your own chloroform. It's interesting and I ' ll pass it along. In a sep funnel,
he puts 35 ml of acetone (hardware store) and either 500 ml ofClorox bleach or 1 70 ml of 1 5% sodium
hypochlorite solution. This l 5%-strength bleach is easily available from swimming-pool suppliers. The
sep funnel is shaken vigorously with frequent breaks to vent the gas from the sep funnel. The solution
gets pretty warm. The shaking is continued until it stops producing gas. Then let the solution sil for a few
minutes for the chloroform produced to settle to the bottom. Drain it off. Then shake the sep funnel again
to get a little more chloroform. Total yield: about 1 5 ml of chloroform. The crude produci should be
distilled. Then preserve the distilled chloroform by adding .75 ml of ethyl alcohol to each 1 00 ml of
chloroform. The boiling point of chloroform is 6 1 0 C. Yehuda also writes to remind the readers that all of
the chlorinating agents in this section produce noxious fumes, and should be handled with exlreme care.
Good ventilation, gloves, protective clothing and eye protection are highly recommended.
Palladium Black on Carbon Catalyst
Since palladium black on carbon catalyst is on the narcoswine's watch list of chemicals, il is wise for
the operator to make his own supply. Luckily, this is not too difticult, and gives a catalysl that is fresher
and more active than oft􀽺the-shel f catalysts.
To make the catalyst. the chemist first obtains Norit or Darco brand activated charcoal, and washes it
with nitric acid. This is done by measuring out about 1 00 grams of the charcoal, and then putting it into a
beaker along with 1 0% nitric acid. They are mixed together inlo a watery slurry, and healed on a steam
bath or in a boiling water bath for 2 or 3 hours. After the heating, the carbon is filtered and rinsed
liberally with distilled water until the last traces of acid are rinsed trom it. This requires about a gallon of
waler.
The acid washed carbon is then transferred to a 4000 ml beaker. A few grams of the carbon sticks to
the filler paper and is otherwise lost, but this is OK since the idea is to get about 93-95 grams of carbon
into the beaker. 1 200 ml of distilled water is added to the beaker, and it is heated with stirring to 800 C.
When this temperature is reached, a solution of 8.2 grams of palladium chloride in 20 ml of concentrated
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hydrochloric acid and 50 ml of water is added. This acid solution of palladium chloride is heated for a
couple of hours before it is added, because PdCI2 dissolves slowly in the acid solution. It is not added
until all the PdCI2 is dissolved. I f PdCI2 dihydrate is used, the amount used is increased to \ 0 grams.
When the PdCI2 solution has been added and stirred in, 8 ml of 37% formaldehyde solution is added
and mixed in. Next, the solution is made slightly alkaline to litmus by adding 30% sodium hydroxide
solution to the beaker dropwise with constant stirring. Once the solution has become slightly alkaline to
litmus paper, the stirring is continued for another five minutes.
Next. the solution is filtered to collect the palladium black on charcoal catalyst. It is rinsed ten times
with 250 ml portions of distilled water. Then after removing as much water as possible by filtration, the
catalyst is spread out to dry in a glass baking dish. It is not heated during the drying process since it could
burst into flames. When it has dried it is stored in a tightly stoppered bottle and used as soon as possible.
This process gives about 95 grams of 5% palladium black on charcoal catalyst.
An alternative to the filtration and rinse is the settle, rinse, and decant procedure used in the Pd/BaS04
procedure which follows.
Palladium on Barium Sulfate Catalyst
As mentioned earlier, Pd/BaS04 catalyst will reduce the chloroephedrine to meth a good deal faster
than Pd/C. It is useful in other reduction methods in this chapter, so its preparation will be covered here.
PdCI2 is used to make this catalyst, just like the Pd/C catalyst, so some more mention should be given
to sources of supply for this very useful material. As 1 mentioned before, PdCI2 and H2PtCI6 are both
llsed in the plating industry. PdCI2 is used to activate plastics so that they can be electrolessly plated. It is
also used to electroplate palladium. The typical bath formulation is 50 grl l PdCI2, 30 grll NH4CI and
HCI to adjust the pH to 0. 1 to 0.5. Similarly, a platinum plating bath is mixed up with 1 0 grl l
chloroplatinic acid and 300 mill HCl. Companies which supply platers carry these materials. See the
Metal Finishing Guidehook and Directory. Your library can get it by interlibrary loan if they don't carry
it. Turn to the back of the book to the "product, process, and service directory" and look under palladium
and platinum to get a list of suppliers. This is far better than dealing with a scientific supply house loaded
with snitches, and their prices are much better. For example, \ 0 grams of PdCl2 was going for just under
$60 in 1 995. By naming yourself XYZ Plating instead of Joe Blow, easy access to these materials is
assured.
To make about 45 grams of 5% Pd/BaS04, a solution of about 5 grams of PdCI2 dihydrate (the usual
form ) in 1 0 ml concentrated hydrochloric acid and 25 ml water is made. The PdCl2 will take a while
dissolve. and heating the solution to about 800 C speeds the process. It can take about 2 hours. Once it is
dissolved, set this solution aside.
Then in a 2000 ml beaker, a solution of 600 ml distilled water and 63 grams barium hydroxide
octahydrate is made and then heated with stirring to 80° C. When this temperature is reached, 60 ml of
6N sulfuric acid ( 3 M ; 1 60 ml concentrated H2S04 diluted to one liter with distilled water is 3M or 6N)
is added all at once to the barium hydroxide solution with rapid stirring. Then some more 6N sulfuric
acid solution is slowly added to the barium suspension until it is just acid to litmus.
Now add to this suspension of barium sulfate the PdCI2 solution prepared earlier. Stir it in. then follow
it with 4 ml of 3 7% formaldehyde.
Aller the formaldehyde has been stirred into solution, make the barium sulfate suspension slightly
alkaline to litmus by cautiously adding 30% NaOH solution with constant stirring. Stir for an additional 5
minutes. then let the Pd/BaS04 catalyst settle to the bottom of the beaker. Decant off the water (it should
be clear) and pour fresh distilled water into the beaker. Stir up the settled catalyst to rinse it off. Then let
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the catalyst settle again, and decant otY the clear rinse water. This rinsing procedure is repeated about ten
times to get clean catalyst. It can then be poured into the champagne bottle hydrogenation bomb.
Reference: See Organic Syntheses, Col lective Volume 3.
Direct Reductions
This section deals with the direct conversion of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine
to meth or dexedrine respectively. This conversion can be accomplished by one of live methods. These
conversions are all possible because ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine are all
benzyl alcohols, and benzyl alcohols are the easiest of all alcohols to reduce to the corresponding
hydrocarbon.
These methods all have the advantage of being quick and simple, but they also have their unique
disadvantages, along with the general shared disadvantage that the starting material must be gathered bits
at a time from bottles of pills.
Method I: Lithiam Metal ill Liqaid Amll/ollia Redaction
This is a new method, and is the best one I've seen come down the pike in ages. This procedure was
pioneered by a clandestine operator in California. Unfortunately, he was busted because he bought a jug
of ephedrine to use as his staning material. Had he been more cautious, and isolated the ephedrine Irom
legal pills, h e may well have gone undetected. This method is ideally suited for the rapid production of
truly massive amounts of crank. It suffers from the need to use liquid anhydrous ammonia. This is very
smelly stuff, especially in the quantities needed to make large amounts of meth. The smell problem
means that this method can only be used in countryside locations, preferably in a large shed with a strong
breeze passing through it. In this way, the production masters can position the reaction so that they are
upwind from the fumes.
The countryside location has the further advantage that tanks of anhydrous ammonia are not at all out
of place in such a location. In every agricultural area, tanks of anhydrous ammonia ply the roads all
through the growing season. Fanners use it for nitrogen fertilizer on their crops, especially com. The
local co-op hauls out the tank to the farmer, who then applies it to his crops at his leisure. The
implication of this is obvious. A well thought out large-scale meth production scheme would center upon
renting some nondescript piece of land, planting some corn on it, and then getting a tank of "'anhydrous"
to fertilize the crop. The resulting product will pay much better than corn. A less well thought out plan
would involve getting a tank of anhydrous ammonia from a chemical or welding supplier and taking it to
a countryside location for tilrther use. I n either case, the ammonia is of the same grade.
Farmers often leave tankers of anhydrous ammonia parked out in their fields overnight. Clandestine
cookers have noticed this, and often walk out into a tield to tap a little anhydrous out of the tanker. An
emptied propane cylinder is a favorite container for the fonnerly dull-lived ammonia. This container is
convenient because it has the need valves and the ability to withstand pressure already built in. Some
states have made it a felony just to be caught stealing anhydrous. Check the local laws, and beware'
Some areas send police patrols wherever anhydrous tankers are parked. Anhydrous ammonia is some
god-awfully fuming and dangerous stuff to deal with. Always stay upwind from it, and have a gas mask
which covers the eyes as well!
Locks of various types are sometimes placed on the valves of these tankers when they are parked
overnight. They have the obvious function of frustrating people wandering out to them to tap off a few
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gallons of anhydrous. A patent has just been filed for a new locking mechanism, and this patent is so
recent that it has only been granted an application number as of the summer of 2004. The application
number is 20030234043, and you can read the hilarious hate filled text just by going to the Patent Oflice
website at www.uspto.gov and typing in the application number. The guy is such a dope he calls
methamphetamine "methylene" in the intro to his patent. He does, however, provide a public service with
his drawings of typical valve systems on tankers and how he would like to place his locks. A couple of
his drawings are reproduced here for your enlightenment.
Figure 36a
The vahle locking cage
Figure 36b
This method of making crank is based on the research of Oary Small and Arlene M i nnella as published
in the Journal 􀋎( Organic Chemistry, Volume 40, pages 3 1 5 1 to 3 1 52 ( 1 975). The article is titled
·'Lithium-Ammonia Reduction of Benzyl Alcohols to Aromatic Hydrocarbons an Improved Procedure."
It results in the 1 00% conversion of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or PPA in a reaction time of I () minutes
or so.
This method requires the usc of the free base rather than the hydrochloride sail. Both the hydrochloride
salt and water act as quenchers to the so-called dissolved electrons formed by either lithium or sodium
metal in ammonia. This quenching activity could probably be overcome by using more lithium or sodium
metal in the reaction, but this is wasteful of a very valuable commodity.
Lithium ribbon currently sells for about $33 per 25 grams, and sodium sticks sell for about $70 per
pound. These prices won't break a cooker, but purchasing large amounts of them may result in unwanted
attention. Sodium metal can be easily made at home from lye, using DC current in a version of the
Down's cell. How to do this will be covered at the end of this section. A detailed procedure for
disassembling lithium batteries to get the lithium metal contained within them is given in Advanced
Techniques of CiandeSlille PsychedeliC & Amphetamine Manufacture.
This method works equally well with ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine as the raw
material. A high-quality product is obtained that doesn 't cause the dreadful hangovers that one will
experience from crude undistilled meth made from the HI/red phosphorous method.
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The need for free base in this reaction is no real problem. The naptha or mineral-spirits extract of the
pills contains the free base in solution. This can just be added directly to the reaction mixture. This in
fact saves the added work of bubbling HCl through the naptha or mineral spirits solution to precipitate
the hydrochloride. Correspondents also indicate that the ether or THF used as co-solvent in the reaction
mixture with ammonia can be entirely replaced with naptha or mineral spirits. Of these two, mineral
spirits is preferred, such as, for instance, Coleman camper fuel or naphtha. One could also consider using
ether starting fluid as the extractant for the free base ephedrine or pseudoephedrine obtained from the pill
extraction methods given in this book. Then by drying any traces of water out of the ether extract with
sodium sulfate or other drying agents, one would have a water free ether extract containing ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine free base ready for conversion to meth.
With a supply of free base in hand, it is now time to consider the lithium metal in ammonia reduction
method. A very good review of this procedure can be found in the book Reduction: Techniques and
Applications in Organic Syntheses, by Augustine, pages 98 to 1 05. At the heart of this method is the fact
that lithium metal, or sodium metal, or even potassium metal can dissolve in liquid ammonia to lornl
blue-colored solutions that have powerful reducing properties. Such solutions are often referred to as
"dissolved electrons." These solutions are stable unless water gets in them, or unless they are
contaminated with iron from the ammonia tank. When the free bases of ephedrine or PPA are added to
these "dissolved electrons," they are quickly and easily reduced to meth or dexedrine respectively. To do
the reaction, a 3000 ml round bottom 3-necked flask is set inside a Styrofoam tub. The purpose of the tub
is to provide insulation, because once liquid ammonia gets out of the cylinder it starts to rapidly boil
away until the liquid is lowered to its boiling point of -330 C. This boiling can be kept under control by
adding dry ice to the tub. If a cylinder of ammonia is being used, it is a good idea to cool it down before
use by putting it in a freezer. With a tank from the co-op, this is not practical. To get the liquid ammonia
out of the tank or cylinder, either clear plastic tubing or rubber tubing is placed over the exit valve of the
tank or cylinder, and run into the 3-necked flask. Use of metal, and especially copper, is to be avoided.
Then the cylinder is tipped upside down, so that the valve is at the bottom of the cylinder. This assures
that liquid comes out rather than gas. Next the valve is cautiously cracked open. and liquid ammonia is
run into the flask until it is about Y, full. It will quickly boil away until the volume of the ammonia is
down to about 1 000 mi. and then more slowly because the ammonia has cooled to its boiling point. Then.
wearing rubber gloves and eye protection to keep the fumes out of the eyes, a magnetic stirring bar is
placed in the flask, and the tub is put on a magnetic stirrer, and stirring is begun. Now 7 grams of lithium
metal is put into the flask. Lithium usually comes in the form of turnings inside a sealed glass ampule
under inert atmosphere. It can be used directly as such. If lithium wire is being used, it should be cut into
short lengths. and rinsed off with petroleum ether prior to use. Lithium battery anodes should be rinse
with a soak in ether or naptha as well. The lithium metal quickly dissolves, forming a blue solution. Next.
500 ml of tetrahydrofuran is added to this solution.
The purpose of the THF is to aid in the dissolution of the ephedrine or PPA which is to be added next.
I can see no reason why anhydrous ether can't be used instead of THF, if it is easier to obtain. Many
Backwoods Cookers get by with just using Colemans Camper fuel or naptha or ether starting fluid as the
co-solvent. Next 55 grams of ephedrine (or 50 grams of PPA) is dissolved in 500 ml of THF or ether or
naphtha or toluene, and this solution is added to the lithium in ammonia solution over a period of 1 0
minutes.
Some care should be taken to make sure that this solution of the free base of ephedrine in solvent is
pretty much free of water. which would quench the dissolved electrons. If one has, for example. pill
extract dissolved in camper fuel, the simplest way to assure dryness of this solution would be to add a
couple of grams of drying agent such as magnesium sulfate to the extracted solution, stirring it around lor
a few minutes, then decanting the extract solution off the settled drying agent. Magnesium sulfate drying
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agent can be made by pouring a layer about Y. inch thick of Epsom salts into the bottom of a glass baking
dish, and baking at 4500 F in an electric oven for about an hour. Allow the dish to cool to the point where
you can handle it with oven mitts, then pour the baked Epsom salts into a glass jar and seal the top.
Another way to dry the water out of such a solution would be to boil it for a few minutes to drive off
water.
After allowing the reaction to proceed for an additional JO minutes, the reaction is quenched by slowly
adding water to the ammonia. This is done dropwise at first, and then more rapidly until the blue color
disappears from the ammonia solution. The flask is then taken out of the Styrofoam tub, and the ammonia
is allowed to evaporate overnight. Back Woods Cookers generally omit the water add, and just let the
ammonia evaporate overnight. When the ammonia is gone, some more water is added to the remaining
ether (or THF) solution to dissolve the salts of lithium in the bottom of the flask. After separating the
water layer, the ether layer is dried using anhydrous sodium sulfate, and the meth or benzedrine is
obtained as the hydrochloride salt by bubbling HCI gas through the ether solution as described back i n
Chapter Five. Distillation i s unnecessary because o f the lack o f fonnation o f bypro ducts in this reduction.
It would just be a colossal waste of ether. When using naptha as the solvent, drying before bubbling with
HCI isn't necessary. Simply let the extract sit for a couple of hours to shed entrained water, then pour it
into a clean, dry glass container before bubbling with dry HC!.
An alternative procedure has become popular among clandestine cookers. In this alternative procedure,
l i quid ammonia is tirst added to the reaction vessel, followed by free base dissolved in solvent. Some go
so far as to add solvent and then ground-up pseudoephedrine or phenylpropanolamine pills. That this
works is a testimony to the power of this alternative procedure. When simply using ground up pills, they
generally have to stir the reaction using a wooden stick. Otherwise the surfaces of the pill particles gunk
up. and complete reaction isn't achieved. A plastic 5 gallon pail is the standard reaction vessel used by
these Backwoods Chefs. Simply grinding up the pills and tossing them in can no longer be used with the
gun ked up pills now available. The info is given solely for historical reference.
Then to the liquid ammonoa containing solvent and ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or
phenylpropanolamine, they add lithium metal obtained by taking apart lithium batteries. It takes roughly
5 minutes to dissect a lithium battery and pull out the lithium metal. See Advanced Techniques of
Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture for the details. The extra-long-life lithium battery
contains a bit under .4 grams of lithium metal. They just take apart the batteries one at a time, and add the
lithium metal to the pot. When using ground up pills rather than pure pill extract, stirring with a wooden
stick is done between adds of lithium. They continue adding the lithium until the solution takes on a blue
color. rather than the blue color from the dissolving lithium being rapidly sucked up by the solution.
Once the blue color persists for a bit, the addition is complete. Then the anhydrous ammonia is allowed
to evaporate away overnight and processing is done as usual. A smoky campfire can help to cover the
smell of the evaporating anhydrous ammonia.
This variation probably works better because one isn't relying upon the stability of a pot full of
dissolved electrons. As they fonn, they can just go on to react with ephedrine. In this way, the reaction
becomes more tolerant to the presence of potentiaJ quenching agents. People like this variation.
Example Recipe:
Into a sturdy plastic container, place a couple liters of anhydrous ammonia. Then add a few hundred ml
of ether starting tluid. Next add a dried naptha pill extract containing roughly 50 grams of ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine free base. It should be no more than a few hundred ml in volume. Finally disassemble
lithium batteries and begin adding the lithium battery anodes one at a time while staying upwind.
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Continue adding them one at a time until the solution takes on the color of royal blue. This should take
roughly 7 grams of lithium, or about 1 7 of those extra long life batteries. but pill crap can cause
additional consumption of lithium. Bad anhydrous ammonia which contains additives can prevent royal
blue from fanning at all. Homemade "anhydrous" which contains water will fail' You will note that the
lithium fizzes and forms lithium hydroxide rather than making royal blue.
Once the royal blue color has formed and has persisted for a period of time, the reaction can be
quenched. Add water drops at a time to the reaction mixture. A total of 1 0 or 20 ml should be plenty.
This destroys lithium amide which can be explosive.
Allow the anhydrous ammonia to evaporate away. Then add a few hundred ml of water to the residue
and mix it in. Transfer the solution to a sep funnel, and extract out the meth by adding a few hundred ml
of toluene. Separate off the toluene extract and wash it with water, then transfer it to a clean beaker. 1 f i t
reaks o f ammonia. let i t sit and evaporate that away. Once any entrained water has been shed. pour the
extract into a clean dry beaker while leaving the water droplets behind. Now bubble dry HCl gas through
the solution to get roughly 50 grams of meth hydrochloride.
One may j ustifiably ask now, "How is this such a great mass production method when one is only
getting 50 grams of product out of each batch?" The answer is that the work can easily be organized so
that one batch after another is quickly turned out by this method. Each individual batch only requires a
few minutes of attention. After one flask is filled with ammonia, another may be set up and filled.
resulting in a virtual assembly line procedure.
Before moving on, there is a possible complication which must be addressed. This is the possibility
that a tank of ammonia may only be putting out ammonia gas, rather than spewing liquid. This is no great
hassle. In that case, the 3000 ml 3-necked tlask is well packed in dry ice. and rubbing alcohol poured on
the dry ice to create a very cold bath. When the ammonia gas hits the very cold flask, it will be condensed
to a liquid. This may actually be a better procedure because it will assure that the ammonia does not have
dissolved iron in it from the tank. Iron interferes with lithium in ammonia reductions.
Clandestine cookers should also be aware of another new Patent which is also so recently filed that it
doesn't have a Patent number, only an application number. In this case the application number is
20040049079. The evildoers behind this Patent are more malicious than the patent application mentioned
previously, and they are also better educated. The text of their Patent, however, is equally hateful, so do
read it for fun. They propose to purposely incorporate a little bit of various substances into the anhydrous
ammonia used to fertilize crops, so that the dissolved electrons we want to do the reaction to make meth
are not stable in solution. The best substance of alJ they tested was an iron compound calJed ferrocene,
and since iron can be considered a trace plant nutrient, they are really hot to get their Patent to market
and make a kil l ing. If in the future, anhydrous from tankers just refuses to produce that "royal blue" color
of dissolved electrons, one might consider the possibility that it has been laced with ferrocene. Luckily,
ferrocene is a solid that will not distill with anhydrous ammonia. The purification procedure given in the
previous paragraph will remove it, and life will be good again.
Similarly, in some areas, a pink dye is being added to the anhydrous. This pink dye gets on the cooker,
and takes days to wash off. It also gets into the product and colors it. This dye can also be removed from
the anhydrous ammonia by using the distillation purification procedure.
Sodium metal can be used with just as good of results as lithium. The higher atomic weight of sodium
requires that 23 grams of sodium metal be used instead of the 7 grams of lithium used in the preceding
example. Potassium metal probably works too, but is not so common as sodium metal.
Before leaving this topic, a couple of issues should be addressed. Issue number one is the very bad
effect that the presence of water in the reaction mixture has upon the success of the reaction. Lower
levels of water will quench the dissolved electrons. preventing that beautiful blue color from forming in
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the reaction mixture. This low level of water contamination can probably be overcome by using more
lithium metal.
At higher levels of water contamination, the lithium metal just seems to fizz away in the liquid
ammonia, forming hydrogen gas and lithium hydroxide from the water contaminant. At this level of
water contamination the batch is guaranteed to be a failure.
Where is this water coming from? Assuming that the pill extract has been dried of water, either by use
of a drying agent or distilling the water off the extract as the water-solvent azeotrope, then the water can
only be coming from the "anhydrous ammonia" used. It must not be so anhydrous, so get another source
of anhydrous. Low levels of water contamination can also come from absorption of water from the air.
Liquid ammonia will pull water out of the air. This method shouldn't be done on very humid days.
Issue number two is the smell produced by this reaction. If this is going to be tried in any place other
than a remote country location, the ammonia fumes will alert anyone nearby to the goings on. They'll
also knock you over without really good ventilation. The fumes can be held down during the course of
the reaction by cooling in a dry ice bath, but after the reaction, the liquid ammonia must be allowed to
evaporate away. There comes a cloud of ammonia fumes! On a small scale, these can be sucked up with
an aspirator, and flushed down the drain. Simply run some clear plastic tubing from the aspirator to the
top of the reaction vessel, and tum on water flow to the aspirator. This will control the smell from smallscale
batches.
Another way to address the strong smell and actual physical assaultiveness of liquid ammonia is to
replace it as the material in which the dissolved electrons are generated. The most clandestine-suitable
substitute for liquid ammonia is ethylenediamine. This substance was mentioned earlier in the
Knoevenagel reaction section. It can be obtained from laboratory chemical suppliers for around $20 per
liter. It is also used in the electroplating industry as a complexor in nickel stripping solutions. Component
A of these strips is m-nitrobenzene-sulfonic acid, component B is ethylenediamine. This industrial grade
of ethylenediamine will cost about $20 per gallon. See the Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory
under "stripping solutions," for suppliers.
The industrial grade of ethylenediamine should first be fractionally distilled (boiling point 1 1 60 C) to
see if there is a significant amount of water in the material. We do this by looking for the toluene-water
azeotrope, which boils at 85° C. Mix two parts ethylenediamine with one part toluene, and fractionally
distill at atmospheric pressure through a good fractionating column, such as a claisen adapter packed
with hroken glass. I f an insignificant amount distills at the azeotrope temperature, there isn't much water.
If a fair amount does distill, the solution can be dried by distilling off the azeotrope. The toluene left in
the mixture can just be left there as co-solvent for the reduction. I f only a small amount of water was
found in the industrial grade ethylenediamine, then in the next run drying can be done by letting the
ethylenediamine sit in contact with KOH pellets for about half a day, then distilling the dried
ethylenediamine. The amine has to be dry, because water really fucks with this reaction! Once distilled,
the ethylenediamine should be stored in a tightly stoppered bottle to prevent absorption of water from the
air. To do a reduction using ethylenediamine in place of ammonia, I would follow the method given in
the Journal of Organic Chemistry, Volume 22, pages 89 1 -4. To get the solid lithium metal, such as
would be found by taking apart a lithium battery, to dissolve into the ethylenediamine and form the bluecolored
dissolved electron solution, the solution must be free of traces of water and carbonate formed by
absorption of C02 from the air Into a 2000 ml flask, I would put about one quart of ethylenediamine. I
would then flush out all the air using argon or nitrogen gas from a cylinder. Argon is commonly used for
TIG welding. I would then stopper that flask to keep air from getting back in. I would add about 3 \1,
grams o f lithium metal to the flask (roughly 1 0 battery anodes). Once the lithium metal has dissolved to
produce the blue solution we need, the batch can be run.
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I would then add, with stirring, pseudoephedrine or ephedrine to the mixture until enough has been
added to make the blue color disappear. That should be around 25 grams of pseudoephedrine or
ephedrine. Care should be taken to maintain the atmosphere of argon or nitrogen during the adding of the
ephedrine because air reacts with the dissolved electrons.
In what form would one add the ephedrine? The best way to my knowledge of the matter would be to
add the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine as a free base in solution with naptha. Naptha doesn't dissolve into
anhydrous ethylenediamine. Ether will not, nor will naphtha/camper fuel. Ifone doesn't get mixing of the
two solutions, one may not get the reaction we want. One could also add the ephedrine in the form of the
hydrochloride crystals without any solvent added to the mixture. Pseudoephedrine free base is a solid and
it could be added directly
Once the blue color has been consumed, one would be left with the problem of how to recover the
meth from the mixture. The best way to my thinking would be to pour the mixture into about 5 quarts of
water. Then after some stirring, add some toluene to the mixture and extract out the meth. If the
ephedrine was added in toluene solvent, one wouldn't have to add so much. Ethylenediamine doesn't
dissolve in toluene when water has been added. I would then wash the toluene extract with some fresh
water, and finally bubble the toluene extract with dry HC 1 to get the meth hydrochloride product. Others
have suggested the possibility of distilling off the ethylenediamine, preferably under a vacuum, and then
taking up the residue with toluene, washing the extract with water, and then bubbling dry HC 1 through it.
This method should work, and not stink to high heaven.
If the clandestine cooker wants to substitute sodium metal for lithium, he may tind it difficult or risky
to buy sodium metal through standard channels, so a procedure to manufacture sodium metal from
household items is of definite value. A process called the Downs cell has been in use since the early days
of this century to make sodium on an industrial scale. In its early versions, sodium hydroxide (lye) was
the raw material used, but in later versions this was replaced with salt. By using salt instead of lye,
another valuable material - chlorine gas - was also obtained. In this procedure the earlier version will
be used because we don't want the poisonous chlorine, and because lye has a much lower melting point.
Some basic precautions must be followed with this cell. The last thing someone wants on their skin or
in their eyes is molten lye or sodium metal, so gloves, protective clothing, and a face shield must be
worn. Also, molten lye gives off fumes, especially when a current is being passed through it. so good
ventilation is mandatory.
To make sodium metal, a steel or copper pan about I pint in capacity is placed on a stove burner. A gas
stove shouldn't be used here because of its open flame. Also, we want to take advantage of the insulation
on the electric heating element. An aluminum pan can't be used, nor i s Teflon-coating acceptable.
Now, into this pan put lye until it's % full. Begin heating this lye at medium to medium-high heat, and
melt it. More lye can then be added to get the volume oflye back to about % tiIlI.
When the lye has melted, the standard DC electrochemical cell wiring is done. A graphite anode is
inserted into the molten lye. It should be about I inch away from the side of the pan, and it must not
touch bottom, or a short will occur. Clamp it in place with a ringstand and insulated clamp. Make an
electric contact with the graphite anode by wrapping some bare copper wire around the top of the
graphite anode, and twisting it down tight. Run a wire from the positive pole of the DC source, through
an amp meter, and to the graphite anode. Then run wiring from the negative pole of the DC source to the
pan near where the graphite anode is located.
Now turn on the DC power source. The best source would be a 0-1 1 0 volt transformer. Also workable
would be a DC arc welder with variable voltage control. One could also hook a couple of car batteries in
series to raise the applied voltage to 24 V. I have heard from reliable sources that 12 volts isn't enough to
push current through the molten lye.
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Now turn up the applied voltage from the DC source until a current of one or two amps flows. This is
enough current to give a good rate of sodium production. How much current can be passed is largely
limited by how big the graphite anode is. As in so many other things, bigger is preferable to smaller. The
molten lye obeys Ohm's law, so increasing voltage gives higher current flow.
As the current flows, little globules of shiny metallic sodium should start floating up to the top of the
molten lye. They will mostly show up along the edge of the pan near the handle. Sodium is very light, so
it floats. As they appear, scoop them up with a stainless-steel spoon. Separate them from the molten lye
also scooped up by rolling them around in the spoon, and once separated, pour them into a jar of mineral
spirits. Sodium metal reacts rapidly with air to make sodium peroxide, so this should be done as fast as
they appear. The mineral spirits will protect the product. It's important to keep the lye out of the product,
as this would mess up its intended use in the reaction. It's probably quite possible to separate the two
later by melting the sodium (it melts below the boiling point of water) and pouring it off the entrained
lye, but this hazardous procedure is best avoided in the first place.
Current flow is continued until one has as much sodium metal as needed. The serious experimenter
will want to try using iron or steel as the anode if graphite can't easily be found. The serious
experimenter will also note that the amount of current that he can pass through the molten lye is related
to the size of the anode used. After a certain current density, the electricity gets wasted by fizzing at the
anode, which produces water and hydrogen.
Before leaving this topic, another warning should be included. When scooping up the sodium metal
with the spoon, don't make contact with both the anode and the pan at the same time' You will short the
cell, and make sparks that will startle you to no end! This could lead to spills and messes and burns! Be
careful !
Method 2: Counter Top Hydrogenations
These methods are very convenient methods for doing hydrogenations through chloroephedrine with
out the need for a pressure reaction vessel or specially prepared palladium catalysts. They are a great to
using difficultly obtained starting materials such as iodine and red phosphorous. They may also be much
more resistant to the pill "gaks" which are formulated to specifically to interfere with that production
method. These methods are taken from the Journal of Organic Chemistry, Volume 1 6, pages 1 73 1 to
1 735. They all start with production of chloroephedrine from the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine one
starts with. Then by the action of a little bit of palladium chloride and some active atomic hydrogen, meth
is made in good to great yields. Four methods for producing chloroephedrine are presented here. Two
come from his article, and another two come from other sources. Let's start with his methods for making
chloroephedrine.
With PCI5 his procedure is to put 60 ml of chloroform and 60 grams of PCI5 into an Erlenmeyer flask.
After putting a stopper into the flask, he chilled it in ice. Then he took 40 grams of ephedrine or
pseUdoephedrine hydrochloride and added it to the chloroform and PCIS mixture in half gram portions
with steady shaking or stirring over a period of about 1 0 or 1 5 minutes. Most meth cooks would want to
do this reaction on a one tenth scale, meaning they are using 6 ml of chloroform and 6 grams PCI5 and 4
grams of ephedrine hydrochloride. H e kept stirring or shaking the mixture in the cold for a couple of
hours after adding all the ephedrine hydrochloride.
He next let the mixture settle, and poured off the liquid from the settled phosphorous sludge. After
pouring off the liquid, one could add a bit more chloroform to the phosphorous sludge and shake it a bit
to get more product trapped in the sludge. After it settles again, one could decant off this washing of the
sl udge and add it to the main batch which has already been decanted off. When the chloroform has
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evaporated away from the decanted liquid product, it will leave crystals of chloroephedrine
hydrochloride. Scrape them up and save them.
In method two, he used thionyl chloride instead. In this one he mixed 20 ml of thionyl chloride and 20
ml of chlorofonn. He then added \0 grams of ephedrine hydrochloride or pseudoephedrine
hydrochloride. This reaction is slower and after half an hour at room temp, one might wish to heat it a bit.
To get his product, he added ether to the reaction mixture to toss out the crystals of chloroephedrine
hydrochloride. Staning fluid would work fine for this purpose, and after adding about 1 0 volumes of
ether and cooling in a freezer for a few hours, the crystals could be filtered out.
Method three comes from the Patent literature. In Chemical Abstracts Volume 54, column 7654 and
German Patent 968,545 we learn that heating a mixture of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine hydrochloride
in acctic acid loaded with dry HCI gas we get chloroephedrine. The acetic acid has to be glacial acetic
acid. This is the pure stuft􀥞 not vinegar. It is pretty easily available on line with a Google search from
small outlets and it has many uses. Simply heating a watery mixture of hydrochloric acid and ephedrine
will just give interconversion between its isomers, not chloroephedrine.
To do this on a small scale, just take 1 0 ml of glacial acetic acid and put it in a test tube. Then one
would rig up a dry HCI generator such as seen in figure 20 of Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
and bubble dry HCI gas into the acetic acid for \ 0 or 1 5 minutes. This will saturate it quite weI!. Folks
have been using this dry HCI generator for 20 plus years, so this should be nothing new. Next add a gram
of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine hydrochloride to the HCI saturated acetic acid. Then heat it with boiling
water for half an hour to an hour while keeping the top of the test tube stopped with a cork to keep out
steam. This is a solution of chloroephedrine in acetic acid, plus a bunch of left over HC!. How to use this
depends upon the method chosen in the next section.
The last conversion method to chloroephedrine is by use of Lucas Reagent. This one is entirely
hardware store supplied. The materials used are hardware store muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid 30%)
and pennies. I would feel more confident using the previous example with the glacial acetic acid and dry
Hel, but this one is all off the shelf.
To use it, one first needs zinc chloride (ZnCI2). This could be found online with a search, as could
stronger 35% hydrochloric acid, but this is the hardware store alternative section. To make zinc chloride,
simply get a bunch of pennies. They should all be dated to the late 1 980's or beyond. That is because in
the XO's, they changed the composition of pennies. They used to be pure copper, but then copper got too
expensive to put into pennies. They were worth more than one cent melted down. That was when they
switched to a core of zinc in pennies overlaid with a thin coat of copper to keep them looking the same.
Just take a file and cut through the copper surface on these pennies to expose the zinc underneath. One
doesn't have to remove all the copper coating. Just exposing some of the zinc underneath will be fine.
The tirst thing to do is to judge how much zinc chloride one would need. Zinc chloride is a little under
half zinc metal, so by taking the desired amount of zinc chloride and dividing it by 1 .2 or so, you will be
in the ball park as to the weight of pennies to use. Take these pennies with the surface copper broken, and
immerse them in enough hydrochloric acid to completely cover them. They will fizz wildly as the zinc
metal dissolves to make zinc chloride. The copper coating will be untouched. The insides of the pennies
should completely dissolve. If they don't, try a bit of heat, or adding more hydrochloric acid.
When all of the pennies have dissolved, filter off the zinc chloride solution from the copper coats. Now
it is time to get zinc chloride from the zinc chloride solution. This is done by pouring the filtered solution
into a glass baking dish. It should be a clear colored solution. Then simmer it down. Add some water
halfway through the simmer down to help the hydrochloric acid get air borne rather than stuck in your
product. As the simmer down gets close to the bottom, switch to oven heating. Gently bake it down to
dryness at 250 F. A layer of clear colored crystals should result. Scrape and scoop them out and put them
into a sealed container pronto, as they pull water from the air. The product should be white colored and
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/49
dry. It will pull water from the air, so keeping it sealed is a must.
Now to use Lucas reagent to convert ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to chloroephedrine, check out the
general procedure found in Organic Syntheses, Collective Volume 2, page 1 42 n-butyl chloride. For a
one gram batch, put one ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid into a test tube or other convenient glass
container. Chill it down with ice, then slowly with agitation and swirling, add roughly one gram of zinc
chloride. The zinc chloride must be dry, and crushed into small particles. In about ten minutes the zinc
chloride will have mostly all dissolved into the hydrochloric acid.
Now the gram of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine can be added. Swirl to mix it in and let it react lor about
1 5 minutes in the cold. Then heat the reaction mixture in a boiling water bath for about 20 minutes to
complete the reaction. One now has a solution of chloroephedrine in hydrochloric acid. It should be once
again chilled and used soon atier it is made. One can run two grams of ephedrine just by doubling all the
reactants, or ten just by multiplying by ten.
A senes of related methods are known for converting ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or
phenylpropanolamine ( P PA) to meth or dexedrine respectively using catalytic hydrogenation. These are
all good methods, but they haven't been able to approach the method using hydroiodic acid and red
phosphorus in popularity among clandestine cookers.
The explanation of why the HI and red P method has remained preeminent is probably twofold. All of
the hydrogenation methods use palladium as the catalyst. Even though this substance isn't on reporting
lists to the feds, its only common source is from those dens of snitches at mainstream suppliers.
Palladium black is easily made from palladium chloride. See the earlier portions of this chapter, or go to
the Organic Syntheses collective volumes for the procedures. Even so, it would appear that getting
palladium chloride from those snitches isn't much smarter. Note that it was disclosed in the Seventh
Edition of this meth book that PdCI, is also sold by companies supplying precious metal salts to
electroplaters of these metals. All of this speculation is now just academic anyway, because in my
Second Edition of Advanced Techniques of Clandestine Psychedelic and Amphetamine Manufacture, a
1110st simple and effective procedure is given for making your own PdCl, from an ingot or coin of
palladium, some hydrochloric acid, a couple of rubbers, and a source of DC current. I 've tried this
procedure, and the results are quite satisfying. Take it from your Uncle, no home should be without an
ingot of palladium. Head on down to your local precious metals and coins dealer. Spend the $350 or
more for one ounce of palladium. It'll be the best buy of your life.
The second reason why the HI and red P method has remained most popular is no doubt the lack of
cheap, reliable and easily available hydrogenation equipment. See "The Poor Man's Hydrogenation
Device," Chapter Thirteen in this book. An aluminum fire extinguisher is easily converted into a really
good hydrogenation device that allows for magnetic stirring of the contents. Of course, the aluminum
won't stand up to the sulfuric, acetic, hydrochloric, or perchloric acids used in these hydrogenation
procedures, so the inside of the extinguisher should be coated with Teflon or Teflon loaded paint such as
Xylan 1 006. See Vestbllsters for details on ordering and applying these useful materials. Some aluminum
tire extinguisher or spray bottles are coated with electroless nickel. I know because I produce many of
them at my day job' This nickel coating will resist attack from most of the hydrogenation mixtures
mentioned in the last paragraph. Check it out!
Hut I digress. In the Journal of Organic Chemistry Volume 1 6, pages 1 7 3 1 to 1 735, a series of quite
clandestinely useful procedures are given for converting chloroephedrine to meth. These methods and
some simple extensions of them that I have developed will be the basis for this section of the chapter.
The reduction is illustrated below:
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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1 50
Chloroephedrine
OCH21NHHCCHH33 MethamphetamIne
The simplest general method of reducing an alkyl halide like chloroephedrine to an alkane like meth is
by use of zinc melal in boiling hydrochloric acid. This reaction was tried in the article cited above and
the results were jusl miserable. Almost all of the chloroephedrine was converted to propenylbenzene. and
only 1 0% was converted to meth. The authors next tried adding a l ittle palladium chloride into the
mixlure with the zinc and boiling hydrochloric acid. That helped. but still most of the chloroephedrine
was wasted. It seems that there is just something about zinc metal in the mixture which is just disaslrous
for chloroephedrine.
The next thing he tried was to replace the zinc metal with aluminum. That was when his results became
respectable with roughly 50% yield of meth from the chloroephedrine. For a batch starting with 20 grams
of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine converted to the chloroephedrine derivative. he began with 9 grams of
aluminum powder. This material can be obtained from suppliers for silk screeners of T-shirts, but one
may come under scruliny because aluminum powder is often added to explosives to increase their punch.
The material sold as A luma-Seal for radiator leaks doesn'l contain aluminum powder as best I can lell
because it doesn't fizz upon contact with hydrochloric acid. The simplest and most low key way to gel
aluminum powder or grit is 10 simply take a piece of aluminum metal and reduce il 10 grit and powder
with a grindstone. One could lay Oul a newspaper to calch the gril as it is produced off the wheel, and
Ihen pour it inlo a container for slorage under a layer of alcohol. This is importanl because il will slow
Ihe oxidation of Ihe aluminum surface. A can of silk screen aluminum powder comes wetted wilh
alcohol. Any hardware store alcohol or drug Slore rubbing alcohol will do.
When one is ready 10 do the reaction, the alcohol is filtered off the aluminum powder. II is Ihen
soaked in . 1% lye solulion (sodium hydroxide . . .N aOH) at room lemperature for a few minules. This
helps to break Ihe oxide layer on the metal grit surfaces . . 1 % would be one tenth gram of NaOH in 1 00
ml of water. Filter Ihis mixture, and rinse the aluminum powder with several portions of fresh water to
remove any traces of lye left on the aluminum. Then while the aluminum is still wei, pul it inlo a beaker
along with 200 ml of water and .2 grams palladium chloride. Slir the mixture every once i n a while, and
let it sit overnight. An amalgam will form belween the palladium chloride in solulion and Ihe aluminum
surfaces.
To do this reduction reaction using the aluminum powder, the chloroephedrine should first be added to
the mixture of 200 ml water, 9 grams aluminum powder and .2 grams palladium chloride. If one has
made chloroephedrine cryslals by method one or Iwo, just add them. If one has chloroephedrine in acetic
acid solution by mel hod three, add Ihis solution. I f one had Lucas reagenl mixture, then add Ihal.
Now quickly add 200 ml of hydrochloric acid and stir it in. This will start to dissolve the aluminum and
produce a lot of hydrogen gas in the process. It will be kind of slow at first, but then the fizzing will
really kick in. Thai is when the mixture should be cooled down with ice to moderale the reaction. The
fumes are nasly as Ihe hydrochloric acid reacts with Ihe aluminum. This should be done in a garage or
olher outdoor slruclure. As Ihe aluminum metal dissolves, it will pump hydrogen to the palladium and
bring about the reduction of chloroephedrine to meth. Once the reaction has slowed down, add some
more hydrochloric acid and lei the mixture warm up again until all the aluminum powder has dissolved.
This produces a mixture conlaining roughly a 50% yield of meth from the chloroephedrine.
To obtain the producl, Ihe aulhors of the article chose Ihe steaming roule. Check the previous chapter
Chapter Fifteen
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15/
for the section detailing steaming ephedrine, ephedra, and pseudoephedrine pills for a simple rig. They
left the mixture acid, and blew several hundred ml of steam through the mixture to remove the
propenyl benzene by product. They next made the reaction mixture strongly basic with lye after it had
cooled from the first steaming. This tosses out of solution a large amount of aluminum hydroxide, but
with cnough lye in solution, the aluminum hydroxide redissolves. It will set up into a gel if left for a
while. In the paper, they then steamed this mixture and collected their steam distillate as in the pill
steaming example. It would take several hundred mls of steam to get the entire product out of the reaction
mixture, but it would be very clean. It could then be extracted out of the steam distillate with some
tolucnc or other available solvent like xylene, and then gassed with dry HC!. Another alternative would
be to simply make the mixture strongly basic with lye until the aluminum hydroxide dissolved. Then
exlract the mixture with toluene and get the product in the same manner by bubbling dry HCI through it.
The author of the article didn't get really impressive results until he removed the dissolving metal
hydrogen source from the mixture. Aluminum isn't as destructive towards chloroephedrine as zinc is, but
it still bent upon turning half of it to propenylbenzene. He did the well known hydrogenation of
chlorocphedrine using palladium catalyst and hydrogen gas under pressure, and got 90% yields. He next
embarked upon other hydrogen sources for his palladium chloride. He turned to the hydrides. N ote that
he published the paper in 1 95 1 , so in the late 40's when he was doing the experimenting the selection of
hydrides and their availability were limited. He was able to get some calcium hydride, and used it as
follows.
He dissolved I I grams of chloroephedrine in 1 00 ml of methano!. One could also use as
chloroephedrine source the Lucas reaction mixture. Another alternative source of chloroephedrine is the
acetic acid solution containing dry HCI gas mixed with some ephedrine or pseudoephedrine and then
heated lor a period of time. With the latter two mixtures one should add alcohol so as to copy the original
procedure once the chloroephedrine has been made, To this solution he added one quarter gram of
palladium chloride dissolved i n 7.5 ml of hot concentrated hydrochloric acid.
In another beaker he mixed I I grams of calcium hydride (CaH2) with 1 00 ml of methanol. The
chloroephedrine solution was slowly added to the calcium hydride solution with stirring so that the
temperature of the reaction mixture didn't rise out of the 30 to 40 C range. Some cooling of the reaction
mixture was provided by means of ice. The reaction mixture will immediately turn black upon addition of
th􀽹 palladium chloride as it converts to palladium black hydrogenation catalyst. A lot of hydrogen fizzing
will also come out of the reaction mixture as the hydride breaks down and pumps hydrogen to the
palladium. When all the chloroephedrine has been added, the pH of the reaction mixture was adj usted to
3 by means of adding some hydrochloric acid. The reaction was then stirred for another half an hour.
After stirring for half an hour one could just let the reaction mixture sit for half an hour. The palladium
black catalyst will settle out and the reaction mixture decanted off it. Alternatively, one could j ust filter
out the palladium catalyst. In either case a clear solution containing a 90% yield of meth in alcohol
solution will be the result.
Thcre are a couple of ways to obtain the product from this alcohol solution. The way the author of the
article did it was to make sure the alcohol solution was nicely acidic with addition of hydrochloric acid.
Then by blowing steam through this mixture as in the pill extraction procedure in the previous chapter,
hc stripped off the alcohol solvent. Once free of alcohol, the mixture being steamed was cooled and
enough lye added to make it strongly alkaline. Recommencing the steaming process then made meth
come over with the steam and be collected in . . . for example . . . a 40 oz beer bottle. Extracting the meth
frcc base from the collected steam distillate with toluene and then bubbling dry HCI gas through the
toluene solution will give one the 90% yield of meth hydrochloride.
Another approach is to take the clear filtered reaction mixture and simply pour it into a glass baking
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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152
dish. The take it outside to the garage and apply mild heat to it so as to speed up the evaporation of the
methanol. Methanol is a toxic alcohol, so the vapors should not be breathed more than a few sni ffs. One
could avoid this danger by replacing the methanol with 1 90 proof vodka. One could also use denatured
alcohol, but that material tends to much smellier than vodka. Alcohols are also flammable, so care must
be taken that no sources of ignition are present. Good ventilation must be provided when working with
them.
Once the methanol or vodka have been removed from the reaction mixture by gentle evaporation, a
residue will be left that is a mixture of calcium chloride and meth hydrochloride. Add a couple hundred
ml of water to this residue and put it into a beaker. Bring it to a boil for a while to drive off any
remaining alcohol. Then cool it down and add enough lye to make the mixture strongly alkaline. This
should be done in a sep funnel with lots of shaking between the adds of lye until the pH is 1 3 plus. A lot
of calcium hydroxide sludge will be tossed out of the water solution as the mixture become alkaline. The
meth can be extracted out with toluene; filtered if need be, and then bubbled with dry HCI gas to get
crystals of meth hydrochloride. If the yield is unexpectedly low, it may be due to meth being trapped in
the calcium hydroxide sludge. This could be recovered by use of steam, or by making (he sludge acidic
again with hydrochloric acid. This will redissolve the sludge, and then by again adding lye to pH 1 3 plus
another load of meth could be pulled from the water solution with toluene.
That was a surprisingly simple and high yielding recipe ! It did use calcium hydride, but sodium
borohydride could be used in its place using virtually identical reaction conditions. It wouldn't form that
troublesome sludge upon making the reaction mixture alkaline to extract out the meth, and it is a pretty
commonly used lab chemical. The hydride example shows that active hydrogen being pumped to
palladium chloride and the palladium black catalyst i t produces will convert chloroephedrine to meth in
very high yield at normal pressure and temperature. There is another way to produce this active
hydrogen. It is very easy and it uses only the simplest of materials and equipment. That is by electric
generation of the hydrogen directly in the reaction mixture in contact with the palladium chloride and
chloroephedrine. The negative pole of an electric cell will fizz wildly with active hydrogen in a solution
containing water. It will do this at very low DC voltages easily obtained from a battery charger so long as
the cell divider, which separates the solution in contact with the anode (the plus or red pole) from the
catholyte, which is the solution in contact with the black pole, w i l l pass electric current without much
resistance. This electric reduction is the most low profile method possible for converting ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine to meth. It uses no iodine or red phosphorous or anhydrous ammonia in the process, and
the source of hydrogen for the palladium chloride is electrically generated directly in the reduction
mixture.
To do this method, one needs chloroephedrine as in the previous examples. There is a difference,
however, in that it has to be fairly free of excess hydrochloric acid. That is because in an electric cell,
chlorides such as hydrochloric acid which come into contact with the anode or red pole will be converted
to chlorine at that pole. One might as well be adding bleach to the reaction mixture as this chlorine will
destroy the product just as surely. A less permeable cell divider such as porous deglazed pottery would
function both to keep hydrochloric acid away from the anode, and any chlorine generated there away
from the goods, but thesc kinds of dividers have a good amount of resistance and would require more
voltage to run than could be obtained from a battery charger. In this process, the desired divider is a
Kling Tite sheep gut condom. It has very low electric resistance even when doubled up. It will also serve
to keep the solution in contact with the anode separate from the reduction mixture for the half hour to 4S
minute reaction lime.
Chloroephedrine hydrochloride made by the methods using PCIS or thionyl chloride could be simply
added to the catholyte solution described in the next paragraph. Glacial acetic acid chloroephedrine
reaction mixture can be treed of excess dry HCI gas just by bubbling air through the mixture. An
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Amphetamine ji-am PPA
153
aquarium pump and some glass tubing will do the job in about under half an hour. Lucas reagent reaction
mixture is more problematic. It has to be based and extracted. Strong base and chloroephedrine is a bad
combination as it will produce toxic aziridine. To base Lucas reagent, dilute it with ten volumes of water,
then add washing soda slowly to the reagent mixture. It will fizz a LOT. Once the fizzing upon additions
of further portions of washing soda has stopped, it is time to move the mixture to a sep funnel. Shake it
some more. If the washing soda has stopped producing fizzing, it is time to add toluene to extract out the
product. The zinc carbonate sludge in the mixture will make this difficult, but shake nonetheless. Now
after making sure that the neutralization mixture is cool, add lye with shaking, small portions at a time.
This will convert the zinc carbonate to zincate. This is soluble in water and so dissolves the sludge so
Ihal extraction can be complete. One could add a bit more water if the sodium carbonale left noating
around is troublesome. This toluene extract containing the chloroephedrine is next separated, washed
with water, and can be added to the catholyte as described in the next paragraph. The amount of
chloroephedrine made by chlorinating anywhere from one to three grams of ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine will lit nicely into the batch size I am describing here. Since the hydrogen is generated
electrically and so is virtually limitless, one does not have to be precise on the amount of chloroephedrine
added.
Mix up a solution of 5 ml of concentrated sulfuric acid i n 1 50 ml of water. Pour 50 ml into one
beaker. That is the anolyte, or solution which will be in contact with the anode. Pour the other 1 00 ml
into another beaker and add roughly a tenth gram or so of palladium chloride to it and let it dissolve. This
will take some time for all of it to go into solution even with stirring. A brown tinted with yellow solution
will result. That is the catholyte, the mixture which will reduce the chloroephedrine to meth. Take a 250
ml beaker and place it on a magnetic stirrer, clip a well scrubbed K l ing-Tite Naturalamb rubber in one
side of the beaker and put a piece of graphite rod about y,-inch in diameter and a few inches long, inside
Ihe rubber. One can get graphite rod from welding suppliers or by taking apart a dry cell battery. Its
diameter is not really important, but it must not have sharp points which would rip the rubber. Blow
down into the top of the rubber as you insert it so as to innate the condom and avoid rips and holes. A
doubled up Kling Titc will serve better to keep catholyte from the anode. On the opposite side of the
beaker, stand up a Kennedy half dollar. These are clad with nickel, and it is the cathode. Using alligator
clips, make contact with the half dollar, and with the graphite rod.
Now it is time to add the catholyte or reduction mixture to the beaker. I f it is chloroephedrine made by
PCI5 or SOCl2, just add it to the 1 00 ml beaker mentioned above containing the PdCI2 solution. If it is
from acetic acid solution, simply add that to the same beaker. I f one has the toluene extract from Lucas
reagent, pour the 1 00 ml of dilute sulfuric acid containing the palladium chloride into a sep funnel and
then add the toluene solution, shake and the chloroephedrine will pull out of the toluene into the sulfuric
acid solution, which is the bottom layer. Pour whichever source of chloroephedrine one has into the 250
ml beaker. Then using a pipette or by careful filling, pour the condoms full of the anolyte solution which
comains no palladium. The Kennedy half dollar should be over half immersed.
A glass beaker isn't the only reaction vessel which can be used. The only requirements are that it be
non-conductive so that the cell doesn't short out, and it must also be inert to the dilute acetic and sulfuric
acid used in the process. A measuring cup with a pour lip would be a quite good substitute, and a drink
tumbler would also be serviceable:
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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154
ALLIGATOR C L I P
T O LEAD J'«\
K L l N G - TlTE
R U BBER
GRAPHITE RO
I-
D
\
, 􀃺
rr-·-·-
,-V
.-
/ (
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-. ,
C ALLIGATOR CLIP TO
KENNEDY HALF DOLLAR
SOLUTION LEVEL
KENN EDY HALF
DOLLAR
The graphite anode shown in the drawing can be replaced with other materials as well. The only
function of the anode is to pump current into the solution. It doesn't take part in the reaction in any other
way. Suitable replacements for graphite rod obtained at the welding supply shop or dissected out of a dry
cell battery would be platinum metal or aluminum. Unsuitable choices for anode materials include iron
and steel, copper and brass. All of these metals will dissolve in dilute sulfuric acid when made anodic.
The exact size or shape of the anode isn't particularly important. So long as it has dimensions about that
shown in the drawing, it will work fine. As stated earlier, its only function is to pump current into the
solution.
The rubber serves two purposes. It first of all keeps the ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or PPA from
coming into contact with the anode. These substances will oxidize at the anode, resulting in cleavage
producing benzaldehyde, methylamine or acetaldehyde. This makes one wonder whether the process
could be run backwards with electric reduction. Methamphetamine will oxidize at the anode to form a tar
which clings to the anode surface. See Chem. Pharm. BlIlI., volume 25, pp. 1 6 1 9-22 ( 1 980) for more on
this subject. The rubber also serves to keep the oxygen which is generated at the anode surface from
leaking into the solution by the cathode. This would interfere with the hydrogenation taking place there.
The most convenient DC electric power source is a battery charger for automotive batteries. It will
allow the option of using 6 volts or 1 2 volts. With a couple of Kling-Tite rubbers doubled up as the cell
divider, six volts will be plenty to get very active hydrogen fizzing off the Kennedy half dollar at the
black or negative pole. If one has chosen a more impermeable cell divider, the 1 2 volt setting may be
enough to get the hydrogen rocking and rolling off the half dollar. It is the hydrogen generated there
which is doing the reduction, so visual clues such as very active hydrogen generation at the half dollar
are very important.
One should apply current from the battery charger as soon as the electric cell has been rigged up, and
the anolyte in its chamber and the catholyte containing the chloroephedrine and the PDCl2 in the part of
the cell with the Kennedy half dollar. The fizzing of hydrogen from the half dollar will almost
immediately change the PdCl2 in solution into Pd black catalyst. The solution in the cathode part of the
cell will tum black almost instantly. If the fizzing is nicely vigorous, there is no real need for magnetic
stirring of the catholyte as the fizzing will supply all the agitation required. This is the preferred method.
Weak fizzing may well require magnetic stirring of the catholyte. Higher applied DC voltages will give
increased fizzing from the half dollar and would eliminate any need for magnetic stirring.
The half dollar is pumping active hydrogen into the solution, just as borohydride did in an earlier
example. Some of the palladium black comes into contact with the half dollar and gets its hydrogen
Chapter Fijleen
Methamphetaminefrom Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetaminefrom PPA
155
directly by being charged with DC current. Some of it just floats around i n solution and picks up
hydrogen from the bubbles being produced at the half dollar. Some of the palladium black is attracted by
electric charge and sticks to the half dollar. There it sits and fizzes active hydrogen of its own. This layer
of electrically attracted Pd black is easily removed from the half dollar at the end of the reaction just by
using a toothbrush and a squirt bottle of water.
One could just as well use a reaction mixture which produces the acetic acid ester of ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine in these methods. The hydrogenation of the acetic acid ester of pseudoephedrine has
been detailed in US Patent 6,399.828 using palladium. One should know first that making the acetic acid
ester of pseudoephedrine is not as easy as with ephedrine. Ephedrine will react with glacial acetic acid
and a couple of drops of sulfuric acid to give the desired ester in reasonable yield by heating the mixture
to boiling for 1 5 minutes or so. Pseudoephedrine requires a lab acetylating chem, such as acetic
anhydride. The Patent also notes that retaining the acetic acid into the reduction mix lowers the yield of
product. The yield of ester reduction at its best was 60 or 70%, while chloroephedrine will give 90% at
its best. and with higher conversion numbers to the desired derivative versus the acetic acid ester.
The reduction to meth will be complete after about half an hour to 45 minutes of hard fizzing from the
Kennedy half dollar. Pull out the condoms and the anode rod. Brush off the layer of palladium black from
the front face of the Kennedy half dollar, and squirt it back into the catholyte with a stream of water. Let
the palladium black catalyst settle. Then filter your product off of the settled palladium black. This
valuable material can be recycled.
The reaction mixture should be poured into a sep funnel, and approximately 20% solution of NaOH
(lye) in water should be added with shaking until the mixture is strongly ( 1 3+) alkaline to pH paper. Then
extract with one or two portions of toluene. Fifty to one hundred ml of toluene is more than enough to
extract one gram of product. The toluene extracts are next bubbled with dry HCI to get the crystalline
hydrochloride product. After filtering and rinsing them off with some fresh toluene. they are spread out
to dry.
The reductions using palladium chloride with aluminum, boro hydrides or hydrogen all leave a
recoverable and recyclable palladium black sludge sitting on the bottom of the reaction vessel. To
reCOver and recycle this palladium, simply tilter it out using coffee filters. Once one has accumulated a
reasonable quantity of the used palladium catalyst, it can easily be reconverted into palladium chloride.
To do this. just take the coffee filter containing the palladium black and wrap it around a graphite rod.
The bottom of the rod should go right to the bottom of the filter, and the rest of the filter containing the
palladium is next pushed against the graphite rod. One wants the palladium in direct contact with the
graphite rod. Hold the jilter paper in place with a few rubber bands. Now go to Chapter Five. This filter
paper containing the used palladium now takes the place of the palladium ingot or coin. Applying a few
volts oj' DC current will cause the palladium metal to dissolve into the hydrochloric acid just as with an
ingot or coin. A brownish tinted with yellow solution will result as the palladium dissolves back into
palladium chloride.
(i) Definitions
Anode: the electrode in an electrochemical cell which is attached to the positive pole of a DC
transformer or rectifier. Oxidations occur here.
Cathode: the electrode in an electrochemical cell which is attached to the negative pole of a DC
transformer or rectifier. Reductions occur here.
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Divided Cell: a method of constructing an electrochemical cell wherein the solution in contact with the
anode is kept separate from the solution in contact with the cathode. A cell divider is used to keep the
two solutions separate. It must pass current, and be unaffected by the solutions used. Rubbers are the
cell dividers most otten used in this book.
Electrolyte: a material added to the solutions in an electric cell which allows the solutions to carry
clirrent. Pure water or other solvents just aren't conductors. Dilute acids or bases make good
electrolytes in water, as do salts.
Anolyte: the solution in a divided cell which tills that portion of a divided cell in contact with the anode.
Catholyte: the solution in a divided cell which fills that portion of a divided cell in contact with the
cathode. The anolyte and catholyte are otten pretty much identical with the exception of the substrate
or precursor being acted upon.
Method 3: Direct Reduction of Ephedrine With Palladium
These methods arc pretty similar to the indirect reduction of ephedrine, racephedrine, pseudoephedrine
and PPA presented earlier. The difference here is that these variations on that theme are onepot
methods. For example, chlorination and reduction can be done simultaneously in a solution
containing dry HCI gas and palladium in a hydrogenation bomb. Other variants use sulfuric, perchloric or
phosphoric acid to either first form an ester with the ephedrine, or whatever, which is then reduced to
meth in the hydrogenation bomb, or these same substances act as promoters to cause the direct reduction
of the benzyl alcohol (ephedrine, or whatever) to the meth or benzedrine. The exact mechanism of how
this actually works is a matter for debate in the patent literature.
These direct routes have the advantage of using very common materials as feed stocks. The various
chlorinating agents given in the indirect-reduction section aren't particularly common lab chemicals.
Also, ch loroform is becoming less commonly used in industry with the new ozone-depletion rules.
There are a few drawbacks to this method. First and foremost, in one of these procedures the contents
of the bomb must be heated to about 80-900 C during the reaction. This leads to the danger that the
champagne bottle hydrogenation bomb may crack and burst due to heat stress. This is a possibility even
i I' the outside of the bottle is coated with fiberglass resin. Another problem is the high cost and
suspiciousness of purchases of the various palladium catalysts used in these methods. This can be
avoided by getting one's palladium chloride from the plater's supply outfits mentioned earlier in the
palladium-catalyst section. One note on this source of palladium, platers tend to use archaic or weird
technical language. For example, a company may offer what he calls 60% PdCI2. This refers to the Pd
content of the PdCI2, and indicates that it is actually quite pure.
A big improvement to this procedure is to use "The Poor Man's Hydrogenation Device" detailed in the
second edition of Practical LSD Manufacture and also in Advanced Techniques ol Clandestine
PSl'ciJedelic & Amphetamine Manulacture. With this improvement, the danger of breaking champagne
bottles under heat is removed. A geniune Parr hydrogenation device from a scientific supply outfit is
even better. A heavy walled pyrex filtering flask is also suitable for use. The top would have to be
stoppered, and then the stopper wired into place. The vacuum nipple could be used as a hydrogen inlet.
This is a cheap and otf the shelf alternative to a Parr hydrogenation device.
For this particular application, I would use a tire extinguisher having a bottle made out of a nonmagnctic
stainless steel. The technical sheet that comes with the extinguisher will state what the bottle is
made out of. and a magnet will tell you if it is a non-magnetic alloy. A non-magnetic stainless steel will
pass a magnetic field, so magnetic stirring will be possible.
The reason for choosing stainless steel over aluminum in this application is the corrosive nature of the
hydrogenation mixtures used in these direct reductions. Acetic acid is the solvent used in these
Chapter Fijieen
Methamphetamine from Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetamine from PPA
1 5 7
procedures, and it will dissolve aluminum. The promoters used in these procedures, either HCI, sulfuric
or perchloric acid, all eat away at aluminum as well. If the coating should fail inside the bottle, then a
hole could be rapidly eaten through the pressure bottle if it were made of aluminum. The light weight of
the bottle will quickly tell you if it is made of aluminum rather than stainless, although a magnetic field
passes much better through aluminum than stainless steel.
To coat the inside of the an aluminum pressure bottle, one has the choice of Teflon and Teflon-based
paint, or high phosphorous electro less nickel. To pursue this latter alternative, one goes to the Yellow
Pages and looks under electroplaters. Ask them if they do electroless nickel, if they have a high
phosphorous (phosphorus content in alloy of about 1 2%) plating bath, and if they are set up to plate over
aluminum. To plate aluminum, one must be prepared to enter the fumes of hell.
If they answer yes to the above questions, you are set to go. Say you want the plating to make the
extinguisher match your techno decor or some such cock and bull story. I work in this business and I 've
heard it all by now. Make sure that the inside of the bottle gets plated, as that is actually the priority item,
not the outside. Also ask that threads be masked off so that you can screw the top back on the
extinguisher after plating. Also ask for a plating thickness of about one thousandth of an inch for good
protection. I have produced many thousands of these aluminum spray bottles at my day job. They can be
found on line i f one knows where to look. I w i l l not torment a customer by giving his company name, but
they are out there and easy to find. Their volumes are 500 ml and are perfect hydrogenation bottles. Let's
look at variation number one of this procedure.
To do this reaction, the chemist first prepares palladium black catalyst. This is done as follows: In a
2000 ml beaker, 50 grams of palladium chloride is dissolved in 300 ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid
( laboratory grade, 35-37%). Once it has all dissolved, it is diluted with SOO ml of distilled water. Next,
the beaker is nestled in a bed of ice that has been salted down. This is an ice-salt bath. The contents of
the beaker are stirred occasionally. and once i t is cold, 300 ml of 40% formaldehyde solution is added
with stirring. After a few minutes, a cold solution of 350 grams KOH in 350 ml distilled water is added
slowly over a period of 30 minutes. The palladium solution must be vigorously stirred during the
addition. Now the beaker is removed from the ice and warmed up to 600 C for 30 minutes with
occasional stirring during the heating.
When the heating is complete the beaker is set aside to cool and to let the catalyst settle. Once the
catalyst has settied, the chemist pours off as much of the water solution as possible, without losing any
catalyst. Then fresh distilled water is added to the beaker, the catalyst is stirred up to wash it off, then the
chemist lets it settle again and pours off the water. This washing is repeated a total of six times. Finally,
the catalyst is suspended in a bit of fresh distilled water. and filtered, preferably through sintered glass to
be sure of catching all the catalyst. Any catalyst still clinging to the sides of the beaker are rinsed down
with water and poured in with the main body of catalyst. It is wise to rinse off the catalyst again with still
another large portion of water while it is in the filtering funnel. This process yields 3 1 grams of
palladium black catalyst, once it has dried. It is important that the catalyst be allowed to dry completely,
because the presence of water in the reaction mixture is to be avoided.
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-11fi1 􀃹i il-..- ... Beaker with
.:: cooking oil
for heating
balt1
Magnetic
stirrer-hot plate
Figure 37
With a supply o f catalyst on hand, the chemist can move o n t o production. To begin, 600 ml o f glacial
acetic acid is poured into a 1 000 ml beaker. Now the glassware is set up as shown in Figure 20 back in
Chapter Five. The glass tubing is led into the acelic acid, and bubbling of dry HCI gas into the acetic acid
is begun as described in that chapter. It is a good idea here to magnetically slir the acetic acid solution
during the bubbling. The whirlpool fanned will help the bubbles of HCI gas to dissolve in the acetic acid,
rather than escape and waft away on the breezes. This bubbling is continued until the acetic acid solution
has gained 30 grams in weight.
Next, this acetic acid-HCI mix is poured into the 1 .5 liter hydrogenation device along with 60 grams of
either ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or PPA (sulfate or HCI salt OK for any of these), and 50 grams of
palladium catalyst. Since the mixture is going to be magnetically stirred, a magnetic stirring bar, of
course, is put in the bottle. Now the apparatus is set up as shown in Figure 32 in Chapter Eleven. The air
is sucked out of the bottle as described in that chapter, and then hydrogen is put into the bottle at a
pressure of 30-40 pounds per square inch. Stirring is then begun, and the oil heating bath wamled to the
XO-90° C range. Hydrogen absorption begins, and fresh hydrogen is put into the bottle to keep the
pressure in the prescribed range. In an hour or two, hydrogen absorption stops, and the reduction is
complete.
The heating is then stopped, and the stirring is halted. The hydrogen is vented outside as described
back in Chapter Eleven, and the product solution is carefully poured out of the bottle, taking care not to
pour out the palladium catalyst. If any comes out, it is tiltered, and the palladium returned to the bottle
for the nexl run.
The product mixture is poured into a 1 000 ml round bottom flask along with a few pumice chips, and
the glassware is set up as shown in Figure I I . The chemist distills off 500 ml of acetic acid (b.p. 1 1 80 C).
This acetic acid can be used over and over again just by bubbling some more dry HCI through it to dry
the solution and to recharge its HCI content.
The residue left in the distilling flask has the product. Once it has cooled down, lye water is added to
it. and it is shaken vigorously. The solution should be strongly basic. Now toluene is added, the top layer
separated off, and this top layer is distilled as described so often in this book to yield a little over 50
grams of meth (or dexedrine if PPA was used). This is about 95% yield.
If there is a high boiling residue in the flask, it's likely to be the acetyl amide of meth or dexedrine
formed by heating with the acetic acid. This can be hydrolyzed by boiling with concentrated hydrochloric
acid, then making the solution basic with lye, and extracting out the product as described in Chapter Five.
You thought that method was a hassle? You ain't seen nothing yet. Check out the method given in
Journal of Medicinal ChemiSlly, Volume 9, pages 966-67. In this variation, the phosphoric acid ester of
Chapter Fifteen
MethamphetamineJrom Ephedrine or P .• eudoephedrine
AmphetamineJrom PPA
159
ephedrine, pseudoephedrine is reduced to meth or phenylpropanolamine is reduced to dexedrine by
hydrogenation with Pd on carbon catalyst. The phosphoric acid ester isn't made just by reacting the
ephedrine with phosphoric acid, No, that would be too easy, Instead, phosphorus oxychloride ( POC13)
must be used, The free base of the ephedrine, or whatever, must be used to make the ester. Here's how
they did it:
1 65 ml of freshly distilled ephedrine free base was put in a flask fitted with a drying tube, Then with
stirring, 300 ml of triethylamine was added along with 5000 ml of benzene, The triethylamine absorbs
HCl given off in the reaction, The benzene could be replaced with toluene, Water in the reaction mi xture
must be avoided, Then with vigorous stirring, 1 00 011 of POCI3 dissolved in 500 011 of anhydrous
benzene is added dropwise at such a rate that the temperature stays below 50° C. Stirring was then
continued for 4-5 hours,
Next, the reaction mixture was filtered and the solvent was removed under a vacuum, The residue left
in the flask was next extracted with boiling petroleum ether. Several portions of petroleum ether were
used to do the extraction, a total of about 6000 mL
The petroleum ether extracts were next combined and put in a freezer for 24 hours, The product, 2-
chloro-3,4-dimethyl- 1 .3 ,2-oxazaphospholine 2-oxide precipitates out in the cold, and it is filtered out. It
is stable only in a dry inert atmosphere, The yield is about 1 65 grams,
This product is then put in a flask. along with 5 ml of I N hydrochloric acid for each gram of the 2-
oxide, I N hydrochloric acid is made by adding 1 1 volumes of water to one volume of concentrated
hydrochloric acid, This reaction mixture is heated on a hot water bath for one hour. The reaction mixture
becomes clear. It should be decolorized with some activated charcoal, filtered, and then the solution is
evaporated away under a vacuum, with a warm water bath no hotter than 40-45° C to speed along the
evaporation, The residue is the phosphate ester of ephedrine, This material will hydrogenate to meth,
The residue can be dissolved in 1 5 ml of ethanol for each gram of residue, and then add one tenth gram
of 5% Pd on C for each gram of residue, It is hydrogenated at room temperature, and they claim no more
than atmospheric pressure of hydrogen was required to get 85% yield of meth in about 2 hours,
The hydrogenation mixture was filtered to remove catalyst, and the tiltrate was evaporated under a
vacuum, The residue was dissolved in water, then the water solution was made strongly alkaline by
adding sodium hydroxide solution, The free base was then extracted out using toluene, and this solution
can either be distilled to yield the pure free base, or the toluene extract could be directly bubbled with dry
HCI to get crystals of meth hydrochloride, That was some pain in the ass, huh? It's time to move on to
some good and convenient hydrogenation methods, isn't it"
See Chemical Abstracts tram 1 949. column 1 025 to 1 026, Here meth was made in 95% yield by
placing 40 grams of ephedrine HCl in 900 ml of glacial acetic acid with 47 grams of X4'X) sulfuric acid
and 1 0 grams of palladium, Concentrated sulfuric acid can't be used because it breaks down under
hydrogenation to H2S, which poisons the catalyst. 84% sulfuric acid is made by taking 84 grams of
concentrated sulfuric acid (46 011) and adding 1 6 ml of water. The palladium catalyst specified is Pd
wool. but Pd black will work as well, This solution was hydrogenated at about 30 pounds per square inch
at room temperature for a few hours until hydrogen absorption ceased to give meth with no change in its
stereochemistry,
If the hydrogenation is done at room temperature, a champagne bottle would be good enough to do the
reaction in, One has the option of heating the hydrogenation mixture to get a much faster reduction time,
See Chemical Abstracts, Volume 38, column 1 2 1 9, for this example, In this case, the heated
hydrogenation should be done in "The Poor Man's Hydrogenation Device," preferably one with a nonmagnetic
stainless-steel bottle coated on the inside with Teflon or high phosphorus electroless nickel.
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1 60
I ' m pretty sure that the mechanism whereby this hydrogenation works is that the sulfuric acid acts as a
catalyst for the formation of an ester between the acetic acid solvent and the alcohol group in the
ephedrine, or PPA. This benzyl ester then undergoes what is termed hydrogenolysis to yield meth or
dexedrine. See Organic Reactions, Volume 7 , for an anicle on hydrogenolysis of benzyl esters. This
reaction mechanism is the basis for the Fester Formula, revealed in Advanced Techniques ul C/andestine
Psvchedelic & Ampheramine Manufacture, and also the Advanced Fester Formula, given later in this
chapter.
Workup of the reaction mixture to isolate the meth product consists of first either letting the catalyst
settle to the bottom. or filtering it out. It can be reused and when it wears out it can be reworked like
platinum catalyst.
Now the acetic acid solution containing the meth is poured into a distilling flask, and with the aid of
vacuum, the acetic acid is distilled off. If the vacuum isn't really high, and if the condenser and receiving
tlask are pretty cold, then most of the acetic acid should be recovered for reuse.
Then to the residue left in the tlask after most of the acetic acid has distilled away, add a 20% solution
of lye in water until the mixture is strongly alkaline. This would be best done in a sep funnel, with
shaking between adds of lye solution. You now have meth free base. When the solution has cooled down
a bit. add 200-300 ml of toluene and shake to extract the meth into the toluene, which will float on top of
the water after the shaking stops. Separate this top layer of meth in toluene, and after any entrained water
has settled out, bubble Hel gas through it to get meth hydrochloride crystals. Filter them out, and air dry
as usual to get the product.
My commentary on this procedure" That sure is a lot of acetic acid used, a lot of expensive catalyst
used, and heating the hydrogenation bomb is a hassle that prevents the use of glass hydrogenation
vessels. Also that need for distilling off all that excess acetic acid at the end of the hydrogenation is a lot
of work, and it requires that one have a set of distillation glassware to do the hydrogenation. Let's get
around all that.
This hydrogenation works by way of the hydrogenolysis of the acetic acid ester of the benzyl alcohol
of the ephedrine, or whatever. This hydrogenolysis is very easy, even easier than reducing a double bond
by hydrogenation. It's the formation of the acetic acid ester that requires the heating of the hydrogenation
mixture. Also, ephedrine hydrochloride isn't very soluble in cold acetic acid. That's why such a large
amount of glacial acetic acid is used in the old standard recipes found in the patent l iterature. Let's get
around all the practical cooking problems in one broad stroke just by preforming the acetic acid ester
prior to hydrogenating the solution.
The general method for producing an ester from an alcohol like ephedrine and an acid like acetic acid
is to add a bit of sulfuric acid to the mixture of the alcohol and acid, and then heat the mixture. This will
only work for ephedrine or PPA. Pseudoephedrine will not form an ester in decent yields by this simple
method.
The holders ofa recent Patent, US Patent 6,399,828 tried sulfuric acid in this method and agree that the
use of this substance ruins the yield of product. They ascribe the problem as stemming from bad
conversion to the ester when sulfuric acid is i n the mixture. I t may also be that the very bulky sulfate
anion attached to the nitrogen atom of the pseudoephedrine has a steric effect which blocks the reduction
of the neighboring alcohol group.
In the recipes they give in their Patent, they formed the acetic acid ester of ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine by reacting it with acetic anhydride. They did it as follows:
Into a 1 00 ml flask they put 1 8 grams of ephedrine hydrochloride or pseudoephedrine hydrochloride. 1 8
011 or glacial acetic acid and 1 3 ml of acetic anhydride. The mixture was stirred magnetically during the
addition of the ingredients, and then with continued stirring, the mixture was heated to 80 C. The mixture
cleared as the ephedrine went into solution, and they continued heating at 80 C for two hours.
Chapler Fifteen
Methamphetamine from Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetamine from PPA
161
When two hours had passed, they slowly with strong stirring added 36 ml of heptane to the hot reaction
mixture. Heptane could be replaced with naptha or even gasoline to make the method more clandestine.
The addition of the heptane to the reaction mixture precipitated crystals of their product, the acetic acid
ester of ephedrine, from the reaction mixture. They continued stirring as the reaction mixture cooled
down. It was at this point a slurry. They kept the stirring going overnight at room temperature, and then
filtered out the crystals of their product. Atler spreading the crystals out to dry on a plate, they got around
I X grams of product, which works out to a 90% yield. The batch size in the example can be scaled up or
down as desired.
Then to make meth trom the ester, they tried two variations of the palladium hydrogenation. Both of
them worked great, so pick the method most convenient to you.
In their first example, they did catalytic transfer hydrogenation. They used ammonium formate to pump
hydrogen to the palladium catalyst rather than using a pressurized vessel full of hydrogen gas. Into a 500
ml three necked tlask equipped with a condenser, stirrer, and addition funnel, they put 47 grams of the
acetic acid ester of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, 1 30 ml of water, and one gram of 1 0% Pd on carbon
catalyst. Their catalyst as soaking wet with water, to the extent that half its weight was water. I'm pretty
sure that one could also use Pd black catalyst made by adding some sodium borohydride to a water
solution of PdCI2, and that Pd on carbon made by the same method with about 5 times the weight of
activated carbon in the water solution as compared to the PdCI2 would work just fine.
They made a solution of 1 5 .5 grams of ammonium formate in 20 ml of water, and warmed the contents
of their reaction tlask to 70 C using a hot water bath. When it had warmed up to 68 C, they took 6 ml of
their ammonium formate solution and added it to the reaction flask i n two ml portions at 5 minute
intervals with good stirring. The mixture started fizzing, and as the fizzing slowed down, they dropwise
added the remainder of their ammonium formate solution to the reaction. When the addition of the
ammonium formate was complete, they continued stirring the mixture at 70 C in the hot water bath for
another hour. Then they let the mixture cool down while continuing to stir.
Several hours later, they filtered out their palladium on carbon catalyst, and kept the catalyst wet before
transferring it to a glass bottle for storage under water in their fridge for reuse in the next batch.
Then they took the fi ltered reaction mixture and put it into a sep funnel. Slowly, they added 20 grams
of lye to the sep funnel to free base the meth. The mixture will get warm, and ammonia from the
ammonium formate will also be free based. The addition of the lye should be done in roughly 5 gram
portions, with hard shaking between each add.
When all the lye has been added, the meth free base should be tloating atop the water in the sep funnel.
For this size batch, it will be roughly 40 ml. When it has cooled down, one could add about 50 ml of
toluene or xylene to the sep funnel and shake to get all the meth drawn together into the top floating
toluene layer, and then drain off the water layer, and finally distill to get VERY pure meth free base
which can then be mixed with toluene and bubbled with dry Hel gas to get crystals of meth
hydrochloride.
Alternatively, one could just add 50 ml of toluene or xylene to the sep funnel that contains the newly
free based meth, and shake to get all the meth collected into the toluene solvent. After letting the layers
settle, the water layer could be drained away. Pour the toluene layer which contains the meth into a
beaker, and let it set for a while to drain entrained water and to fume off any ammonia which happened to
be pulled into the "goods". A water wash of the toluene extract might be very helpful for removing
ammonia. When the toluene no longer reaks of ammonia, it can be further diluted with a lew hundred ml
of toluene, and then bubbled with dry HCI gas to get high quality meth hydrochloride crystals. The yield
will be around 80%.
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1 62
In their second example. they put 1 2 grams of the acetic acid ester of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine
into a Parr hydrogenation vessel similar to The Poor M an's hydrogenation Device. They then added 75 ml
of water and a gram of the 1 0% Pd on Carbon catalyst. They flushed out the air with hydrogen, and then
pressurized their hydrogenation device to about 50 pounds of pressure, and stirred or shook the device to
get the catalyst into contact with the hydrogen. After about 4 hours, they released the hydrogen from the
vessel. liltered out the catalyst. and poured the filtered reaction mixture into a sep limnel. They tree
based the meth with lye until the pH was 1 3+, and after cooling they extracted out the meth with toluene
or xylene. The water layer was drained away, the toluene layer with the meth was poured into a beaker,
and then atier it had shed entrained water, it was poured into a clean beaker and bubbled with dry HCI to
get crystals of meth hydrochloride. The yield on this run was 60%, so the ammonium formate method is
much better, as well as being easier.
Since the fourth edition of this book came out in 1 996, I ' ve been hearing the narcoswine rant about
some Nazi Meth recipe. and this Nazi Meth recipe has been a topic of speculation on the Internet for
some time. These narcoswine aren't exactly clear as to what they mean when talking about this recipe.
Could they be talking about the lithium metal reduction in liquid ammonia') That wouldn't fit because
that reduction technique was invented long after the Nazis went defunct. The following recipe would fit.
as it dates to the correct time period, and was invented by guys named Karl Kindler, Erwin Karg and
Ernst Scharfe, and published in Berichte der Deutschell Chemischen Geshellschafi. That fits. but since
when do narcoswine and reality have anything in common'?
See Chemical Abstracts. Volume 38, column 1 2 1 9. In this variation, the 84% sulfuric acid is replaced
with 70% perchloric acid. The specified catalyst is palladium on barium sulfate, but I would think any
palladium catalyst would work. The reaction mechanism would be the same as in the earlier example,
with the perchloric acid acting as catalyst to form the ester between the acetic acid solvent and the
ephedrine, and this ester then gets reduced to meth. Care must be taken not to use too much perchloric
acid. as this over-hyped-up reaction mixture would also reduce the benzene ring to cyclohexane.
Thc hydrogenation using perchloric acid as the activator is complete in about Jj. of the time required
when using sulfuric acid. but other than that, the reaction is pretty much identical to the earlier example.
It can be done at room temperature, or heated to around 80° C to speed up the hydrogenation. Workup of
the hydrogenation mixture to get the meth product is the same as in the earlier example given Irom the
1 949 volumes of Chern Abstracts which used sulfuric acid as the "promoter" for the hydrogenation.
In my book. Advanced Techniques o( Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufactllre. I present
the Fcster Formulas. They are largely copied here in this book in Method 2. It is possible that perchloric
acid may be a suitable promoter for forming the acetic acid ester of pseudoephedrine by heating with
glacial acetic acid. I did not have any to experiment with. The chloro derivatives of ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine both form easily.
This leads to another and closely related one pot hydrogenation method. This one forms the
chloroephedrine derivative in solution rather than the acetic acid ester, so it is equally applicable to either
ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. I presented a couplc of variations on this recipe back in the counter top
hydrogenations section. There I used dissolving aluminum or electrically generated hydrogen as the
source for active hydrogen.
The original procedure can be found in Chemical Abstracts Volume 54. column 7654 ( 1 960) or
German Patent number 968,545. The basic idea i s that glacial acetic acid loaded with dry HCI gas will
chlorinate ephedrine or pseudoephedrine once it is heated to about 90C, and then the chloroephedrine
derivative formed will be hydrogenated to meth. Their yields are strikingly high!
Lct's consider a 10 gram batch as just an example. The batch can be run on any scale. First one starts
with roughly 1 00 ml of glacial acetic acid. This needs to be saturated with dry HCI gas. Check back to
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Amphetamine from PPA
163
chapter 5 for a description of making dry HCI gas by dripping sulfuric acid onto salt and then piping this
dry HCI into a solution. Here we wish to load glacial acetic acid with dry HCI.
Put the glacial acetic acid into a beaker or flask, and then begin bubbling dry HCI gas through it. It will
absorb more if the bubbles have to rise a significant length through the acetic acid, so make the column
that the bubbles rise through as deep as practical. A shallow solution will not have as much chance to
absorb the HCI. Bubble the glacial acetic acid with dry HCI for at least 1 5 minutes. This is a good proj ect
for a garage or other well ventilated place because HCI gas is quite harmful to inhale. Stay upwind'
Once the acetic acid is just positively reaking with HCI, one can proceed. Pour the 1 00 ml of HCI
loaded acetic acid into the hydrogenation vessel of choice. On this scale, a tiltering flask would work
nicely. Then add I () grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine hydrochloride and swirl to mix. It will
dissolve. Then add a gram of palladium hydrogenation catalyst to the mixture. It may be possible just to
add two grams of palladium chloride and let i t reduce in solution. I have never tried reducing PdCl2 by
means of hydrogen in acetic acid solution, but it may work and simplify things.
With the ingredients in the hydrogenation vessel, it is time to cook' Apply a vacuum to the
hydrogenation device and suck out the air. Then replace the air with hydrogen gas from a cylinder. Apply
30 or 40 pounds per square inch pressure, and then begin magnetic stirring and heating. The best way to
heat is by means of an oil bath, such as cooking oil. A candy thermometer inserted into the oil bath
surrounding the hydrogenation vessel will show the temperature of the bath. For this reaction, roughly 90
C is desired.
A pressure gauge in line to the hydrogenation vessel will show the pressure inside. It should actively
absorb hydrogen as the solution warms up. Good stirring is essential, and with a filtering flask as a
reaction vessel, magnetic stirring is easy.
Heat the mixture to 90 C for an hour or two. At that point, hydrogen absorbtion should stop . . .b arring
leaks from the device. Then let it cool down and disconnect the hydrogen gas source. The reaction
mixture should next be poured into several volumes of water to dilute it. Now tilter out the palladium
hydrogenation catalyst. See my book Advanced Techniques for methods to recycle this catalyst.
Now to the filtered reaction mixture, slowly add lye with stirring to raise the pH into the range of
roughly 1 3 or so. The acetic acid will form a buffer which will hold the solution i n the neutral range l'or a
lot of the addition of lye. It will also make a lot of heat, so some breaks from lye addition will be called
t'or to cool things down.
Once the solution is strongly alkaline and has cooled down, pour it into a sep funnel. Then shake the
mixture hard for a few minutes to assure that all the meth is free based. Check the pH of the water at the
end of the shaking. It should still be in the 1 3 or 1 4 range. pH papers are best for this, but just the greasy
feel of highly alkaline water is a good guide.
With the meth free based, it can be extracted out of solution using toluene or xylene just as in all the
other recipes in this book. The toluene extract can be washed with a bit of clean water, then separated otf
and allowed to shed any entrained water. After an hour or so it can be poured into a clean, dry beaker and
bubbled with dry HCI to give 95% yield of meth hydrochloride.
Method 4: Reduction with Hydroiodic Acid alld Red Phosphorus
In this procedure, the alcohol grouping of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or PPA is reduced by boiling
one of these compounds in a mixture of hydroiodic acid and red phosphorus. Hydroiodic acid works as a
reducing agent because it dissociates at higher temperatures to iodine and hydrogen, which does the
reducing. This dissociation is reversible. The equilibrium is shifted in favor of dissociation by adding red
phosphorus to the mixture. The red phosphorus reacts with the iodine to produce PI3, which then further
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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reacts with water to form phosphorus acid and more hydroiodic acid. Since the hydrogen atom of the H I
i s being absorbed b y the ephedrine, the red phosphorus acts a s a recycler.
In clandestine cooking, the need for H I is dispensed with just by mixing red phosphorus and iodine
crystals in a water solution. The red phosphorus then goes on to make H I by the above-mentioned
process. With a small amount of due care, this is an excellent alternative to either purchasing or stealing
pure hydroiodic acid. This substance is on the List I of restricted chemicals, so buying it is just asking
for trouble.
This method has the advantage of being simple to do. It is generally considered the most popular
method of making meth from ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. Now red phosphorus is on the List One of
restricted chemicals, so an increased level of subterfuge is called for to obtain significant amounts. One
might think that this is easily gotten around by making your own red phosphorus, but this is a process I
would not want to undertake. Ever hear of phosphorus shells? I would much rather face the danger of
exploding champagne bottles. Those who insist upon finding out for themselves, will see Journal vOhe
American Chemical Society, Volume 68, page 2305. As I recall, The Poor Man 's James Bond also has a
formula for making red phosphorus. Those with a knack for scrounging from industrial sources will
profit from knowing that red phosphorus is used in large quantities in the fireworks and matchmaking
industries. The striking pad on books of matches is about 50% red phosphorus.
The determined experimenter could obtain a pile of red phosphorus by scraping off the striking pad
with a sharp knife. A typical composition of the striking pad is about 40% red phosphorus, along with
about 30% antimony sulfide, and lesser amounts of glue, iron oxide, Mn02, and glass powder. These
contaminants can be removed from the red phosphorus by soaking the mixture in a 1 0% solution of
hydrochloric acid for about an hour with stirring, then filtering out the red phosphorus and rinsing it with
some water. This procedure is very stinky as the antimony sulfide gets converted to hydrogen sulfide and
antimony chloride. Ventilation is mandatory. Various correspondents have written to tell that the glue
holding the red phosphorus striking pads to the paper is soliened by soaking in rubbing alcohol, or
acetone, or even hot water, and can then be easily scraped off.
The red phosphorus can be replaced with a solution of hypophosphorous acid. It is generally sold as
either 30% or 50% solutions in water. The later is preferable, although concentrated solutions of
hypo phosphorous acid can spontaneously burst into flames in contact with air. It reacts in the same way
towards iodine as red P does, and so functions the same as red P in both making the H I solution, and in
recycling the iodine formed during the course of the reaction with ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.
Hypophosphorous acid isn't very commonly used industrially or in the lab. As a result, it too has
become an item under intense suspicion. It has joined red phosphorus on the List One of restricted
chemicals. No need to get discouraged at this point. The acid, H3P02, is easily made from its sodium
salt, sodium hypophosphite, NaH2P02. This substance finds wide use industrially as thc reducer in
electroless nickel-plating solutions. See Advanced Techniques of Clandestine Psychedelic &
Amphetamine Manu!acllire for a fuller discussion of electroless nickel-plating solutions, but sutlice it
here to say that they are generally sold as a three-component package. The A solution contains nickel
sulfate, the B solution contains complexors to prevent the nickel from sludging out during operation of
the bath, and the C component contains anywhere from 300 to 400 grams per liter of sodium
hypophosphite in water solution. One can also get nickel bath "annihilator," which is used to plate the
nickel out of spent electroless nickel-plating solutions. It will be a solution of about 50°/" by weight of
sodium hypophosphite in water. This solution is also sometimes called "plate out" solution by the
suppliers. One could also get pure sodium hypophosphite crystals from the same suppliers who sell
electroless nickel-plating solutions, but sodium hypophosphite is also on the List One of restricted
chemicals. It is when it is in solution in these electroless nickel plating products that it is free from
restrictions. [( is suprisingly easy to go "shopping" for these electroless nickel products if one has a bit of
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Amphetaminefrom PPA
165
resourcefulness. I won't list dealers here, because that would make life miserable for them. Several cater
to the "hobbyist" plater, so get hunting'
Before leaving the topic of electroless nickel plating products, there is one complication which must be
addressed. The "C" or hypophosphite replenisher component of many electroless nickel products will
also contain a lot of ammonia. These products are termed "self p H regulating" baths because ammonia
has to be added to the bath as it runs to keep the pH of the bath in operating range. The "self regulating"
products have the specified amount of ammonia already incorporated into the hypophosphite replenisher.
Th􀽸 plate out component will hardly ever have ammonia as part of its formulation, and the smell of the
solution will instantly tell you if ammonia is an ingredient in the mix. Before making hypophosphorous
acid trom an electroless nickel product which contains ammonia, the ammonia should be removed. This
is easily done by warming the solution up to around 1 1 0 to 1 20 F, and blowing a stream of air through it
until the reak of ammonia is gone from the solution.
The best way to get hypophosphorous acid from the sodium salt is to pass a 1 0% solution of sodium
hypophosphite in water through a column filled with strong cation exchange resin in H+ cycle. The resin
is charged to the H+ cycle by slowly pouring a solution of \ 0% by volume sulfuric acid through the resin
column. The cation exchange resin is then rinsed with water to remove the acid from the column and
ready to go. Each ml of resin will react with about one or two milliequivalents of sodium hypophosphite.
so depending upon column size, one can calculate how much solution of sodium hypophosphite one can
run through before the resin is exhausted. One can also titrate the hypophosphorous acid solution made
with standard NaOH solution to determine completeness of conversion. The resin is then recharged by
passing more sulfuric acid solution down through it and rinsing. Resin can be used over and over
thousands of times before it wears out. Cation exchange resin is easy to get. It is used in deionized water
systems. Call your Culligan man. Insist on cation exchange resin, not a mixed bed of cation and anion
exchangers.
The dilute solution of hypophosphourous acid in water which comes out of the ion exchange bed must
next be concentrated to at least 30% strength. There are two methods for doing this. One can evaporate
away the water, preferably under a vacuum, until the desired strength is reached. The other method i s to
extract out the hypophosphorous acid from the water solution using ether starting fluid, and then allow
the ether to evaporate away. This is again best done using a vacuum. In the latter case, the
hypophosphorous acid produced will be VERY strong, probably 80-90% hypo. In this state it is quite
prone to catch on tire, and should be stoppered and kept in a freezer.
Clandestine chemists have come up with a more convenient procedure for making hypophosphorous
acid trom sodium hypophosphite. The method is to mix sodium hypophosphite with hydrochloric acid.
This produces hypophosphorous acid plus salt. If one is starting with crystals of sodium hypophosphite,
the preferred procedure is to add a couple of ml of lab strength 35% hydrochloric acid for each gram of
sodium hypophosphite in the batch. They then with stirring warm up this mixture to get complete
reaction. After allowing it to cool, the salt is filtered off.
Next. the filtered solution is poured into a glass baking dish, and set onto a stove top. A fan is set up
next to the dish to blow away the hydrochloric acid fumes, and the glass baking dish containing the
solution is warmed up to about 70 C. It is simmered down until about half of the solution has evaporated
away, then allowed to cool.
If more salt has precipitated out of the cooled solution, it is then liltered on: and the fi ltered solution is
returned to the glass baking dish. Now to remove most of the remaining hydrochloric acid tram the
hypo phosphorous acid solution, add approximately one half volume of fresh water to the
hypophosphorous acid solution. Then repeat the simmering at 70 C until the solution has evaporated
down again to the level it was before adding this last portion of water.
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The result will be a solution of hypophosphorous acid in water somewhere between 30 and 50%
strength, and it will work well for making meth. It should be carefully poured into a glass container, and
stored in a freezer or refrigerator until ready for use.
When starting with sodium hypophosphite solutions in water, such as one would obtain from
electroless nickel products, a very similar procedure is used. In this case, add one ml of hydrochloric acid
to each ml of ammonia free electroless nickel product. For example, 1 00 ml of electroless nickel plate out
solution is mixed with 1 00 ml of 35% hydrochloric acid. The 3 1 % hardware store muriatic acid can be
used instead and one still get a good product.
Now one pours this mixture into a glass baking dish, and simmers it down just as in the previous
example until half of the solution has evaporated away. When it has cooled, the salt is tiltered off. The
tiltered hypophosphorous acid solution is then poured into a glass container and stored in a freezer until
ready for use. It will be roughly 30% strength hypo, but may vary depending upon how much sodium
hypophosphite was in the electro less nickel product.
Ether starting fluid could also be used as an extractant for the hypophosphorous acid made by this
procedure. One could extract out the hypo acid from the simmered down solution, and then take the ether
extract and shake it with the water which is going to be used to cook the H I . The water will pull most of
the hypo acid from the ether on the first go. Then when the water has been reacted with some iodine and
cooled down, an additional quantity of hypo acid could be extracted into the batch water by another
shaking of the ether extract with the batch water.
The iodine one needs to do this reaction can be obtained at farmers' supply stores and similar outlets.
Gone are the days when iodine crystals could be picked up straight off the shelves, but iodine tinctures
and iodine disinfecting solutions are still widely used and available. It is now very hard to find iodine
solutions stronger than 2'% on the shelf. This is by federal decree. When shopping for iodine, one needs
to do some careful label reading. The solutions one wants contain iodine, one needs to do some careful
label reading. One does not want povidone-iodine, nor does one want complexes which contain some
iodine. The solutions one wants contain iodine, generally at about 7% strength (more would be better!),
along with roughly three times that much potassium iodide, KI. The KI is in the mixture to keep the
iodine in water solution. Without it, the iodine doesn't dissolve at all in water. All tinctures stronger than
2% are now impossible to find on shelves in the US, but the one or two percent of KI in them pushes the
total amount of available iodine up to about 3%.
The tirst thing one wants to do to these iodine tinctures/disinfectants is to knock out the KI, and
convert it to more iodine. To do that, one can make use of the following reaction:
2KI + CuS04 c) CuI + Y,/2 + K2S04
In script, that reads potassium iodide plus copper sulfate react to make copper iodide and iodine. Copper
sulfate crystals can be obtained for about $20 per five pound container. It is found at the hardware store
as root killer for clogged drains. The large blue crystals of copper sulfate are easy to recognize, even
though the label should identity the contents. The other popular drain opener is sodium hydroxide.
Let's say one has a gallon jug of iodine disinfectant, containing 20% KI. At eight pounds per gallon,
that's 1 .6 pounds of KI per gallon. Half of that will be converted to iodine by reaction with copper
sulfate, and we can add in the roughly half pound or so of iodine originally present in the disinfectant to
give a total iodine yield of over a pound and a quarter from this very cheap jug of iodine disinfectant.
More concentrated disinfectant would yield proportionally more.
NLlw to convert the KI in this hypothetical example jug containing 20% Kl, one would slowly with
stirring and cooling add 550 grams of copper sulfate crystals. After about a half hour of stirring, the KI
Chapter Fifteen
Methamphetamine/",m Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetamineji-om PPA
1 6 7
present i n the mixture has been converted to iodine and copper iodide, and the iodine i s no longer soluble
in the water,
To then use the iodine, one first puts the mixture into a large sep funnel. Add a couple hundred ml of
toluene and shake. The toluene will dissolve about 40 grams of iodine. Separate off this toluene solution.
In the example batch given in this section, we are using 300 ml of water and 30 grams red P. Add the
toluene to the 300 ml of water and 30 grams of red P. Then shake to react the iodine with the
phosphorous. Keep the mixture cool. Then separate off the toluene from the water/HI mixture. Wash it
with a 300 ml portion of water which will be used in the next batch.
This will remove H I from the toluene, and save it for the next batch. Finally, pour the toluene back into
the sep funnel with the iodine and shake to get another load of iodine. One repeats this process until all
the red P has been consumed. Then enough iodine will have been added to do the example batch given in
this section. Finally add another 30 grams of red P to the mixture, and it is ready to cook ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine to meth.
After a while, the iodine produced in our hypothetical jug of iodine disinfectant will begin to run out.
The toluene extracts of the jog solution will no longer be so darkly violet in color. Then it is time to get
the roughly one pound of iodine which is in the form of copper iodide in this jug. That is the tan colored
solid which has been floating around in the solution.
To tum the copper iodide into iodine, first add hydrochloric acid to the jug solution until the pH is
down to one, the tan solid will then dissolve. Next slowly with stirring add hydrogen peroxide solution to
the jug solution. Make sure the p H of the solution stays in the region of one. It will tend to rise during the
reaction. If it rises too much, a lot of gas bubbles will form from the peroxide, and it will be wasted. If
the pH rises too much, just add more hydrochloric acid. Two hundred ml of 30% hydrogen peroxide
should be enough to convert the copper iodide to iodine. Two thousand ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide
would do the same thing. When enough has been added, a clear green-colored solution will result, and
the iodine will fall out of solution in the form of big nuggets. To get these nuggets of iodine, just pour off
the green-colored water. Then rinse the iodine nuggets with clean water. They are now ready to use just
the same as iodine crystals one might buy.
Many people use a simpler and more direct method for getting iodine crystals from their tinctures
containing iodine plus K I . They omit the copper sulfate, and go directly to the portion of the procedure
using hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide. They first add hydrochloric acid to the tincture until the
pH is around I . Then they add hydrogen peroxide with stirring to get crystals and nuggets of iodine to
fall out of the solution.
The dilute tinctures now on the store shelves will not make a good yield of iodine crystals. However,
the iodine produced is easily extracted with toluene and can then be carried into the batch water
containing the red P or hypo acid. You can check out my Cookin' Crank video to see how this is done.
When working with iodine, one must follow some precautions. Overexposure to the substance can
poison you! Use good ventilation, and keep upwind. This shouldn't be done in a basement or closet.
Rubber gloves will keep the tingers from becoming stained with the iodine. Such stains are not only
incriminating, they also pose a health hazard. Store the iodine nuggets and crystals in a sealed glass
container until ready for use.
One problem with the HI/red P method is that it can produce a pretty crude product if some simple
precautions are not followed. From checking out typical samples of street meth, it seems basic
precautions are routinely ignored, I believe that the byproducts in the garbage meth are iodoephedrine,
and the previously mentioned aziridine, (See the earlier section concerning chloroephedrine.)
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1 68
I don't think that even a good tractional distil lation will remove these byproducts from the meth. The
aziridine has to have a boiling point very near that of meth, and so is unremovable by that method. I also
think that the heat of distillation would cause the iodoephcdrine byproduct to form more aziridine, which
would then distill with the meth. Steam distilling the meth produced by this method has become very
popular, and is recognized as "the" way to get the contaminants removed from the product.
To some extent, these byproducts can be avoided in the first place, i f when making hydroiodic acid
from iodine and red phosphorus, the acid is prepared tirst, and allowed to come to complete reaction for
20 minutes before adding the ephedrine to it. This will be a hassle for some, because the obvious
procedure to follow is to use the water extract of the ephedrine pills to make H I in. This should never be
done, especially with the doctored pills now on the market. Pure ephedrine, racephedrine,
pseudoephedrine or PPA hydrochloride made according to the directions at the beginning of this chapter
must be used. Impure raw material leads to big reductions in yield, and isolation problems at the end of
the reaction. Recent DEA publications state that the pill gaks have become so toxic to this reaction that a
pressure reaction vessel may be required to get good yields. Since the production of H I from iodine and
red phosphorus gives off a good deal of heat, it is wise to chill the mixture in ice, and slowly add the
iodine crystals to the red phosphorus-water mixture.
To do the reaction. a 1 000 ml round bottom flask is tilled with 1 50 grams of ephedrine hydrochloride
(or psuedoephedrine-HCI). The use of the sulfate salt is unacceptable because H I reduces the sulfate ion,
so this interferes with the reaction. Also added to the flask are 40 grams of red phosphorus. and 340 ml of
50%+ hydroiodic acid. This same acid, which by the way, is on the chemical diversion list and should
never be purchased. can be made by adding 300 grams of iodine crystals to 50 grams of red phosphorus
suspended in 300 ml water. After allowing the iodine and red phosphorous to react together for an
additional 20 minutes after the last of the iodine has been added to the red phosphorus, the ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine can then be added to the mixture. A more refined procedure is to react 300 grams of
iodine with 30 grams of red phosphorus in 300 ml water, and then distill this mixture. collecting the first
2/3 of it, and leaving the phosphonlS-acid byproduct behind in the distilling flask. This home brew acid
smells bad, but works really well. It loses its bad smell shortly after the beginning of the reflux in the
reaction with ephedrine. When using this more refined procedure, remember that 20-30 grams of red
phosphorus must be added to the reaction mixture. The 40 grams cited above is overkill, but the unused
portion can be reused by filtering it out at the end of the reaction.
With the ingredients mixed together in the flask, a condenser is attached to the tlask, and the mixture
is boiled for one day. This length of time is needed for best yields and highest octane numbers on the
product. While it is cooking. the mixture is quite red and messy looking from the red phosphorus floating
around in it. It is best to take about an hour to warm up the reaction mixture to the boiling point, as this
reduces the amount of by-products made.
The progress of the reaction can be followed by watching the consumption of the red phosphorus. The
majority of product is obtained in about 1 0 hours; after 1 6 hours over % is obtained, and after 24 hours,
the reaction is done.
When one day of boiling under reflux is up, the flask is allowed to cool; then it is diluted with an equal
volume of water. Next, the red phosphorus is filtered out. A series of doubled-up coffee filters will work
to get out all the red phosphorus. but real tilter paper is better. The tiltered solution should look a golden
color. A red color may indicate that all the phosphorus is not out. If so, it is tiltered again. The filteredout
phosphorus can be saved for use in the next batch. I f filtering does not remove the red color. there
may be iodine floating around the solution. It can be removed by adding a few dashes of sodium bisulfite
or sodium thiosulfate.
Of these two. the thiosulfate is much preferred because it has the ability to destroy aziridine along with
the iodine in the solution. You see. iodoephedrine makes aziridine (dimethylphenyl aziridine) by reaction
Chapter Fifteen
Methamphetamine from Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetuminefrom PPA
169
between the iodine atom and the amino group. See earlier in this chapter for the drawing of the aziridine
in question. The high temperature at which this reaction works encourages its formation.
The best way to add the thiosulfate or bisulfite is along with the sodium hydroxide or lye solution used
to neutralize the reaction mixture. That is our next step. For the batch size given here, using 300 grams of
iodine in 300 ml of water and about 1 50 grams of ephedrine hydrochloride, over I SO grams of lye or
sodium hydroxide will be required to make the solution strongly alkaline (ph 1 3+). This amount of lye
should be dissolved in about 600 ml of water and allowed to cool down.
Now add the few grams of sodium thiosulfate or sodium bisulfite to the cooled-down lye mixture and
stir until it dissolves. Slowly and with periodic shaking or strong stirring, add the lye solution to the
ti ltered reaction mixture. If one prefers, one could also do the opposite and add the reaction mixture to
the lye water with shaking and stirring.
Some fizzing may be noted here as the reaction takes place. Then as the great heat produced by the
neutralization reaction allows, the rest of the sodium hydroxide solution should be added with stirring or
shaking to the reaction mixture. The meth free base which forms will float to the top of the water
solution. Strong and prolonged shaking of the mixture is necessary to ensure that all the meth has been
converted to free base.
Then check the pH of the water layer using pH papers. It should read strongly alkaline. If not, add
more lye, and continue shaking.
With free base meth now obtained, the next step, as usual, is to form the crystalline hydrochloride salt
of meth. To do this, a few hundred mls of toluene is added to the batch, and the meth free base extracted
out as usual. If the chemist's cooking has been careful, the color of the toluene extract will be clear to
pale yellow. If this is the case, the product is sufficiently pure to make nice white crystals just by
bubbling dry HCI gas through the toluene extract as described in Chapter Five. If the toluene extract is
darker colored, a distillation is called for to get pure meth free base. The procedure for that is also
described in Chapter Five. The yield of pure meth hydrochloride should be from 1 00 grams to 1 30 grams.
If gummy binders from the stimulant pills are carried over into the reaction mixture, they produce a
ncxt-to-impossible-to-break emulsion of meth, gum, toluene, and water when the reaction is done and it
is time to extract out the meth. It is absolutely necessary that the pill-extraction procedure given in this
book he followed. If this emulsion is encountered, the only way to break it is to first let the emulsion sit
in a sep funnel for a few hours. Water will slowly work its way out and settle to the bottom where it can
be drained away. The stubborn residual emulsion should be transferred to a distilling flask, and the
toluene slowly distilled otT through a fractionating column. This removes water from the emulsion as the
toluene-water azeotrope. It may be necessary to add additional toluene to the distilling flask to get all the
water removed. The gum sticks to the glass flask, and causes no further problem. Once the emulsion is
broken, distilling should be stopped. The toluene-meth solution should be poured from the distilling
flask, and the meth precipitated as hydrochloride as per the usual dry HCl bubbling method.
When using hypophophorous acid instead of red phosphorus, a very similar procedure is followed.
First, SO%+ hydroiodic acid solution is made. To do this, put 3 S ml of the 30 - SO%hypophosphorous
acid solution into a flask. Then slowly and with stirring add about 40 grams of iodine crystals to the
hypophosphorous acid solution. The red color produced by the iodine will be sucked up as the
hypophosphorous acid reacts with it to make hydroiodic acid. As the solution gets hot, cool it down in ice
water. After about half an hour, a fairly clear to yellowish solution should result. If it is still red with
iodine, the hypophosphorous acid solution you made wasn't strong enough and needs to be evaporated
down some more. One could check for strength of the hypophosphorous acid by first reacting 3 . S ml of
the solution with 4 grams of iodine, before moving on to the full batch given here.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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Once the hydroiodic acid solution has cooled down, about 20 grams of ephedrine HCI or
pseudoephedrine hydrochloride is added to the reaction mixture. A condenser is then fitted to the flask,
and over the course of about an hour the mixture is slowly heated up to boiling using an oil bath to warm
the tlask. The solution should stay clear to yellowish colored as it warms up and cooks.
Now gently boil the solution for about 6 hours. The reaction goes faster when using hypophosphorous
instead of red phosphorus, so there is no need to go the full 24 hours.
When the reaction is finished, processing the batch is very similar to the red phosphorus example. The
reaction mixture is first diluted with an equal volume of water. Since red P wasn't used, there is nothing
to lilter out at this point. Then slowly add a solution of lye dissolved in water to the reaction, just as in
the example using red P. It will make a lot of heat, so take your time and use shaking or strong stirring
between adds of lye to the reaction mixture.
Once enough lye solution has been added to raise the pH of the mixture to 1 3+, again shake the mixture
strongly, and allow it to cool. The layer of meth tree base should be t10ating atop the water.
Now add about 1 50 ml of toluene or xylene to the mixture and shake it hard for a minute or So. Once
the layers have settled, the meth dissolved in toluene layer will be t10ating atop the water. It should be
clear to light yellow colored. Drain off the water layer and then add about 1 50 ml of fresh water to the
sep funnel. Shake this mixture to wash the toluene extract containing the meth, and then let the layers
settle. The water layer can then be drained off, and the toluene-meth layer poured into a beaker or similar
glass cup. After letting this solution shed entrained water for about an hour, it can be poured into a clean
beaker and bubbled with dry HCI gas to get the crystals of meth hydrochloride. The crystals are rinsed
with some tresh toluene and then spread out on a plate to dry. The yield will be about 1 5 grams or so of
meth.
Example Recipe:
Into a clean and dried lava lamp tube place 20 ml of water and two ml of concentrated hydrochloric
acid. Next add 1 0 grams of sodium hypophosphite. Swirl to dissolve. Then slowly with cooling add I I
grams of iodine crystals. This will react to produce a clear to slightly yellow tinted solution of hydroiodic
acid and excess hypophosphorous acid. Some stirring or swirling will aid the dissolution of the iodinc. It
should all react.
Next add anywhere from 5 to 1 0 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine hydrochloride crystals. A
somewhat dirty starting material can be compensated for by using less of it. . . i.c . . . 5 grams.
Now begin heating this mixture. With hypo, it is good to start heating the mixture in the range of 1 1 0 C
for a couple of hours before moving the heat up to 1 20- 1 30 C for several more hours. Dirty starting
material may take even longer to reactl The hot acid vapors are kept inside the lava lamp by cooling the
top of the lamp tube during the heating period. Do not allow them to evaporate out ofthe lamp tube.
At the end of the heating period, let it cool off, then pour the reaction mixture into a sep funnel. Dilute
the reaction mixture with an equal volume of water. Next add lye with shaking and cooling until the p H
of the reaction mixture i s roughly 1 4. Shake hard to base the methl
Once the mixture has cooled, extract out the product with roughly 50 ml of toluene. Separate otT the
water layer, then wash the toluene layer with some fresh water. Separate ofT that water wash, and pour
thc toluene layer into a clean dry beaker. Let it set for a couple hours to shed entrained water. Then pour
the toluene into another clean and dry beaker while leaving water droplets behind. Bubble dry HCI gas
through this to get yields from 80% to near zero depending upon how clean the ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine starting material was.
Two additional methods exist for making hydroiodic acid, and while not as convenient as just adding
iodine to red phosphorus, they produce a more pure acid. Further, they don't require red phosphorus in
the making of the acid, so the amount of that material needed for production is greatly reduced.
Chapter Fifteen
Methamphetamine/rom Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetamine/rom PPA
1 71
See Inorganic Syntheses, Volume I . The first of these methods involves bubbling H2S gas into a
suspension of iodine in water. The H2S gas is made by dripping HCl onto iron sulfide and piping the gas
into solution just like the HCl gas made in Chapter Five. The excess H2S gas dissolved in the product
acid is then boiled out of solution under a reflux. This method is quite good.
The alternate method directly produces a very pure acid by direct union of H2 gas with 12 vapor in the
Pt catalyst bed. This is really good if you aren't afraid of putting together some glass tubing.
There are a few variations upon the standard H I/red P recipe that I have just given. Some people like
to use the free base of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine rather than the hydrochloride crystals. This gives
them a somewhat better yield of product in the reaction. When using the free base rather than
hydrochloride crystals, one has to increase the strength of the acid a bit to compensate for the HI which
will be consumed by the free base. In the example batch given, increasing the amount of iodine used to
380 grams will cover the amount sucked up by the free base.
Another variation is to do the heating of the ephedrine/HI/red P mixture inside a pressure vessel able
to withstand at least 50 pounds of pressure. This is said to greatly speed up the reaction. This variation
has never become very popular because such pressure vessels aren't easily found on store shelves. If one
should rupture a pressure vessel containing a cooking batch, a most regrettable fire is likely to result.
The HI/red P variation that was really popular in the mid '90's is called the Push Pull method. Our
ti'iend ReadyEddie would like to share his Push Pull recipe for making 1 0 gram batches. It is a lot faster
than the standard HI/red P method, and the equipment used is pretty basic. Do note that the more
concentrated conditions of the push pull make the pill "gaks" even more effective for killing the reaction.
Push Pull by ReadyEddie. The push/pull does not take a lot of skill but does take a bit of understanding
of what one is dealing with. First of all this method does require some very watched items. Red
phosphorous and iodine crystals can bring unwanted attention if ordered from different supply
companies. If by chance one can't seem to obtain these items anywhere, there is still hope. These items
can be obtained OTC (over the counter) at your nearest supermarket. If one can get one's hands on lab
grade without getting a one-way ticket to the slammer, it's well worth it.
The striking pads of matchbooks contain a small amount of red phosphorous. It's not pure, so it
should be cleaned up before use. Iodine crystals can be converted from iodine tinctures. Tinctures can be
found on the shelf in many different supermarkets, and come in 2 % strength in a 30 ml bottle.
Tinctures can also be found at cattle supply houses, in pint and gallon sizes, and comes in a 7 %
strength. Sometimes iodine powder or pellets can be found in cattle supply stores as well. It's called
iodine prill and works great just the way it is.
There are many different ways to collect red phosphorous off of matchbooks. An easy way is to just
scrape it off with a razor blade. A better way is to cut the strikers off and soak them in acetone until the
red phosphorous falls off. It takes a very large amount of strikers to obtain a large enough pile to do
anything with, but it can be done and has been done by many.
After all falls off the paper, take the paper out and filter the acetone/red phosphorous through two
conee filters and now rinse with distilled water and let dry. Now mix up a solution of 20% sodium
hydroxide. That is 20% grams of sodium hydroxide in 1 00 ml of distilled water. Place the dry red
phosphorous that was collected in a beaker or flask of choice and add the hydroxide solution to it, heat on
low heat for a few hours then filter through two coffee filters again. When dry, rinse with hot distilled
water a few times and let dry. This will give a pretty pure powder that will fire off a push/pull reaction.
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To convert (2%) iodine tinctures the following are used:
500 ml (2%) iodine tincture
25 ml muriatic acid (hardware store strength)
235 ml hydrogen peroxide (3% topical solution)
862 ml distilled water
To convert (7%) iodine tinctures, the following are used:
I pint of (7%) tincture
3 pints of (3%) peroxide
2 oz. of muriatic acid
y, cup of distilled water
Pour the tincture in a one gallon milk jug, add the muriatic acid, mix it all together (well), and let sit
for a half an hour. Now add the 3% hydrogen peroxide and mix this in real well and let it sit again for
another half an hour. Add the distilled water and shake the hell out of it and then let it sit for another half
an hour.
There should be an orange layer on top of a dark grey layer. The grey layer is what you want. The
grey layer is iodine crystals that have crashed out of solution. Pour ofT the orange layer, add more fresh
distilled water to them and shake again, let sit for a few minutes. Pour off the orange solution again. Do
this a total of three times. After the third time, pour the contents through two coffee tilters. Now the
crystals need to be wrung dry. Wring dry and put them in another stack of coffee filters and wring them
out again. Keep doing this until one gets a nice solid dry ball of crystals.
That's it. One should have nice iodine crystals that will work in the reaction. Store the crystals in a
dark-colored jar or bottle.
Warning: When making one's own crystals from tinctures, wear eye protection and chemical
resistant gloves. Remember that iodine is poisonous. so be safe and work outdoors.
250ml
fles ... or
bo
Stoppers or hOshloses
se8led light
2 32 0z
plastic
Jugs or
SOO ml
flasks
Figure 40
The Push/Pull Set Up
The Push/Pull Set Up
Fewleet of
plastic hose
goes dOwn
the drSln
Chapter Fifteen
MethamphetamineJrom Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
AmphetamineJrom PPA
1 73
As one can see from Figure 40, it is very easy to construct the apparatus for this reaction. A small
clear beer bottle can replace the flask if one is not on hand. This setup can also be made larger or smaller
for different size batches.
If, for example, one wants to do a 20 gram batch, use a 500 ml flask or bottle and two 64-oz. plastic
Gatorade jugs. Make sure all the hoses are sealed in place because one doesn't want any leaks.
The reaction can be very quick, but other times it may not be. Keep a bucket of dirt or sand around in
case it is needed to smother a phosphorous fire. This is a slim possibility, but be on the safe side.
With lab grade red phosphorous and iodine crystals, the ratios by weight are I gram pseudo(
ephedrine) HCl to I gram of iodine crystals to 0.5 gram of red phosphorous. With OTC chemicals, the
ratios are I gram pseudo-( ephedrine) HCl to 1 .5 grams of iodine crystals to 0.7 gram of red phosphorous.
So now let's get started with the reaction. First thing to do is set up the push/pull vessel. Fill the first
water tank with distilled water % of the way full. The second one leave empty. The drain hose from the
second tank is put down the drain past the u trap or in a bucket of cat litter. Weigh out the pseudo(
ephedrine) HCl and place inside the flask or bottle, no more than a 1 0 gram batch in a 250 ml size flask
or bottle. Next weigh out the iodine crystals and put them inside with the pseudo-(ephedrine) HCl. Mix
them together very well and stopper the flask or bottle and place it in the freezer for around 3-4 minutes.
Weigh out the red phosphorous. Take the flask from the freezer, the reactants should be dark and may be
a dark thick-looking mud. Place the red phosphorous in the flask, mix in good with a glass rod and hook
it up to the water tanks. If the drain hose is down the drain, it's time to tum on the water to keep the
fumes down.
I f using lab grade chemicals, one may have to add a few drops of distilled water to get the reaction
going. For OTC chemicals, no water should be needed; just heat the reactants a little and it should fire.
Do not flood the reaction with water! Place the flask on a coffee cup warmer or in a hot water bath.
When the reaction starts, take it off the heat.
During the first phase of the reaction, the mixture turns to a thick liquid and starts bubbling. The
small bubbles will be kind of silvery looking. Some gas may now be pushing into the first water tank and
water into the second. The contents inside the flask will rise some. A light yellow-colored mist and white
fog inside the flask is normal. Continue to add, on and off, heat to maintain an easy bubbling reaction, at
least around 1 5-20 minutes or until bubbling begins to slow.
In the next phase, increase heat to the flask; slowly raise it up to between 1 60°-1 80° F. The reaction
should begin to bubble very rapidly. The color of the reaction will change to a dark purple or reddish
with a yellow tint. The small reaction bubbles will start turning into big bubbles that collapse into large
holes. The reaction should be pushing gas into water tanks, but a lot harder this time. The contents will
rise quickly, and may start to smoke. I f so take off the heat and swirl the contents around in the flask to
get the smoking to stop. Swirling will also keep the reactants from rising too high. Let react until all
seems to be dead inside the flask (no reaction) even with applied heat. A pull may be noted. If not, that's
alright too. Sometimes there is no pull with small reactions. Tilt the flask, if reactants are not longer
stuck and slowly flow off the bottom and sides, it should be finished. Let cool to room temperature and
then add 1 00 ml of distilled water. Next, heat on a water bath at 1 500 F in an open flask for 30 minutes to
tree the contents. Filter all the red phosphorous out of the mix. A couple of coffee filters work well for
this.
After filtering the red phosphorous out, the color should be clear to pale yellow. If one gets a dark
orangeor red color that does not filter out, the reaction may not be done or the adulterants in the pill
mayhave messed it up. If this is the case try putting the red phosphorous back into the water it was
filtered out of. Heat it up to about 2000 F for two hours to complete it. If this doesn't work, the gak in the
pills may have messed the reaction up.
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Now it's time to base and extract the meth base with a non-polar solvent such as toluene. Wash the
solventlbase layer with distilled water a few times, and dry with dehydrated Epsom salts. Gas the
solventlbase layer to get crystals of methamphetamine.
And that is the end of Ready Eddie's Push/Pull recipe. The reader should be aware that the push pull
method is much more vulnerable to the yield lowering effects of the new pill ingredients than are the
standard hydroiodic acid boil methods given earlier in this chapter. Only very pure pseudoephedrine or
ephedrine should be used in this method.
Warning! Iodine and red P are now very "hot" items. Ordering them is likely to cause the cops to
follow right behind'
Method Five: Zinc Reductions
Check this one out! In Journal of Organic Chemistry, Volume 26, page 99, the ester of a benzyl
alcohol was reduced to the alkane by using zinc metal and formic acid. Not a bad idea, huh') Simple
materials, non-toxic reaction materials, waste, and maybe good yields of meth.
There is a more general reduction method for benzyl alcohols which uses triOuoroacetic acid and
sodium borohydride, but triOuoroacetic acid is a potent rat poison and pretty effective people poison as
well. I'll be damned if I'm the one who gets blamed for introducing "the rat poison meth recipe." Try this
method. [f it works, fine. If not, you know how I like those other methods. Stick with them.
In the journal articl e ' s procedure, they put 20 grams of an ester of the benzyl alcohol in a flask along
with 40 grams of zinc metal, 1 60 grams (about 1 30 ml) of 95% formic acid, and 40 ml of water. They
reOuxed the mixture for 5 hours, then after cooling, the zinc metal left over was filtered out. The liltered
reaction mixture was then made strongly alkaline with sodium hydroxide solution, and the product
extracted out with toluene.
How would one tinker with this recipe to use ephedrine? First, I would put the 20 grams of ephedrine
hydrochloride in the flask. Then I would add the \ 3 0 ml of 95% formic acid. [ would heat this mixture on
a hot water bath for a few hours to make the formic acid ester of the ephedrine. Then I would add the
zinc metal and the 40 ml of water, and heat the mixture to reflux for 5 hours.
After cooling, filtering and making strongly alkaline with sodium hydroxide solution, the toluene
extract likely contains the formic acid amide of meth. This would be hydrolyzed by boiling with
hydrochloric acid, just like in Chapter Five. The product is then recovered from the hydrochloric acid just
as in that chapter, distilled, and bubbled with HCI gas to get crystals of meth hydrochloride.
Would you like another recipe? I like to use this one for about \ 0 gram batches. It's fast and pretty
good. The guys who filed for US Patent 6,399,828 lifted their application from my work, and refined the
procedure. This only works with ephedrine, because pseudoephedrine will not form an ester so easily!
First, make about Y, gram of palladium black by adding sodium borohydride to a well-stirred solution
containing one gram of PdCI2 in water. See Journal of the American Chemical Society, Volume 84,
pages 1 493-95. I suck up the settled black catalyst with a pipette and squirt it into a filtering Oask. Then
take a balloon and put the end of it over the vacuum nipple of the filtering Oask. Tie it in place with some
string so that it doesn't leak air when one blows air into the filtering flask. Add 50 ml of water to the
filtering flask as solvent for the reaction.
Now take the ester reaction mixture made by heating 1 0 grams of ephedrine hydrochloride with about
60 ml of glacial acetic acid and a little perchloric or nitric acid and isolate the ester from the reaction
mixture by slowly dripping in naptha with stirring. After crystallizing in a freezer overnight, filter out the
crystals and let them dry on a plate. Then toss them into the filtering flask with the palladium black. Put a
magnetic stir bar into the filtering flask, too.
Chapter Fifteen
Methamphetamine/rom Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine
Amphetamine/rom PPA
1 75
Begin fast magnetic stirring, then toss a piece of sodium borohydride about the size of a split pea into
the flask, and quickly stopper the flask to hold in the hydrogen generated. When the fizzing stops, add
another piece of sodium borohydride, continue this until the balloon stays inflated with hydrogen.
Now Ii Iter out the palladium black for reuse. Put the filtered batch in a sep funnel, and add lye solution
with shaking until the mixture is strongly alkaline. Extract out the meth with toluene, separate off the
toluene layer, and bubble it with dry HCI gas to get about 1 0 grams of a very nice meth. You'll like this
recipe! If you should have trouble getting the PdCI2 to dissolve in the water, add a few drops of HCI, that
will make it dissolve.
One can get closer to the Patent's procedure by using Pd on carbon rather than Pd black. To do that,
simply add activated carbon powder to the PdCI2 solution mentioned 4 paragraphs ago. In this recipe
example, it would be 1 12 gram PdCI2 and 2.5 grams activated charcoal powder. When using this
variation, it's hard to tell when all the PdCl2 has been reduced to Pd metal by the borohydride, so you
have to let the carbon settle in the solution to see if the brown color of the PdCI2 has all been removed
trom the water. Catalyst formation is complete when the water solution is clear atter the Pd on carbon has
settled.
Another pretty useful procedure for converting ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to meth is to convert the
ephedrine to chloroephedrine using Lucas Reagent. This reagent has the advantage of being much more
easily obtained than thionyl chloride or PCI5, so that scientilic supply houses can be left out of the
supply loop. One can then pretty easily hydrogenate the chloroephedrine to meth.
The method was originally introduced by Wizard X, so due credit should be given to him. The cooking
procedures can be found in Vogel's Textbook of Practical Organic Chemistry, 5th edition page 555.
Lucas Reagent is a mixture of concentrated 35% lab grade hydrochloric acid, and a chloride salt. Zinc
chloride is the preferred chloride for this mixture, but calcium chloride and nickel chloride work as well.
To make chloroephedrine trom ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, put 25 ml of lab strength hydrochloric
acid into a round bottom flask, then add 8 grams of anhydrous calcium chloride. Calcium chloride is
commonly sold at gas stations and hardware stores as ice melter during the winter months. As it, it
usually has roughly 20% water contained within the pellets. This can be removed by grinding the pellets
and putting them into a glass baking dish. Bake the powder in an oven at 350 to 400 F for a few hours to
drive off the water, then scoop the dried powder into a dry glass container with a lid for storage. The
powder will suck up water trom the air, so work quickly.
When the anhydrous calcium chloride has been added to the flask, then add 1 0 grams of ephedrine HCl
or pseudoephedrine HCI. Attach a reflux condenser to the flask, and heat the mixture in a boiling water
bath fl)f about 1 0 hours.
Once the mixture has cooled down, it's time to get the product, chloroephedrine. Mix up a concentrated
solution of sodium carbonate in water. The most convenient source for sodium carbonate is Arm and
Hammer washing soda found in the detergent section of the grocery store. Lye shouldn't be used for free
basing chloroephedrine because it can cause aziridine to be formed. Slowly add the sodium carbonate
solution to the reaction mixture. It will fizz a lot as it neutralizes the hydrochloric acid.
When enough sodium carbonate solution has been added so that the fizzing upon addition of more
solution stops, it's time to shake the solution hard for a couple of minutes. Stop from time to time to vent
off any additional C02 which may be produced. Then stop and let the solution settle.
The chloroephedrine should be floating atop the water as an oily layer. Check the pH of the water l ayer
with pH paper. It should read around 1 2 . Now extract the chloroephedrine by adding 50 to 1 00 ml of
toluene or xylene, and shaking. The chloroephedrine free base will go into the toluene or xylene. Allow
the layers to settle, and then drain olT the water. Now add about 50 ml of clean water, and shake to wash
the toluene solution. Allow it to settle, and then drain olfthe water layer.
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The toluene layer containing the chloroephedrine should be poured into a clean beaker and allowed to
sit for a few hours to shed entrained water. Then it is poured into another clean beaker, and dry HCI gas
is bubbled through it to get crystals of chlorephedrine HC!. They are rinsed with some clean toluene and
then spread out on a plate to dry. The yield will be about 75% and the hydrogenation procedures for
reducing chloroephedrine to meth can then be followed.
A more direct one pot method shows some promise for this reaction pathway. That method is to replace
the calcium chloride with nickel chloride. Then after heating the reaction mixture to make
chloroephedrine, zinc dust could be added to the reaction mixture to produce nickel catalyst and
hydrogen for the reaction. I have not yet had the opportunity to personally check out this interesting
possibility.
Chapter Sixteen
Methcathinone: Kitchen Improvised Crank
Chapter Sixteen
Methcathinone: Kitchen Improvised Crank
1 77
One designer variant upon the amphetamine molecule which gained popularity and publicity a few
years ago is methcathinone, commonly called "cat." This substance is remarkably similar to the active
ingredient found in the leaves of the khat tree which the loyal drug warriors on the network news blame
for turning peace-loving Somalis into murderous psychopaths. The active ingredient in the khat leaves is
cathinone, which has the same structural relationship to methcathinone that amphetamine has to
methamphetamine. It is made by oxidizing ephedrine, while meth can be made by reducing ephedrine. H, CHJ N '
OH I oy- tH-􀂝HCHJ Ephedrine
oH , N'C HJ 0 · , y-c -CH CH) Methcatninooe
The high produced by methcathinone is in many ways similar to the one produced by
methamphetamine. For something so easily made and purified, it is actually quite enjoyable. The main
diftcrences between the meth high and the methcalhinone high are length of action and body feel. With
methcathinone, one can expect to still get to sleep about 8 hours atter a large dose. On the down side, it
definitely gives me the impression that the substance raises the blood pressure quite markedly. This drug
may 110t be safe for people with weak hearts or blood vessels. Be warned'
Chronic use of methcathinone causes a person to become very stinky, as the foul metabolic breakdown
products of cat come Ollt of one's pores. Be double-warned!
Cat is best made using chrome in the +6 oxidation state as the oxidizer. I recall seeing an article in the
narcoswine's Journal o(Forensic Science bragging about how they worked out a method for making it
using permanganate, but that method gives an impure product i n low yields. Any of the common
hexavalent chrome salts can be used as the oxidizer in this reaction. This list includes chrome trioxide
(Cr03), sodium or potassium chromate (Na2Cr04), and sodium or potassium dichromate (Na2Cr207).
All of" these chemicals are very common. Chrome trioxide is used in great quantities in chrome plating.
The chromates are used in tanning and leather making.
For preparation of this substance, see US Patent 2,802,865. Formerly, back in the days when ephedrine
pills were 30-40% active ingredients by weight, and the fillers were mostly water-insoluble, one could
just extract these pills with water and directly perform the oxidation in the water extract. Now, with the
garbage pills containing guaifenesin and a water-soluble fiber filler, the extraction-free basing-extractioncrystallization-
isolation procedure given in this book absolutely has to be used. Using the old procedure,
one gets a mess that look likes a mi lkshake at the end of the reaction.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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Pseudoephedrine can also be used to make cat. The pills containing this starting material must be
extracted according to the directions given in Chapter Fifteen, and then converted to racemic ephedrine
(called racephedrine) by heating with HCI solution as also described in that chapter. This will yield dl or
racemic cat, which is almost as potent as cat made from ephedrine.
Note in the patent that for each molecule of ephedrine or racephedrine in the reaclion mixture, there
are .66 atoms of Cr+6 in the solution. As a result, the amount of Cr+6 substance used in this reaction will
vary with the compound used. For example, in the one-tenth mole-size batch given here, 20 grams of
ephedrine or rae ephedrine hydrochloride will react with:
1 0 grams ofNa2Cr207e2H20
1 0 grams ofNaCr04
22.8 grams ofNaCr04e l OH20
1 2.9 grams of KCr04
to grams of K2Cr207
6.6 grams of Cr03
There are two main precautions to be adhered to in doing this reaction. The first one is the need to
keep the temperature of the reaction mixture below 1 000 F. It is better to keep it well below that. To keep
the reaction temperature down, the glass container in which the reaction is done should be packed in ice.
I have also heard that very fast stirring will so speed up the reaction that the ice bath fails to keep the
temperature down. This is only a problem with large-size batches about one mole in size or larger. In
these big batches, a favorite agitation technique was to put the reaction mixture contained in a glass jug
surrounded by ice in a cooler into the trunk of a car and spend a few hours driving on rough back roads to
stir the mix.
The other main precaution is to add the Cr+6 solution slowly to the ephedrine or racephedrine with
stirring. It is best to do the addition dropwise, but with larger batches, this is just not practical. In any
case, use some common sense as to the rate of add for the chrome.
To do the reaction, 20 grams of ephedrine or racephedrine hydrochloride is dissolved in 50 ml of
water, then 5 ml of concentrated sulfuric acid i s slowly added to it with stirring. The beaker containing
this mixture should then be nestled in ice to cool down. Then, in another beaker mix 45 ml of water with
7.5 ml of sulfuric acid and the amount of Cr+6 compound listed above.
Begin stirring the ephedrine solution, and then dropwise add the Cr+6 solution to it. The addition
should take about Y2 hour. The chrome solution will be clear orange-red going into the mix, but it soon
darkens to a blackish-red. The stirring should be continued for a reaction time of four hours. Shortening
this reaction time gives poor yields and incomplete oxidation. Exceeding this reaction time causes
destruction of the product, and again poor yields. The preferred solution temperature during the 4 hour
reaction time is 80-90° F. The amount of cooling required will depend on the batch size.
When the reaction time is over, a 20% solution of lye in water should be added to the reaction mixture
with stirring until it is strongly alkaline to litmus. Now pour the mixture into a sep funnel, and shake
vigorously for a couple of minutes to ensure complete conversion of the cat to free base. The chrome will
come out of solution as a greenish sludge. Extract this mixture with two 50 ml portions of toluene. The
extracts should have a mild yellowish tint. The pooled toluene should then be washed once with 1 00 ml
of water and then the toluene layer should be poured into a beaker to sit for about an hour. This will
allow entrained water to settle and stick to the glass. Now pour the toluene solution into a fresh, clean
beaker and bubble dry HCI gas through it, as described in Chapter Five, to get crystalline cat
hydrochloride to precipitate out of solution. Filter this out as also described there, and spread the crystals
out on a plate to dry. The yield of white to maybe slightly yellow-tinted crystals is a little over 1 0 grams.
Chapter Sixteen
Methcathillolle: Kitchen Improvised Crank
1 79
The yield from this reaction is quite variable, ranging from 1 0% up to 80%. One often gets unreacted
ephedrine instead of cat. Also, at times, it's been reported to me, a very dangerous byproduct can be
formed. This byproduct causes one's blood to gel if it is injected. The nature of this byproduct is
unknown to me. If there's a possibility that the cat is going to be injected, then one should re-crystallize
the crude yellow-tinted cat from acetone.
So that is the standard cat recipe. How can it be improved? Let's consider the time at which this patent
was filed, the mid-50s. Just after this time, it was discovered that using acetone as the solvent for Cr+6
oxidations gave much better results. It prevents over-oxidation of the product, which is the real problem
with the original recipe. Pseudoephedrine is particularly vulnerable to the over-oxidation, so by using
acetone solvent, pseudoephedrine could probably be used in the reaction.
In this acetone variation, I would put the 20 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine i n a beaker with
50- 1 00 ml of hardware store acetone. Then I would mix 25 ml of water with 1 0 ml of sulfuric acid, and
then mix the prescribed amount of Cr+6 compound into this acid-water solution. After cooling, the Cr+6
solution should be dropwise added to the acetone-ephedrine hydrochloride mixture with stirring.
After the reaction is complete in a few hours, I would pour the reaction mixture into about ten volumes
of water. Then I would make the water solution strongly alkaline by adding lye water solution with
shaking. Then I would extract out the cat with toluene, and then bubble this extract with dry HCI gas to
get crystals of cat hydrochloride. The yield should be greatly improved, and the reaction should be more
reliable.
If one really wants to get elegant, we could use the preferred oxidizer for benzyl alcohols, activated
manganese dioxide. See Journal o(Organic Chemistry, Volume 26, pages 2973-75 ( 1 96 1 ).
To make activated Mn02, one dissolves 1 1 00 grams of manganese sulfate tetrahydrate or 833 grams of
manganese sulfate monohydrate in 1 500 ml of water. 1 1 70 ml of a 40% solution of sodium hydroxide in
water is also prepared. Finally. one makes a solution of 960 grams of potassium permanganate in 6 liters
of water. The permanganate solution is heated to 80-900 C, and then the manganese sulfate solution and
the sodium hydroxide solution are simultaneously added to the permanganate solution over a period of
about one hour, while maintaining the temperature of the permanganate solution at 80-90° C. Strong
stirring of the permanganate solution is done during the addition. Manganese dioxide precipitates out of
solution as a fine brown solid. Continue stirring for an additional hour.
The hot solution is then tiltered to collect the manganese dioxide, and the filter cake in the Buchner
funnel is washed with water until the purple color of permanganate no longer comes out with the water
rinse. The solid ( manganese dioxide) is then baked in an oven at 1 1 0-1 20° C for about 4 hours to dry it. It
is then ground finely, and returned to the oven for another bake at the same temperature. This is activated
manganese dioxide.
Then a toluene or Coleman camper fuel extract containing about 20 grams of ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine free base is diluted to a volume of about 500 ml with more of the same solvent. Then .4
mole of activated manganese oxide (35 grams) is added. The mixture is stirred, and preferably heated to
reflux for 5 hours. A Dean-Stark trap to remove water will increase yields.
Then the cooled reaction mixture is filtered to remove the activated Mn02 and the MnO fornled by the
oxidation. Then dry IICI is passed through the solution to collect the product, cat hydrochloride in about
80% yield. Your Uncle thinks this variation is more bother than it is worth, especially considering that
permanganate is a List I I chemical, and not easily available at the hardware store.
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Chapter Seventeen
Brewing Your Own Ephedrine
I love to guzzle beer. Not that mass produced swill, but real beer turned out in small batches by
microbrewers and homebrewers. Beer that has some body, flavor, and a real kick! Homebrewing is just a
joy, as lots of people have found out. Stores selling supplies to the homebrewer have sprung up in every
backwater town. They are just all over the place, and newspapers catering to the homebrewer or fans of
microbrews can be picked up for free at the local liquor store. The ads in these newspapers are
predominately for mail-order brewing supplies at discount prices.
What a fortunate coincidence that the industrial process for making ephedrine is just a fermentation
process using brewer's yeast. This process is much cheaper than extracting ephedrine from Ma Huang,
and yields I-ephedrine as the product. Other chemical processes give product mixtures that consist of d
and I ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. If one wishes to scale up production beyond that which can be
sustained by scrounging pills and extracting them, this fermentation is a very viable alternative.
This process uses benzaldehyde as the starting material, so essentially one could consider this method
as an alternative to the Knoevenagel reaction back in Chapter Nine. The fermentation action of the
brewer's yeast takes the place of that List I chemical nitroethane.
Benzaldehyde is easily available, in spite of the fact that it too is a List I chemical. Oil of bitter
almonds can be used as is, once the HCN it contains is removed by applying a vacuum to the oil. On a
larger scale, the electric oxidation of toluene procedure given i n Chapter 9 would give all the
benzaldehyde that could ever be desired.
The fermentation action of brewer's or baker's yeast converts benzaldehyde to I-I -phenylpropanol- I one-
2 in a yield corresponding to about 70% by weight of the benzaldehyde added to the fermentation
mixture. This phenyl acetone derivative is then reductively alkylated with methylamine by any one of
several procedures to give I-ephedrine.
o @-qH Benzaldehyde
@-o OC'H H 0CII CH3 1-1.Pheny1 propanol
1-ooe-2
Yeast
OH H, N ,CH3 @-CH2CHCH3 I-Ephednne
)
One would think that the reductive alkylation of that phenylacetone derivative would yield d,lephedrine,
and then that reduction of that d,l-ephedrine would then give d,l-meth, that same racemic meth
that results
Chapter Seventeen
Brewing Your Own Ephedrine
181
from reductive alkylation of phenyl acetone. (Your Uncle prefers the buzz produced by the racemate over
the harsher, more nerve jangling buzz produced by d-meth.) Apparently, this isn't the case. The
references
for this process claim that solely I-ephedrine is produced, and then reduction of this I-ephedrine, which is
identical to natural ephedrine, yields that potent but harsh d-meth.
To start with this project, one would first want to read a home beer brewing book, such as Belter Beer
and How to Brew II. since the processes are so similar and much of the same equipment and materials
will be used. I have this book, and it is good. This is all you need to sound like a real brewer when you
head down to the Brew Shop in your town to pick up supplies.
As with regular beer brewing, one starts with a brew vat, five gallon plastic pails work just tine for this
purpose. They should be cleaned. then rinsed with bleach di luted with several volumes of water to
disinfect the surfaces, then rinsed some more with clean water to remove the bleach residue.
Next till the pails with tap water until they are half to 2/3 ful l. We are now ready to brew. See Drug
Trade News, Volume 1 6, Number 1 6, page 27 ( 1 94 1 ), ( I love that reference) and Wallerstein Labs.
Commun, Volume 4, Number 1 3 , page 2 1 3 ( 1 94 1 ). Also see Chemical A bstracts, Volume 1 7, page 1 484,
and Biochemische Zeilschriji, Volume 1 1 5, page 282 ( 1 92 1 ), and Volume 1 28, page 6 \ 0 ( 1 922). These
articles will give you some historical perspective on the process. Then go to Biotechnology and
Bioengineering, Volume 34, pages 933-41 ( 1 989) and World Journal of M icrobiology and
Biotechnology, Volume 1 6, pages 499-506 (2000) for more contemporary techniques.
Into the pail the brew mixture is made up by adding molasses to clean wann water. Add roughly 3 1
grams of molasses for each quart of water in the pail, and till the pail no more than 3/4 full of water
because there will be frothing and foaming when the yeast starts to grow. Then live baker's yeast is
added. The best yeast to use are the cakes of refrigerated yeast found in the grocery store rather than the
freele dried packets, although both would work. It takes a lot of yeast to do the chemical transformation,
so stir in the package of yeast, and let the yeast grow at about 80 F, like one would when making bread.
When the brew mixture in the pail has been fennenting for about 8 hours at wann room temperature,
it's time to add the benzaldehyde. Start with about 4 ml of benzaldehyde for each quart of water in the
pail. Once the benzaldehyde has been added, bubble some air through the culture using an aquarium
pump. Then add about 1 /2 ml of acetone per quart of water. Acetone is found in the hardware store's
paint section and a bit of it in the mixture increases the yield of product. Also add about 1 /4 gram of
epsom salts for each quart of water. The magnesium in epsom salts aids the conversion of the
benzaldehyde. Allow the yeast to work for about 4 hours and then add an additional 4 ml of
benzaldehyde for each quart of water in the pail. Adding all the benzaldehyde at once would tend to
poison the growing yeast and ruin the yield. Then continue the aeration with the aquarium pump tor at
least another 8 hours as the yeast completes the conversion of the benzaldehyde.
During the course of the tennentation, an enzyme called carbo ligase (pyruvate decarboxylase)
produced by the yeast converts the benzaldehyde to phenylpropanol- l -one-2. [t is believed that the
enzyme links acetaldehyde or acetic acid made by the fennenting yeast with the benzaldehyde to give the
product. In any case, in less than a day, one gets a yield of product amounting to 70% of the amount o f
benzaldehyde used.
When the fermentation is completed after about 1 2 hours or so, it's time to recover the
phenylpropanol-l -one-2 trom the brew mixture. The yeast in the mixture is a problem. With regular beer
brewing, the yeast just settles to the bottom of the fermenter when the fennentation is complete.
Siphoning is then done to remove the clear beer from the settled yeast. I f you have days to let the yeast
settle, that may be an option. The industrial process uses centrifugation of the fennentation mixture to
force the yeast to the bottom. I ' m sure that works well for them, because once the centrifuge is installed,
no materials need be purchased from then on to settle the yeast. The centrifuge pays for itself.
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Brewers approach unsettled yeast in two ways. On a small scale, they will add a material called
"finings" to the brew mixture, and it settles the yeast. On a larger scale, they will filter the brew. Yeast is
some gummy stuff. It will plug a lilter paper in no time flat, so in addition to the lilter paper, they use
filter aid.
Filter aid is stuff like Celite (diatoms), powdered cellulose, or even a bed of sand to catch those
gummy yeast particles before they get to the filter paper and plug it up.
Once the yeast has been removed from the brew mixture, the phenylpropanol - l -one-2 can be extracted
out of the solution. The original references used ether to do the extraction. I would suggest substituting
hardware store toluene. Several extractions with a few hundred ml portions of toluene should be enough
to completely remove the product from a 5 gallon pai I fermenter.
Next the combined extracts should be distilled to remove the toluene. Once the toluene is mostly all
gone, the residue should be fractionally distilled under a vacuum. The product, also called
phenylacetylcarbinol, distills over the range of 1 00° C to 1 50° C under a vacuum of 1 4 torr. A really
good aspirator using nice cold water will pull a vacuum this strong. Weaker vacuums will result in higher
boiling ranges. The yield of distilled product amounts to around 70% of the amount of benzaldehyde
added to the fermentation mixture.
An alternative to vacuum distillation is to isolate the phenylpropanol-l -one-2 by means of the bisulfite
addition product. Take a volume of water roughly equal to the toluene extracts. Dissolve about 10 to 20%
by weight of sodium bisullite into the water, then cool it down to around 10 C. Sodium bisulfite is
commonly sold at brewing supply shops. Now pour the toluene extracts into a sep funnel or other glass
container, and then add the sodium bisulfite solution. Shake the two of them together for a few minutes,
then let the layers settle. The product will be in the water layer on the bottom, so drain it off and save it.
The toluene layer can be thrown away.
To recover the product, prepare a 1 0% by weight solution of sodium bicarbonate in water. Arm and
Hammer bicarb is the most convenient source of sodium bicarbonate. With stirring, drip in the bicarb
solution to the bisullite solution containing the product until no more bubbles of C02 are given off. The
bisulfite addition product of the phenylpropanol-I -one-2 has just been broken, and the product can be
extracted with solvent. Toluene or ether (starting fluid) are suitable extracting solvents. With ether,
simply extract, separate the ether layer, and allow the ether to evaporate away. With toluene, a source of
vacuum to aid the evaporation of the solvent would be helpful.
Now the phenylpropanol- l -one-2 can be reductively alkylated to give I-ephedrine. Any one of several
methods can be used, just as in the case of reductively alkylating phenyl acetone to meth. Method number
one has to be catalytic hydrogenation using platinum catalyst.
In the example taken from US Patent 1 ,956,950, the chemists place 300 ml of the distilled
phenylpropanol-l -one-2 in the hydrogenation bomb along with one gram of platinum catalyst, and 85
grams of 33% methylamine solution. They state that it's advantageous to add some ether to the
hydrogenation solution. "How much is some?" They don't say. They then hydrogenate the solution in the
usual manner, with up to 3 atmospheres of hydrogen pressure, and magnetic stirring of the contents ofthe
hydrogenation bomb.
When absorption of hydrogen stops in two or three hours, the platinum catalyst is filtered out. Then the
ethery hydrogenation mixture is shaken with a volume or two of 1 0% HCl solution to pull the ephedrine
out of the ether and into the acid water, forming the H C I salt of ephedrine. The ether layer is separated
off with a sep funnel, then the dilute acid is boiled away. The residue is diluted with a little alcohol, and
then a lot more ether. Passing dry HCI through this mixture then gives crystals of pure ephedrine
hydrochloride. Their yield was around I 1 0 grams.
My commentary on this hydrogenation? That yield is awfiIlly low. Using phenyl acetone as a guide,
one should be expecting a yield around 300 grams of ephedrine. What's up? Check out the amount of
Chapler Seventeen
Brewing Your Own Ephedrine
183
methylamine used. There are about two moles of the phenylacelOne derivative, but they don't even use
one mole of methylamine. It should be the other way around, an excess of methylamine. Perhaps this is
how they only get I-ephedrine from the phenyl acetone derivative. In any case, ['d much rather have 300
grams of racephedrine than 1 1 0 grams of l-ephedrine. My thoughts are that one would be better served
just going to Chapter Eleven, and just plug in this phenyl acetone derivative for the regular
phenylacetone. That means two or three moles of methylamine for each mole of phenyl acetone. alcohol
as solvent, and a bit more platinum catalyst in the mixture.
In the patent, they give another reductive alkylation example. They use amalgamated aluminum as the
reducer. just like in Method Three in Chapter Twelve. They take 1 20 grams of the undistilled
fermentation product containing the l -phenylpropanol-l -one-2, and drip it over the course of two hours
into a solution of 1 0 grams of methylamine in 500 ml of ether in the presence of 20 grams of activated
aluminum amalgam. Simultaneously, they drip into the mixture 20 to 30 ml of water. Stirring of the
mixture is required.
The vigorous reaction that sets in is moderated by periodic cooling. When the reaction is complete
after a few hours. they filter the mixture to remove the aluminum. Then they shake the ether solution with
1 0% HCI solution to draw the ephedrine into the water. The ether layer is separated, then the dilute acid
boiled off. The residue is thinned with a little alcohol. then dissolved in a lot more ether. Bubbling with
dry HCI gives 25 to 45 grams of I -ephedrine hydrochloride crystals.
My commentary on this procedure is identical to the last one. So little methylamine used! I haven't
tried this, but I would be surprised to say the least if more methylamine didn't greatly increase the yield
of product. I would also think that any one of the activated aluminum procedures given in Chapter
Twelve could be used. just by plugging in this phenylacetone derivative for the regular phenyl acetone.
Also the use of ether is to be avoided when possible. One could also use one of the reduction methods
from Chapter Twelve which make use of sodium cyanoborohydride or sodium borohydride to reduce a
mi xture of methylamine plus l -phenylpropanol-I -one-2 to ephedrine. Of the two choices. sodium
borohydride would be best because it is easily available and produces good yields of product. See "The
Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology", Volume 77, pages 1 3 7 to 140 (2002) for a sample
recipe using sodium borohydride to do this reduction. Note that they zapped the reaction mixture i n a
microwave oven to kick start the reduction.
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Chapter Eighteen
Cooking Your Own Ephedrine
You don't like that recipe? Check out this one taken from "Chemical Abstracts ", Volume 47, column
3347. Twenty grams of N-methyl-d,l-alanine and 50 grams of benzaldehyde are placed in a flask and
heated on an oil bath at 1 50- 1 60° C until the mixture stops fizzing otT carbon dioxide.
The mixture is then cooled and mixed with a few hundred ml of toluene. Whatever doesn't dissolve
in the toluene is thrown away. The product, which is a mixture of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, is then
extracted out of the toluene by shaking the toluene with about an equal volume of 1 0% HCI. The toluene
can be distilled to recover unused benzaldehyde, if there is any in it.
The dilute hydrochloric acid solution which contains the products should be boiled down to
concentrate it. The steam will also carry off some byproducts, so vent this steam outside.
Once the dilute acid has boiled down to a volume of 50-100 ml, allow it to cool. Then add a little
activated carbon, and stir it around for a while. Then filter it out. This will decolorize the solution.
Add lye pellets a little bit at a time with stirring until the water solution is strongly alkaline. Extract the
alkaline water a few times with toluene. The combined toluene extracts should next be bubbled with dry
HCl gas to give a crystalline product amounting to about 1 2 grams. The product will be about 8 grams of
d,l-pseudoephedrine, and 4 grams of d,l-ephedrine. lt will yield racemic meth upon reduction.
Take note that recovering ephedrine from water solutions is a bit different than recovering meth.
That's because ephedrine free base dissolves well in water, while meth doesn't. So for recovery of the
ephedrine we take the dilute acid solution of the ephedrine and boil it down, j ust like in the pill extraction
procedure using waler. Once it is concentrated, then it is made alkaline with lye, and lhe ephedrine
extracted out. In this way you get good recovery of the ephedrine. Use too much water, and it's difficult
to extract it all out.
This original recipe seemed good on the face of it, but it suffered from serious problems. The yield of
product was low, as a lot of tar was made in the reaction. The starting material, N-methyl alanine, is not
commercially available at a reasonable price, and it used to be not easily made by the methods available
then.
These problems have been conquered by advances made with the passage of time. The large amount of
tar made in the reaction is prevented if DMSO is used as a solvent in the reaction. DMSO also allows the
temperature of the reaction to be lowered to 1 20 to 1 30 C. DMSO, or dimethylsulfoxide, has found wide
use as a pain reliever for creaky joints. It can easily be had at well supplied veterinary supply stores in the
horse section. It is also sold widely on the internet at a very reasonable price. One must avoid the creams,
and stick to the pure liquid DMSO solvent.
The introduction of procedures using DMSO solvent led to the discovery that this reaction gives very
high yields of the methylcnedioxy derivative of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine if piperonal is used in the
reaction instead of benzaldehyde. This opens up an entirely new way of making MDMA. One could react
piperonal with N-mcthylalanine, and then reduce the product substituted ephedrine with lithium in
anhydrous ammonia to MDMA. One could also use the reduction routes working through
chloroephedrine and palladium. The reduction methods using H I and red P would not work because H I
cleaves ethers on a benzene ring.
Benzaldehyde has been added to the List One of watched chemicals, but check out the " Making
Shitloads of your own Benzaldehyde" section in the "Other Methods of Making Phenylacetone" chapter.
That leaves the N-methylalanine problem. Only N-methylalanine can be successfully be used in this
reaction. Ordinary health food store alanine will react to give I ,2-diphenylethanolamine. N, NChapter
Eighteen
Cooking Your Own Ephedrine
185
dimethylalanine will give no reaction. Check out the Journal of the Phannaceutical Society of Japan Vol.
12, pages 8 1 2 to 8 1 5 ( 1 952) for a complete discussion of these results.
A great stroke of luck for meth cooks was published in 2007. It is a very easy and very high yielding
procedure for making N-methylalanine. It can be found in Tetrahedron Letters, Volume 48, pages 7680-
82. The reaction uses formaldehyde and zinc dust to do the methylation in water solvent containing partly
neutralized phosphoric acid. Formaldehyde can be picked up on the internet or from other sources at low
cost and with no heat attached as of 2009. A little bit goes a long way and the other materials can be
picked off shelves at stores.
The following procedure has been found to be an easy and very productive method tor making Nmethylalanine.
It is given on a 10 gr scale because larger amounts are not done easily with a magnetic
stirrer. The zinc dust is quite dense, but must be kicked up into solution to react.
To 200 ml water in a beaker or other container, add 1 6 ml phosphoric acid. The hardware store dairy
mi IkslOne remover phosphoric would work if account was taken of its weaker strength, and the detergent
extracted. Next add 9.5 gr of NaOH to form the monobasic sodium phosphate. Lye would substitute as
would bicarb or washing soda so long as the amount added was adj usted. Stir constantly. One should be
able to make a roughly equivalent buffer solution by adding 40 grams of hardware store trisodium
phosphate (TSP) to 200 ml of water, and then adding roughly 30 ml of hardware store hydrochloric acid.
I haven't tried this variation, but it should work and would be entirely supplied right off the hardware
store shelf.
Now to this mixture add 1 0 gr alanine (. 1 1 mole) from the health food store. It dissolves quite easily,
and the solution should be around 30 C from the neutralization of the phosphoric acid solution by lye.
Next add 1 0 ml ( . 1 4 mole) 37% tonnaldehyde, follow that with 1 5 gr zinc dust andstir for 45 minutes. I
know that is more than the Tetrahedron Letters article specified, but the amount of formaldehyde has
been backed down from the 1 .5 molar excess stated in that article to around 1 .2. Fonnaldehyde is toxic
and no doubt folks would do it in a kitchen. Less is more ... so increase reaction time ... besides that is the
ingredient that one would need to purchase.
One will note a constant fizzing noise from the reaction vessel as the zinc dust reacts and makes
hydrogen. The zinc gradually changes from grey to blue, and this is zinc phosphate. Zinc dust is easily
had, but one can make one's own by taking a piece of zinc metal such as pennies and grinding on a wheel
or with a file until they are reduced to grit and dust.
Now let the zinc settle, then filter the almost clear water solution leaving the zinc on the bottom of the
flask. It should filter clear water white through a couple of coffee tilters.
Add 50 ml of hot water to the settled blue zinc sludge on the bottom of the flask, and swirl for a bit.
Then let that settle. Filter off the water, and add this to the main charge of filtered water.
Now tor the important part. . . add bicarb powder slowly and with stirring until the p H reaches roughly
pH 7. One will need a pH meter, and make sure it is calibrated. Tap water should read within a few tenths
o f p l l 7, but buffer solutions are easy to get to calibrate a pH meter.
Once the pH has been adj usted to around 7, let the water clear solution sit in the fridge overnight. Great
hcavy masses of long needle shaped N- methyl alanine will form. Let the mass grow to its greatest extent.
It may take more than 1 2 hours to get the crystal growth to kick off. I f one has a seed crystal, it would be
very convenient.
When the crystal mass has stopped growing, filter it off. Then rinse it with some alcohol. .. at least
70'Yo . . . and set the crystals on a plate to dry. The alcohol dries the crystals and keeps them from becoming
bacteria food as they dry. Usc less than 50 mi.
Now the filtered liquid should be boiled down. This is another reason for using less fonnaldehyde.
Boiling the mixture makes the residual formaldehyde become part of the steam given off The mixture
will now be kind of yellow colored. Reduce the liquid volume by half and then add the alcohol rinse from
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the first crop of crystals. Then put this boiled down water liquid in the fridge to collect another crop of
crystals of N-methyl alanine. Total yield is about 1 0 gr after the crystals have dried. This would react
with benzaldehyde in OMSO solvent to give yields of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine which have not
been seen since the mid 90's.
This newer and much better cooking procedure was covered in detail during two conferences sponsored
by the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan in 2006 and 2007. The abstracts were published on line as
"Proceedings of the Symposium on Progress in Organic Reactions and Syntheses". The two papers in
question were presented at the 32"" and 33'd Symposiums by Yokoyama and Tsubaki. The easiest way to
google up these abstracts is by searching 33'd symposium or 32"" symposium. To get the full cooking
details requires some hands on cooking since they are less than willing to give the text of their
proceedings. Go figure on that one!
The preferred procedure is to react one mole of benzaldehyde with two moles of N-methylalanine in
DMSO solvent. Let's take a small scale example using 30 ml of benzaldehyde. It would react with 60
grams ofN-methylalanine to give roughly 25 to 30 grams of a mixture of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine
hydrochloride.
Now place 250 ml of OMSO into a suitable heating vessel such as a round bottom flask with reflux
condenser . . . or a lava lamp if you are ghetto . . . add a magnetic stir bar. . . and 60 gr of N-methyl alanine.
Then add 1 0 ml of the 30 ml of the benzaldehyde. It is best to add it in portions to save on the total
amount of OM SO solvent used. This makes the clean up at the end of the reaction much more practical.
Heat this mixture to about 1 30 C if one is using piperonal, but benzaldehyde will react at a lower
temperature. Look for the fizzing of C02 as your visual clue, and go with the lower temperature. Let it
fizz for an hour or so, then add the next \0 ml portion of the 30 ml total benzaldehyde add. Let it
similarly fizz for an hour before adding the last 1 0 ml portion of benzaldehyde.
After the last addition of benzaldehyde, let the mixture heat at the lowest tizzing temperature, and then
tum up the heat slowly. The max with benzaldehyde should be at about 1 30 C. Piperonal would react
much more easily, but allow the mixture to tizz to complete reation. Take no more than 6 hours on this
stage of the reaction. Just push up the heat to get it going.
Now for the new part of the reaction Uust discovered), "Vinegar", yes the really cheap distilled white
vinegar at the grocery store, greatly increases yield by breaking up a dimer complex the product forms.
At this scale, add 500 to 600 ml of that cheap grocery store vinegar, and swirl to mix it in. Then add from
50 to 1 00 ml of toluene or xylene. This solvent serves as a catcher for the BS we don't want.
You will note that after adding the two volumes of vinegar, the toluene or xylene now form a layer on
top of the DMSO and product layer. This is important as it is the crap catcher. The mixture now must be
heated to reflux boiling temperature for 3 to 6 hours to break up the dimer and give the greater yields one
wants. A lava lamp is unsuitable for this purpose.
Heat the mixture to boiling gently for three to six hours. Then let it cool. This has broken up the dimer.
Add about a shot glass of hardware store hydrochloric acid to the mixture and mix it in. This will assure
that all the ephedrine stays out of the toluene layer.
Now put the reaction into a sep funnel and shake it. Let this settle and the toluene layer on top would
have crap and unreacted benzaldehye in it. Put it aside for further work, the water layer underneath has
the product.
Next base the OMSO and water solution containing the ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Add a
solution of lye to it with sirring and shaking until the p H is 1 3 plus. This should not take all that much lye
to reach that level. Then add about 1 00 ml of toluene or xylene to extrtact the product. Save it. Extract
again with 50 ml of toluene or xylene.
Chapter Eighteen
Cooking Your Own Ephedrine
187
Wash the combined extracts with some water to rid them of DMSO, then let then sit to shed water and
then transfer to a dry beaker minus the water droplets, and bubble with dry HCL to give about 30 grams
of pure pseudoephedrine and ephedrine mixture as hydrochloride crystals. Keep water out of the dry HCI
bubbling mixture!
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Chapter Niueteen
MDA, Ecstasy (XTC), and Other Psychedelic Amphetamines
The psychedelic amphetamines are a fascinating and largely ignored group of drugs. They all have the
basic amphetamine carbon skeleton structure, but show effects that are more akin to LSD than to the
amphetamines. The LSD-like effect is due to the presence ofa variety of "add ons" to the benzene ring of
the basic amphetamine structure. Generally, these "add ons" are ether groupings on the 3, 4, or 5
positions on the benzene ring. Because of these "add ons" one can consider these compounds more
closely related to mescaline than to amphetamine. Consider the mescaline molecule pictured below.
Mescaline should by all rights be considered an amphetamine derivative. It has the basic
phenethylamine structure of the amphetamines with methyl ether groupings on the benzene ring at the 3,
4, 5 positions. To be a true amphetamine, it would only need its side chain extended by one carbon,
putting the nitrogen atom in the central, isopropyl position. Such a compound does in fact exist. It is
called trimethoxyamphetamine or TMA for short. Its effects are very similar to mescaline in much lower
dosage levels than the Y, gram required for pure mescaline. Its chemical cousin, TMA-2 (2, 4, 5
trimethoxyamphetamine) has similar awe-inspiring characteristics, More on this subject later.
The most popular and, in my opinion, the best of the psychedelic amphetamines are the members of
the MDA family. This family consists of MDA, and its methamphetamine analog, XTC, or Ecstasy, or
MDMA. MDA (3,4 methylenedioxyamphetamine) gives by far the best high of this group. Its effects can
best be described as being sort of like LSD without the extreme excited state caused by that substance. It
was popularly known as "the love drug" because of the calm state of empathy so characteristic of its
effect. It could also be a powerful aphrodisiac under the right circumstances.
This substance gradually disappeared during the early 80s due to an effective crimping upon the
chemicals needed for its easy manufacture.
This crimping, and the drug laws in effect at the time, gave rise to a bastard offspring of MDA. This
substance was XTC, or MDMA, the so-called Ecstasy of the drug trade. This material was a designer
variant of MDA, and so was legal. The chemicals needed to make it could be obtained without fear of a
bust. It also lacked the best qualities of its parent. While the addition of a methyl group of the nitrogen of
the amphetamine molecule accentuates its power and fine effect, the addition of a methyl group to the
MDA molecule merely served to make it legal. As fate would have it, the hoopla surrounding the
subsequent outlawing of this bastard child served to make it a more desired substance than MDA. This is
typical of black-market, prohibition-driven demand.
To understand the various routes which can be followed to make these substances, note the structures
of MDA and MDMA shown below:
Chapter Nineteen
MDA, Ecsta
189
MDA
To make these substances, and the rest of the psychedelic amphetamines for that matter, the
manufacturer has a choice of two starting materials. He can use the appropriately substituted
benzaldehyde, which in the case of MDA or M DMA is piperonal (heliotropin), or he can use the
correspondingly substituted allylbenzene, which in this case is safrole. These substances are pictured
below:
CHt-O 0
\, O-h<.yCi-H
Piperonal Safrole
Piperonal was the favored starting material for making M DA, as were the other substituted
benzaldehydes for making other psychedelic amphetamines. The supply of these raw materials was
effectively shut 01'1'. Piperonal does find legitimate use in making perfumes, but considerable
determination is needed to divert significant amounts of the stuff into clandestine operations.
Once obtained, these substituted benzaldehydes could be converted into amphetamines by an
interesting variant of the Knoevenagel reaction as described in Chapter Nine. They could be reacted in a
mixture of nitroethanc and ammonium acetate to form the appropriately substituted l -phenyl-2-
nitropropene, This nitropropene could then be reduced to the amphetamine by using lithium aluminum
hydride. For this recipe, see PIHKAL under M DA. The nitroalkene obtained by the reaction of piperonal
and nitroethane can also be reduced by the hydrogenation methods given in the Knoevenagal reaction
section of this book in a yield of around 50%. Similarly, the electric reduction method given in that
section can also be used. Now that both piperonal and nitroethane are List I chemicals, we would have to
concede that the narcnswine have won this round, and that this pathway can be considered for all
practical purposes to be dead.
This left satrole and the other substituted allyl benzenes, as starting materials for psychedelic
amphetamine manufacture. This route had the advantage of having a raw material source that was nearly
impossible to shut down if you are lucky enough to have a grove of sassafras trees nearby. For instance,
sassatras oil consists of 80-90% safrole. One merely has to distill the oil under a vacuum to get very pure
safrolc. Similarly, other psychedelic amphetamines can be made using essential oils that contain the
appropriately substituted allylbenzene or propenyl benzene as a major substituent. For instance, calamus
oil contains a large proportion of B-asarone, the starting material for TMA-2. Nutmeg contains a mixture
or myristicin ( potential MMDA) and elemicin ( potential TMA). These oils, with the exception of
sassatras oil, are all available from herbal supply shops and dealers in the occult. Even without this
source, the oils can be easily obtained trom the plants.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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190
o CH,
CH30 􀁏CH - CH -CH, 􀂜 Asarone
CH,O
Calamus oil is some interesting stuff1 Its composition depends upon the country the oil comes from.
Luckily, most of the oil on the market comes from India. The vast majority of oil from that country
contains about 80% B-asarone, although there are reports (see Journal of Indian Chemical Sodefl',
Vol ume 1 6, page 583, 1 939) that some oils from that country contain around 80% allylasarone.
Other major sources of commercial calamus oil are Japan and Europe. These oils contain lesser and
variable amounts of a-asarone. This is the cis-trans isomer of B-asarone. It differs in that a-asarone is a
solid at room temperature, and may precipitate out of oils upon cooling i n a freezer. It reacts i n the same
manner as B-asarone. Both can be obtained i n a pure form from the oil by fractional vacuum distillation.
On the topic of purifying essential oils, it has been proposed by other underground sources that
sassalfas oil can be purified by putting it in a freezer, allowing the safrole to solidify, and then fi ltering
out the solid safrole. Let me fill you in on the facts of the matter. Sassafras oil is very stable in a
supcrcooled state. You can put a bottle in a freezer for months, and never see a crystal of solid sahole
form. Believe me, I 've tried it. To get crystals to form, a seed crystal of solid !fozen sa!fole would have
to be added to the supercooled sassafras oil. Where do you get this seed crystal to start with') And at 80-
90'",0 pure safrole, the oil will then freeze into a virtual solid block, so what would fi lter out except the
safrole that begins melting during the fi ltering process?
This whole line of pursuit is a waste of time. Moreover, the small amounts of impurities are actually
benelicial if the HBr route is chosen for production of MDA or MDMA from the sassafras oil.
Starting with essential oils, how does one make the desired amphetamine from them? Let's take the
conversion of sassalras oil to MDA or MDMA as the example to illustrate the various processes which
can be used. If we go to PIHKAL, and read the recipe for MDA, you get the old classical procedure.
Salfole obtained !fom sassafras oil is Ilrst converted to isosafrole (a propenyl benzene). This is done by
putting sahole into a tlask, adding some 1 0% alcoholic KOH, and then warming the mixture up to 2430
C for 3 minutes. This isomerization works just fine so long as absolute alcohol is used, and the alcohol is
allowed to distill off. You know that you have gotten isomerization, because the boiling point of safrole
is 2330 C.
The isosalrole is then mixed with acetone, formic acid and hydrogen peroxide to give the glycol
mentioned in Chapter Ten. The reaction mixture is evaporated away under a vacuum and then the residue
in the Ilask is heated with sulfuric acid in alcohol solvent to give the phenyl acetone. The phenyl acetone
is then used to make the amphetamine by any of the methods given in this book.
My opinion on this method: "It's a lot of work, the yields are on the low side, and that evaporation of
the reaction mixture under the vacuum will destroy your aspirator and Peroxyformic acid is rough on
metal. Let's use the more direct approach'
Chapter Nineteen
MDA, Ecstacy (XTC), and Other Psychedelic Amphetamines
1 9 1
The first problem which confronts the chemist in the process of turning sassafras oil into MDA or
MDMA is the need to obtain pure safrole from it. In spite of the fact that crude sassafras oil consists of
gO-90% safrole, depending on its source, it is a good bet that the impurities will lower the yield of the
desired product. The axiom "garbage in, garbage out" was custom made for organic chemistry reactions.
It is simplicity itself to turn crude sassafras oil into pure safrole, and well worth the effon of underground
chemists bent on MDA production.
Sassafras oil is an orange-colored liquid with a smell just like licorice. It is a complex mixture of
substances which is easily purified by distilling. To obtain pure safrole from sassafras oil, the glassware
is set up as shown in Figure 1 3 in Chapter Three. The distilling flask is filled about 2/3 full of sassafras
oil. along with a few boiling chips, and then vacuum is applied to the system. A little bit of boiling results
due to water in the oil, but heat from the buffet range is required to get things moving. Water along with
eugenol and related substances distill at the lower temperatures. Then comes the safrole traction. The
safrole fraction is easily spotted because the "oil mixed with water" appearance of the watery forerun is
replaced with a clear, homogenous run of safrole. When the safrole begins distilling, the collecting tlask
is replaced with a clean new one to receive it. The chemist is mindful that the safrole product is 80-90%
of the total volume of the sassafras oil. Under a vacuum, it boils at temperatures similar to phenylacetone
and methamphetamine. When all the safrole has distilled a small residue of dark orange-colored liquid
remains in the distilling flask. The distilled safrole is watery in appearance, and smells like licorice.
With a liberal supply of safrole obtained by distilling sassafras oil, work can then commence on
convening it into 3, 4 methylenedioxyphenylacetone. This is done in exactly the same manner as
described in Chapter Ten. Any one of the three Wacker oxidations of the allylbenzene (satrole) to the
phcnylacetone (m-d-phenylacetone) can be used. When the essential oil contains a propenyl benzene
such as the B-asaronc in calamus oil, then the electric cell discussed in Chapter Ten and Praclical LSD
Manufacture should be used to get the phenyl acetone in high yield.
With the methylenedioxyphenylacetone obtained in this manner, the chemist proceeds to make it into
XTC by one of the methods used to turn phenyl acetone into meth. Of all the methods to choose trom, the
most favored one would have to be reductive alkylation using the bomb and platinum catalyst. The free
base is converted into crystalline hydrochloride salt in exactly the same manner as for making meth
crystals. It is interesting to note here that XTC crystals will grow i n the form of little strings in the ether
solution as the HCI gas is bubbled through it. Once filtered and dried, it bears a remarkable resemblance
to meth crystals. It generally has a faint odor which reminds one of licorice.
To make MDA from the methylenedioxyphenylacetone, one has three good choices. Choice number
one is to use the reductive ami nation method with a bomb, with Raney nickel catalyst and ammonia. See
joumal of the American Chemical Society, Volume 70, pages 28 1 1 - 1 2 ( 1 948). Also see Chemical
Ahslracts from 1 954, column 2097. This gives a yield around 80% if plenty of Raney nickel is used. The
drawback to this method is the need for a shaker device for the bomb, and also a heater.
A complete discussion of these two methods can be found in Chapter Twelve. The only difference is
that the substituted phenylacetone is used instead of regular phenyl acetone, and a substituted
amphetamine is produced as a result. One should also see Advanced Techniques of' Clandesline
Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manujaclure for a Convenient Tabletop MDA recipe using a Raney nickel
cathode to do the hydrogenation, and also for a convenient method of making ammonia-saturated alcohol.
MDA distills at about 1 500 C at aspirator vacuum of 20 torr, and MDMA will distill at around 1 600 C
under the same vacuum. Poorer vacuum will result in higher boiling temperatures.
Another method for convening methylenedioxyphenylacetone to MDA is the Leuckardt reaction. My
experience with mixing formam ide with phenylacetone to get amphetamine is that using anything other
than 99% formamide is a waste of time, You j ust get that red tar. Two ways have been found around that.
These variations use the much more easily available 98% formamidc. See Chemical A hslracls trom 1 953,
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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192
column 1 1 246. and Austrian patent 1 74,057. In this variation, 40 ml of methylenedioxyphenylacetone is
mixed with 1 1 0 ml of freshly vacuum-distilled lormamide, 2 ml glacial acetic acid, and 20 ml water. This
mixture is heated up to about 1 300 C, at which point bubbling should begin. Then the temperature is
slowly raised to keep the bubbling going, as described in Chapter Five, until a temperature of 1 500 C is
reached. This should take at least 5 hours. The yield is 70%, according to the patent.
Processing is then done just as in the case of meth. The tormamide is destroyed by boiling with lye
solution. I n this case, the ammonia gas which is produced is led away in plastic tubing. The formyl amide
is then separated, and hydrolyzed by refluxing in a mixture of 60 grams of KOH, 200 ml alcohol. and 50
ml water for an hour. After the reflux, the mixture is made acid with HCI, and the alcohol evaporated
away under a vacuum. The residue is then diluted with water, and the free base obtained by making the
solution strongly alkaline to litmus by adding lye solution. The free base is then extracted out with some
toluene, and distilled. Most people don't get close to the 70% yield claimed in the patent for this method.
Another choice is to use the European Variation of the leuckardt reaction, given in Chapter Five. The
last I heard from Geert, the heat was closing in on him, but he was going to pass along an XTC recipe
that is very popular over there. He says that they do it in an icebox' I haven't heard trom him since, and
that was nearly 4 years ago. This space is dedicated to him.
The last choice is a very simple, but also very time-consuming (several days') reaction. Sodium
cyanoborohydride in methanol with ammonium acetate and methylenedioxyphenylacetone at pH 6 react
to give disappointing yields of MDA. See PIHKAL by Dr. Shulgin in the section under MDA. for full
cooking instructions.
Reference: PsychedeliCS Encyclupedia by Peter Stafford.
The recommended dosage of MDA or XTC is about a tenth of a gram of pure material. TMA-2 is 40
mill igrams.
The other good synthetic route of making MDA, MDMA and related psychedelic amphetamines from
the substituted allyl benzenes found in essential oils such as sassafras oil is a two-step procedure
involving first reacting the substituted allylbenzene (e.g., safrole from sassafras oil) with HBr to make the
corresponding phenyl-substituted 2-bromopropane. Then this substance is mixed with an alcohol solution
containing excess ammonia or methylamine to yield MDA or MDMA from, tor example, sa!l·ole. Heating
is required to get a good yield of product. Details on this procedure are found in the chapter covering the
production of meth or benzedrine from benzene and allyl chloride (Chapter Twenty One). The reason
why it is in that chapter is because the final step of heating the 2-bromopropane compound with ammonia
or methylamine solution is pretty much identical. Some further commentary on this route not found in
that chapter is called for.
The addition of HX (HCI, HBr, H I ) to a double bond is a general reaction, meaning most all double
bonds, other than those found in benzene rings, will add HX. Of these three acids, HBr adds most easily
to double bonds. It is also the only one that will add abnormally, meaning that one can get, besides the 2-
bromopropane. the 3-bromopropane also. Exposure to strong light or oxidizing substances promotes the
abnormal addition, so this reaction shouldn't be done in full sunlight.
The strength of the HBr used in reaction has a great effect upon the yield and speed of the reaction
with safrole, the less free water floating around in the acid the better it reacts with safrole. Dry H Br gas
will react best with safrole followed closely by 70% H Br, while the ACS reagent 48% H Br is practically
useless as is.
Another point to be aware of is cleavage of the methylenedioxy ether by HX. HI is much better at
cleaving this ether than is H Br, which is better than HCI. It is because of "ether" cleavage that the
temperature during this reaction must not be allowed to rise above the stated limits in the procedures
Chapter Nilleteen
MDA, Ec.5tacy (XTC), and Other Psychedelic Amphetamine .•
1 93
given in this book. If your magnetic stirrer gets warm while working, the batch must be insulated from
this source of heat.
An obvious variation upon this procedure which would pop into the head of any thinking chemist
reading this tract would center around adding dry HCI to safrole by bubbling dry HCl through a toluene
solution of sassafras oil to get the 2-<:hloropropane, and reacting this substance with ammonia or
methylamine like the other phenyl-2-chloropropanes listed in the Journal oj' the American Chemical
Society article cited in the meth or benzedrine from benzene and allyl chloride chapter in this book. My
observations on this route will be useful if someone is contemplating this procedure.
First of all, dry HCI adds only slowly to safrole at room temperature. A toluene solution of sassafras
oil literally reeking with HC\, sealed up and kept at an average temperature of 900 F for three weeks,
resulted in only about 10% conversion of the safrol e to chlorosafrole. No doubt, some further heat must
be applied to the mixture to get reasonably complete conversion of the safrole to chlorosafrole. HCI
doesn 't cleave ethers very well, so this can be considered safe.
How does this observation jibe with the Journal of the American Chemical Society article in which
they postulate that when allyl chloride adds to benzene or substituted benzene, the 2-ch!orophcnylpropanes
are the result of HC! adding to the double bond of the allylbenzene? Either the theory
was mistaken, or iron chloride is a catalyst for adding HCI to the double bond. I haven't yet checked this
OUl personally, but it's worth a try.
Further, once one has chlorosafrole, what good is it? See the above cited Journal o{ the American
Chemical Socic(V article. You will note that the yields obtained converting similar phenyl-substituted
ether 2-chloropropanes is pretty low, down near 10%. That's why bromosalrole is used to make MDA or
MDMA. The bromine atom is much more easily replaced with ammonia than is chlorine. It's termed a
better leaving group. The iodine atom is a much better leaving group than is the bromine atom, so even
better results should be had reacting iodosafrole with ammonia or methylamine. One would expect that
lower temperatures could be used, maybe even room temperature. This would avoid all the tar formed as
a byproduct when heating bromosafrole.
Chlorosafrole can be converted to iodosatro!e by refluxing one mole of ch lorosafrole with 2 moles of
sodium iodide in a saturated solution in acetone for about 1 5 minutes to \" hour. After cooling this
reaction mixture, the sodium chloride that precipitates out of solution is filtered. Then the acetone is
taken otT under a vacuum. The resulting residue of iodosafrole and Nal crystals is extracted with toluene
to remove the product from the Nal crystals, which can be reused. This toluene extract is shaken with
water containing some sodium thiosulfate and a little HCI. This destroys iodine formed by decomposition
of the Nal. Snorting iodine really sucks. Exposure to light speeds the decomposition of Nal to iodine,
especially in solution. Experimenters using this procedure are invited to write in with their results.
A linal word needs to be said about the Ritter reaction. Since safrole and related allyl benzenes from
essential oils are all ally!benzenes, one would assume that the R itter reaction would be directly
applicable to them. Such is not the case. See Chemical Abstracts, Volume 22, page 86, for an article
titled " Cleavage of the Mcthylenedioxy Group." Here they detail how concentrated sulfuric acid quickly
cleaves the methylenedioxy group. As a consequence, brave experimenters wishing to use the Ritter
reaction to make MDA must use the substitutes for sulfuric acid which are listed in the Journal o( the
American Chemical Society article cited in Chapter Fourteen.
Substitutes include methanesulfonic acid and polyphosphoric acid. Directions for how to make the
latter from phosphoric acid and P205 are to be found in the Merck Index. A final caveat for those trying
to make chlorosafrole is also to be found in that article. The article states that fuming HCI, heated to 1 00°
to 1 300 C in a sealed tube, is a potent cleaver of Ihe methylenedioxy group. Heating of safrole with dry
I lel must be held well below this level.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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Know Your Essential Oils
Sassafras Oil - contains about 80-90% safrole. This is purified by fractional vacuum distillation. The
boiling point of safrole is 2340 C at normal pressure, about 1 200 C with an aspirator and 1 050 at 6
torr Yields MDA with ammonia or MDMA (XTC) with methylamine, dosage I I I 0 gram.
Calamus Oil - that of Indian origin contains 80% B-asarone, oil from other areas contains much less
asarone. Boiling point is 2960 C at normal pressure, and 1 670 C at 1 2 tOIT. Yields TMA-2. Dosage is
40 mg.
Indian Dill Seed Oil - contains up to 53% dill apiol (3, 4-methylene-dioxy-5, 6-dimethoxy-allylbenzene).
Boiling point is 2960 C with decomposition at normal pressure. Aspirator vacuum will
distill it at about 1 70° C. Yields DMMDA-2, dosage about 50 mg.
Nutmeg Oil - contains 0-3% safrole, and 0- 1 3% myristicin ( 3 , 4-methylene-dioxy-5-methoxy
allylbenzene). The boiling point at 1 5 tOIT is 1 500 C. Yield M M DA, dosage 80 mg.
Mace Oil - contains 1 0% myristicin.
Parsley Seed Oil - contains 0-80% parsley apiol (2-methoxy-3,4-methylene-dioxy-S-methoxyallylbenzene).
Its boiling point is 2920 C at normal pressure, and 1 790 C at 34 tOIT. It yields
DMMDA, dosage about 75 mg. This oil may also contain 1 0-77% myristicin.
Oil of Bitter Almonds - contains around 95% benzaldehyde. This is a precursor to phenylacetone or
amphetamine.
Oil of Cinnamon - contains 80-90% cinnamaldehyde. This can be reduced to allyl benzene with
borohydride.
WARNING! ! Some wholesale distributors of essential oils are being leaned upon to give up their
customer lists. The heat wants to know who is buying sassafras oil, and oil of bitter almonds. They will
soon want to know who is getting cinnamon oil, after this book hits the streets. Oils fall under the
detinition of "mixture" in the chemical division act, and so did not used to be subject to regulation. In the
latest version of CFR 2 I , the DEA has decided that it now has control over mixtures containing List One
chemicals.
They simply decide by themselves if the List One chemical is "easily obtained" from the mixture.
Buying retail is still completely safe, if you are lucky enough to find sassafras oil on any retail shelves.
Be warned'
References
PfHKAL by Dr. Shulgin
The Essential Oils by Ernest Guenther
Psychedelics Encyclopedia by Peter Stafford
Chapter Twenty
Ice
Chapter Twenty
Ice
195
At the time of the writing of the second edition, the latest drug craze was the smoke- able form of
methamphetamine called "'ice." At the writing of this seventh edition, this material was still popular, with
most usage being confined to those with serious drug problems.
I'm not going to endorse or encourage the foolhardy practice of smoking meth. Seeing firsthand what
this stuff does to rubber stoppers, corks, and razor blades, I can only imagine what it does to lung tissue.
My opinion on this practice is similar to my opinion on injecting the substance. If snorting the
hydrochloride salt doesn 't get you as wired as you could ever want to get, it is time to give up and find
something else to fill your spare time with.
I have never made nor used "'ice" as such, but I can tell you how to get smokable forms of meth. Since
the godless importers of this stuff have already created a market for it, it's only right that I help American
technology catch up.
The regular hydrochloride salt is not ideally suited for smoking, as a lot of the product will get charred
during the heating. The free base is quite smokable, but it is a liquid, and as such is not easily sold, as it
is unfamiliar. I will cover this matter from two angles: a home technique that works well to base your
personal stash for smoking, and a more large-scale procedure for commercial use.
To base your stash and smoke it, mix your stash with an equal amount of bicarb, and then with a
dropper, drip a little water onto it with stirring to make a paste. Now take some aluminum foil, and with
your finger indent a well into it about an inch deep. Into this well put some of the paste, and heat it tram
underneath with a lighter. Suck up the smoke with a straw.
For making a crystal line yet volatile derivative of meth similar to crack rocks, one just recrystallizes
the nicely small crystals one gets by bubbling dry HCI through toluene. Crank rocks similar to crack
rocks are pretty simple to make also. These would be just big crystals of pure meth hydrochloride. To get
such big rocks, just dissolve the meth hydrochloride into a minimum amount of alcohol. Then let the
alcohol evaporate away. As it evaporates away, it will make pretty large crystals of meth hydrochloride.
An alternative recrysallization solvent would be acetone containing a bit of water. This will evaporate
away faster, but give more of a tell tale smell.
Secrets of Metbamphetamine Manufacture
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Chapter Twenty One
Calibrating the Vacuum
I3dore he starts doing the vacuum distillations described in this book, the underground chemist needs
to know what kind of vacuum he is able to produce inside his glassware. This is important because the
temperature at which a substance distills under vacuum depends directly on how strong the vacuum is.
Unless otherwise stated, the distillation temperatures given in this book assume a vacuum of about 20
torr tor an aspirator and about 5 torr for a vacuum pump. This chapter describes an easy method by which
the chemist finds out just how strong his vacuum is. Once he knows how good his vacuum is, he adjusts
the temperatures of his distillations accordingly. The better the vacuum, the lower the temperature at
which the substance will distill. He keeps in mind that an aspirator will get a better vacuum in winter
because the water flowing through it is colder in that season. The vacuum obtained with a vacuum pump
may get poorer over time because solvents from the chemicals he is distilling, such as benzene, may
dissolve in the pump's oil. If this happens, he changes the oil.
To begin, the chemist sets up the glassware for fractional distillation as shown in Figure 1 3 in Chapter
Three. He uses a 500 ml round bottom flask for the distilling flask, and a 250 ml flask as the collecting
flask. He uses the shorter condenser, and puts 3 boiling chips in the distilling flask along with 200 ml of
lukewarm water. He lightly greases all the ground glass joints. (This is always done when distilling,
because the silicone grease keeps the pieces from getting stuck together, and seals the joint so that it
doesn 't leak under the vacuum. )
100
BB
75
62 Boiling y""',
C temperature
of water
50
37
25
1 2 wi' Normal air pressure \ 0\ 􀅉 '" 'iii
􀁈 􀂣
He turns on the vawum full force and attaches the vacuum hose to the vacuum nipple of the vacuum
adapter. The water in the distilling flask should begin boiling immediately. As the water boils away. the
temperature shown on the thermometer steadily drops. Finally, the water gets cold enough that it no
longer hoi Is. He notes the temperature reading when this happens, or better yet, disconnects the vacuum
and takes apart the glassware and takes the temperature of the water in the distilling flask. Using a graph
such as the one above, he reads off the vacuum that goes with the boiling temperature.
Ii' his vacuum is bad, the water will not boil. In that case, he checks to make sure that all the joints are
tight. and that the stopper in the c1aisen adapter fractionating column is not leaking. He also makes sure
that his vacuum hose is not collapsed. If, after this, the water still doesn't boil, he has to heat the water.
He turns on the buff"t range at low heat while continuing the vacuum. In a while the water begins
boiling. He checks the temperature reading on the thermometer while it is boiling, and notes the
temperature. From the graph he reads off the vacuum that goes with that boiling point.
Chapter Twenty One
Calibrating the Vacuum
1 9 7
H i s vacuum should be 5 0 torr or lower to b e able to make methamphetamine. If his vacuum reading i s
more than 50 torr, h e gets a new aspirator or changes the oil in the vacuum pump.
The chemist can lise this information to adjust the temperature at which he collects his distilled
product. The boiling temperature of phenyl acetone is about 1 05° C at 1 3 torr, and about 1 1 50 C at 20
torr. The boiling temperature of N-methylforrnamide is about l OT C at 20 torr. The boiling temperature
of methamphetamine is about the same as phenyl acetone. Phenylacetone and methamphetamine should
be collected over a 20-degree range centered on their true boiling points. This makes sure that the
chemist gets all of it. The purilleation scheme he goes through before distilling removes all the impurities
with boiling points close to that of his product.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
1 98
Chapter Twenty Two
Production from Allylchloride and Benzene
At present there are a few viable options left for large-scale manufacture of meth or benzedrine.
Phenylacetic acid, benzyl cyanide, and even benzyl chloride are all history. At the time I was writing the
Fourth Edition, I had just heard that benzaldehyde and nitroethane had also j ust been added to the
Chemical Diversion reporting list. Allylbenzene is now toast too, although it was never a big item of
commerce anyway. This dwindling selection of raw materials is the result of the Chemical Diversion and
Trafticking Act of 1 988 discussed in Chapter One. Over the years, a continually lengthening list of
chemicals has been subject to reporting requirements when sold. These sales reports then go to the DEA,
which sorts through the ever-increasing number of reports to try to develop leads. As you can well
imagine, the more chemicals listed, the more chaff there is mixed with the wheat, and the less effective
this snoopervision scheme is. It is my lifelong aim to get every chemical under the sun put on this
reporting list, with the end result being that none of them are on a list.
In keeping with this spirit, there are a couple of good methods left out there that are suitable for scaling
up to an industrial level of production, while using materials which are not subject to reporting. Sharpen
your pencils. and order fast before they are gone. The reporting list has closely mirrored each of my
previous editions, and I expect no change in this pattern.
One of these good remaining methods will be presented in this chapter. For the original report on this
quite versatile synthetic route. see Journal of the American Chemical Society, Volume 68. pages 1 009-1 1
( 1 946). The route is a hiedel-Krafts alkylation of benzene with allyl chloride to yield l -phenyl-2-
chloropropane. Then this is reacted with methylamine or ammonia to give meth or benzedrine,
respectively.
15' FeCI, 'Y + CH,-CH-CH,CI --'􀎜􀎝
Ben2ene AI¥ chlOride
1.
[ OCH" CH-CH, + Hel } - o-CH1-CCIH -CH,
1· phenyl.2.chloropropane
2. OCH1-􀂛NHH,C Hl Benzedri ne
The first reaction is your typical Friedel-Krafts alkylation, with the complication that the Hel
produced in the reaction then goes on to add to the double bond according to Markonikov's Rules to
yield l -phenyl-2-chloropropane trom the intermediate allylbenzene. The yield from this reaction I S
unavoidably on the low side because of the tendency of the product to then further go on to react with
Chapter Twenty Two
Production from Allylchloride and Benzene
199
either benzene to give I ,2,-diphenylpropane, or with more allyl chloride to give multiple-ring substituted
products. These can removed by a fractional distillation, so getting a pure product is no problem, but the
yield is going to be only about 35% based upon the allyl chloride used. Unreacted benzene can be
recycled back into tuture batches to cut chemical consumption.
To do the reaction, a suitable glass or stainless-steel reaction vessel is chosen. A 1 000 ml roundbottom
tlask is perfect, but substitutes such as the stainless-steel canister tlask depicted in Chapter One
will work fine. The size batch given here is right at the upper limit for which magnetic stirring will work.
If this procedure is scaled up, only mechanical stirring will work to get the FeCI3 up otf the bottom of the
tlask. Moisture is harmtul to this reaction, so be sure that the vessel is dried, and that the reactants are
free of water.
Now nestle this vessel into an ice-salt bath, and add 360 ml benzene, then 32 grams anhydrous ferric
chloride. When the contents have chilled down to about _200 C (with strong stirring), slowly with stirring
add 76 grams (80 ml) of allyl chloride. This addition should take about two hours, and is best done
dropwise. After the addition is done, continue stirring for another two hours. The reaction mixture will
fume a little HCI, so some ventilation is called for. Don't allow the temperature to climb above _ 1 00 C.
Next, pour the reaction mixture into a one-gallon glass jug containing I kilo of crushed ice and 1 00 ml
of concentrated hydrochloric acid. Stopper the jug, and shake until the ice has melted. Now separate otf
the benzene layer tloating on top of the water by use of a sep funnel, and wash this benzene layer with
some dilute hydrochloric-acid solution, and then with some distilled water.
Next, filter this benzene solution, and dry it over some anhydrous CaS04. This drying is important
because removal of water prior to distillation allows direct recycling of the distilled benzene. I f the water
was carefully separated off the benzene layer, about 1 0 grams of CaS04 in contact with the solution for
y, hour should do the trick.
Now distill this solution through a c1aisen adapter without glass packing to get a rough separation of
thc components. The unreacted benzene distills first at a temperature of 800 C or so. When nearly all of
the Llnreacted benzene has distilled, the receiving tlask should be changed, and a vacuum applied, slowly
at fIrst so as not to cause too vigorous boiling, then at tull force. The product, I -phenyl-2-chloropropane,
distills at about 800 C at a vacuum of 1 0 torr. Tarry gunk remains in the tlask, and should be cleaned out
with solvent at the end of the distillation.
The crude product should be redistilled through a fractionating column under vacuum to get pure
product. The yield is about 50 ml. The recycled benzene should be stored in a sealed bottle until reuse.
This second step of production is also to be found in Journal of the American Chemical Societv,
Volume 68, pages 1 009-1 I ( 1 946). It is the ammonolyis of the l -phenyl-2-chloropropane with either
methylamine or ammonia to yield meth or benzedrine respectively. This reaction is done in alcohol
solution with heating inside a sealed steel pipe. The sealed steel pipe is required because the reaction is
done at the temperature above the normal boiling point of the solvent, so a pressure vessel must contain
the reactants. The main competing side reactions are further reaction of the product with l -phenyl-2-
chloropropane to give a high molecular weight secondary or tertiary amine. This is suppressed by using a
large excess of arnmonia or methylamine. Also, the l -phenyl-2-chloropropane can react with the alcohol
solvent to form an ether. It's also possible for the chloropropane to react with water to give the
corresponding alcohol. Just plain tar formation is also prevalent. A yield of about 50°;', and 60% is
obtained for benzedrine and meth respectively, based upon the amount of l -phenyl-2-chloropropane
used.
Now, let's vary from the procedure given in the article. In the article they j ust mixed strong ammonium
hydroxide (28% NH3) into methyl or ethyl alcohol. Then they mixed in the l -phenyl-2-chloropropane,
and heated the mixture inside a pipe. They said that they got the same yield of meth or benzedrine with
this watery reaction mixture as they did with a dry one. That may be the case. However, if phenyl
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substituted starting materials are used, such as bromosafrole, all one will get is tar from this watery
reaction mixture,
Perhaps this presence of water explains why they got such low yields Irom the other chloropropanes
they made in their experiments. It is your Uncle's opinion that a lairly dry reaction mixture should
always be used. The best way to get this dry reaction mixture is to add anhydrous ammonia from a
cylinder to the alcohol. First cool down the cylinder and the alcohol in a freezer, then invert the cylinder.
crack open the valve (strong ventilation ! ), and add about 1 00 ml of liquid ammonia in about 400 ml of
alcohol solvent for each 50 ml of l -phenyl-2-chloropropane or bromosatrole used in the reaction. An
alternative method of making fairly dry alcohol solutions of ammonia is given in Advanced Techniques of
Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphelamine Manll{aclure.
This same method can be used to get alcohol solutions of methylamine, or one could place some
methylamine free base in water solution inside a distilling flask, and apply heat to force the vapors up
through the ice cold condenser, and then through some tubing into a chilled and stirred beaker of alcohol.
See Chapter Four for a diagram of such an apparatus.
Let's further vary from the procedure given in the article. They used methyl or ethyl alcohol as solvent.
One of the side reactions is with the alcohol solvent to form an ether with the phenyl-2-chloropropane or
bromosafrole. If one substitutes a secondary alcohol such as isopropyl alcohol, this reaction is less likely
to occur. Virtually pure and water free isopropyl alcohol is easily available. It is a product called Isoheet
gas line de-icer. Look for it at the gas station or hardware store. This will give better yields than methyl
or ethyl alcohol. One would naturally wonder if replacing the alcohol solvent with something inert like
toluene wouldn't further improve yields. Maybe; give it a try.
So now we have a solution of 50 ml of the chloro or bromo propane in about 400 ml of solvent just
saturated with ammonia or methylamine. Now pour this sol􀽶tion into one or a series of steel pipes. They
should be threaded at each end so that the caps may be screwed on at both ends like a pipe bomb. The
plumbing section at the hardware store i s well stocked with these parts. Screw the cap on tightly when
filled.
The reader should be aware that commercial steel pipe and caps are heavily galvanized with zinc. The
zinc must be stripped off prior to use in the procedures outlined in this book. Zinc is stripped off by
immersing both the pipe and the end cap in 5'1'0 hydrochloric acid solution until the violent bubbling
slows to a crawl. Then the pipe and caps should be thoroughly rinsed otT in clean water and then
assembled. A pipe wrench will be required to get the caps on tight enough to prevent leakage while
cooking.
This degalvanizing process can lead to some confusion as to when the zinc has been removed. Take lor
example this conversation I had on the Net:
Posted by piper on March 03, 1 99X at 1 0:04:37
DEGAL V ANIZING
What if someone were stripping the zinc from galvanized pipe, and that went good, but the end caps have
been going for two days now. and there is STILL zncl2 coming off them. Someone needs those caps
soon' Can the process be accelerated? Just up the strength of the HCI solution" Maybe some DC current"
Also, Teflon tape melted (a.. 1 30° C. What's up with that') Is it bad"
Posted by Uncle Fester on March 06, 1 998 at 1 7 : 2 1 :27
In Reply to: Re: DEGAL V AN1ZrNG-hypothetically' Posted by metal man on March 06, 1 99H at
04:59:06
Metal Man is correct when he states that concentrated nitric will strip plates off steel without
attacking the steel. If, however a little bit of water gets in the mixture, the steel will be history. The end
Chapter Twenty Two
Production from Allylchloride and Benzene
201
caps of pipes have the thickest amount of zinc on the inside. I strip zinc off steel all the time at work. The
end caps should have been completely stripped within a couple of hours using 5-7% HCI. That's conc.
HCI diluted 6 to 7 times. Under that zinc is mild steel. It too will fizz in HCI solution, but much slower.
Using a scrub pad, one can go into that end cap and scrub off the surface layer of gunk that forms while
metals are being stripped. Zinc while it dissolves will be black. Exposed iron or mild steel will be a
brighter color. After rinsing, application of some copper sulfate solution will show exposed steel. The old
copper displacement reaction, leaving a copper deposit. For a part to take two days to strip in HC!, either
such a small amount of HCI solution was used that it has been exhausted by the stripping action, or the
dissolution of the underlying iron has been mistaken for more stripping of zinc.
This possible source of confusion can be eliminated by using stainless-steel pipes and caps rather than
galvanized steel. These can be used as is, without any treatment.
Now with the reaction mixture inside the pipe, it's time to heat the mixture. For production of meth or
benzedrine from l -phenyl-2-chloropropane, the preferred heating procedure is to heat at 1 600 C for about
9 hours. For production of MDA or MDMA from bromosafrole, the preferred heating is at about 1 250 C
for 3 to 4 hours. One does this heating by putting a pan with cooking oil on a stove burner, and then
immersing the pipes in the cooking oil. The temperature of the oil bath is then held at the desired
temperature for the required period of time.
Alier the cooking period is complete, the pipes are removed from the heating bath, and allowed to cool
down. Once they have cooled, they can be opened, and the contents poured into a distilling flask. Most
all of the alcoholic ammonia or methylamine should be distilled otT. In the case of methylamine, great
care should be taken to catch its vapors for reuse. This is done using that apparatus shown in Chapter
Four, making a fresh load of methylamine in alcohol for use in the next run. The last portion of alcohol
should be removed using a vacuum, down to a volume of about 1 00 ml.
The residue in this flask should be shaken very vigorously with 1 0')'0 HCI solution. This converts the
amine products into their hydrochlorides, which are water-soluble. The shaking should continue for at
least 5 - 1 0 minutes to get all of the product extracted out of the gunky tar matrix. Now extract this 1 0%
solution which contains the product with a couple 50 ml portions of toluene. This removes entrained
gunk. Finally, make the solution strongly alkaline to litmus with lye. This generates a lot of heat, and
should be done cautiously with shaking between adds of lye. When the solution is strongly alkaline,
shake vigorously for about 5 minutes more, then check again the pH of the water to make sure it is still
quite alkaline. There should be a healthy amphetamine layer floating on top of the water. With the hot
water, it will give a strong aroma of amphetamine when sniffed. Cool the solution, and extract with two
50 ml portions of toluene.
The toluene extracts contain the amphetamine. This should be distilled in the usual manner as
described in Chapter Five to yield about 25 ml of amphetamine or meth. This is converted to the
hydrochloride salt as also described i n Chapter Five, to give about an ounce of pure benzedrine or meth.
This procedure can be scaled up as desired. In case you were wondering, the boiling point of benzedrine
free base is about 1 5 ° C lower than meth.
Distilling must be done when using this method, because there is just no other way to remove the
higher amines made as byproducts. If one is making MDA by this method, those higher amines produce a
scary and paranoid trip. I f one can't distill, this method shouldn't be used.
Making Bromosafrole from Safrole, and I-phenyl-2-bromopropane From Allylbenzene
To lise this "pipe bomb" method to make MDA or M D M A from bromosafrole or amphetamine and
meth tram l -phenyl-2-bromopropane, one of course first needs the bromo compound. Good luck tinding
that stllff Luckily, it's not a very complicated procedure to cook your own. Let's take, for example,
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making I -phenyl-2-bromopropane from allylbenzene. Allylbenzene was covered back in Chapter Nine.
It's pretty easily made from cinnamon oil, or cinnamaldehyde. This conversion to the bromo compound
and then the "pipe bomb" reaction is the alternative route to the Wacker oxidations to phenyl acetone.
Both routes are quite practical, and can be scaled up at will. Directions for making l -phenyl-2-
bromopropane can be found in the Journal oj Biological Chemistry, Volume 1 08, pages 622-23, by H .E.
Carter. Reaction with hydrobromic acid gives the bromopropane from allyl benzene:
(O)-CH,-CH =CH, Allylbenzene
+ Hlr 􀎛
ar ©-CH2-􀁎HCH, 1.phenyl-2-bromopropane
His procedure is to put 200 ml of glacial acetic acid in a bottle along with 200 ml of 48% hydrobromic
acid. This mixture is chilled in an ice bath, then 1 00 ml of allyl benzene is added to the bottle. A stopper
is wired in place on the boltle, and the mixture is slowly allowed to come to room temperature with
occasional shaking. After 1 0 to 1 2 hours, the original two layers merge into a clear red solution. After 24
hours, the contents of the bottle are poured onto crushed ice.
When the ice has melted, the I -phenyl-2-bromopropane will have formed an oily dark liquid layer
separate from the acid-water solution. It may be at the bottom of the beaker if lots of crushed ice was
used, or it may be t10ating on the top if less was used. This crude product should be separated from the
acid-water using a sep funnel. Then the acid-water should be extracted with about 1 00 ml of toluene.
This extract should be added to the crude product. The combined extract and crude product are then
washed with water, and the with bicarb solution. Fizzing from then bicarb solution will be produced as it
neutralizes acid in the crude product, so beware of pressure building up in the sep funnel. Always wear
eye protection so that the mists of this stuff doesn't end up in your eyes.
Then when all the acid has been neutralized as shown by lack of fizzing when put in contact with fresh
bicarb solution, the toluene-bromopropane solution should be placed in a distilling flask, and fractionally
distilled to remove the toluene-water azeotrope, and then the remaining toluene solvent. When the
toluene has mostly distilled away, a vacuum should be applied and the l -phenyl-2-bromopropane
distilled. I t will boil at a temperature similar to phenyl acetone, roughly at 1 200 C under a good aspi rator
vacuum of around 20 torr. Less etTicient vacuum will result in higher boiling points. The yield is around
235 grams ( 1 80 ml).
So that method using 48% HBr apparently works tine with allylbenzene. When using substituted
allyl benzenes such as safrole, however, it is quite useless. There is just too much water in the reaction
mixture (48% HBr is 52% water), and the HBr in the mixture just refuses to add to the double bond to
give bromosafrole. The general method, which works equally well with allylbenzene or the safrole found
in sassafras oil, can be found in the Journal oj the American Chemical Society. The paper dates to 1 946.
Volume 68, pages 1 805-6.
In this general procedure, the chemists mixed 1 00 ml of allylbenzene with 250 ml of glacial acetic
acid. One could simply add 1 00 ml sassafras oil with 250 ml of acetic acid and get basically the same
solution. Then to this solution with rapid stirring, they bubbled a rapid stream of anhydrous HBr gas from
a cylinder for a period of about two hours, while keeping the mixture cooled with an ice bath. The fumes
of HBr are injurious, so ventilation out a window or working outside is recommended. The bubbling of
HBr produced the formation of two layers in the reaction mixture. Then they added 200 ml more glacial
acetic acid to make a homogenous solution, and kept the mixture cold overnight.
Chapter Twenty Two
Production from A llylchloride and Benzene
203
In the morning, they poured this reaction mixture onto ice, and recovered the bromo compound in
exactly the same way as in the first example. This general method is good, but that HBr in a cylinder isn't
that easy to come by, and the dangerous fumes from the bubbling are something one would want to
avoid. There is a way around that.
Thirty-six percent HBr in glacial acetic acid is commercially available. This makes doing the reaction
much simpler. One just mixes one volume of sassafras oil or allylbenzene with two or three volumes of
ice cold 36% HBr in acetic acid, and then stirs the mixture with cooling for about a day. Then upon
pouring the mixture onto ice, the bromosafrole or l -phenyl-2-bromopropane is recovered just as in the
first example. Bromosafrole smells a lot like phenyl acetone, and its boiling point is about the same as md-
phenylacetone, around 1 50- 1 60° C under a vacuum of about 20 torr.
So how much water can you have in the acid, and still get bromosafrole from sassafras oil" See Chern.
Ahstracts 1 96 1 , column 1 4350.
Unfortunately, it uses 70% HBr, a quite uncommon reagent. To do this procedure, a beaker containing
1 00 ml of 70% HBr is chilled to 0° C in an ice bath. Then, with stirring, 50 ml of sassafras oil is added
dropwise. The stirring and cooling is continued for an additional 1 4 hours, then the mixture is poured
onto a few hundred grams of crushed ice. This mixture is stirred or shaken until the ice melts, then the
product is extracted with ether or toluene. The organic layer should then be separated, and washed with
some water, followed by some bicarb solution, to remove traces of acid. The solvent is then evaporated
away, either by distillation or under a vacuum to give a virtually 1 00% yield of the product,
bromosafrole. Its aroma is similar to phenylacetone.
Let's suppose that all one can get is the standard ACS reagent 48% HBr in water. How can one get
bromosafrole using this stuff' If one looks in the Journal of the A labama A cademy alScience, Volume
64, pages 34-48 ( 1 993), one can find a claimed method. It uses the standard ACS reagent HBr, which is
48% strength. In this variation, 50 ml of sassafras oil, 250 ml of 48% HBr, and a magnetic stirring bar at
least one inch in length are placed in a 500 ml volumetric flask. The top is stoppered to keep the nasty
vapors inside (HBr is bad to breathe), and fast stirring is continued for one week at room temperature. A
layer of cardboard between the stirrer and the flask will help keep the stirrer from warming up the
solution. Within a few hours, the reaction mixture takes on the color of a cheap burgundy. A homogenous
mixture never results. When stirring stops, the product just floats on top of the acid. At the end of the
week of stirring, the bromosafrole is isolated just as in the above method. Two hundred and fifty grams
of crushed ice are used. It is best if the product is distilled to recover unreacted safrole, and remove the
colored matter. Bromosalrole distills at about 1 60° C with aspirator vacuum. Note here that the Alabama
article chemists used their crude bromosafrole without distilling it, and got quite pure XTC as the
product. Others and I have found that 48% HBr is quite ineffective in reaction with safrole.
An alternative procedure using 48% HBr gives superior results. 48% HBr can be dehydrated to HBr
gas upon contact with phosphorus pentoxide, P205. Sulfuric acid can't be used as the dehydrator because
it breaks the HBr down to bromine gas. To use this variation, a gas bubbler is set up as shown in Figure
20. In the round bottom flask, place a bed of phosphorus pentoxide. Into the sep funnel or dropping
funnel, place about 2 1 0 ml of 48% HBr. Lead the bent glass tubing into a beaker containing about 1 60 ml
of sassafras oil. It is best to dilute the safrole with a couple of volumes of solvent such as toluene or
glacial acetic acid, because this will help to catch and hold the HBr gas as it is bubbled into solution.
Now chill down the sassafras oil solution in ice, and begin dripping 48% HBr onto the bed of
phosphorus pentoxide. When it hits the P205, the water in the 48% HBr reacts with the phosphorus
pentoxide to make phosphoric acid, and the HBr puffs off as a gas which escapes down the glass tubing
into the sassafras oil solution. All joints and plugs on the gas bubbler must be tight so that the HBr is
t'.lrced into the sassafras oil solution. It is also a good idea to magnetically stir the sassafras oil solution
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
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so that the HBr bubbles are more likely to either react immediately or go into solution, rather than
escaping. HBr gas is very foul and dangerous to breathe, so good ventilation must be provided.
As the approximately 2 I O ml of 48% HBr drips onto the bed of P205, pay attention to its reaction
when it hits the P205. If the rate of gas generation goes down, the bed of P205 may need some slOShing
around or stirring up with a glass rod, or even the addition of some more P205.
When the bubbling of HBr is completed, the sassafras oil solution should be poured into a stoppered
bottle, and kept cold overnight to complete the reaction to bromosafrole. It is then poured onto crushed
ice as in the other procedures, separated, washed, and distilled to yield about 1 00% bromosafrole.
One might want to consider doing this drying of the 48% HBr the other way around. By cautiously
adding P205 to a stirred mixture of 48% HBr and glacial acid, one should be able to dehydrate it enough
to react with safrole. How much would one have to add'l I don't know. One mole of P205 reacts with
three moles of water, and the phosphoric acid formed then exerts a further drying action by associating
with water molecules. One could only find out by trying.
A possible way of increasing the activity of 48% HBr is to add the common lab chemical potassium
bromide, KBr, to the acid. I have no idea if this works, but it would produce a mixture a lot like the Lucas
Reagent used in Chapter 1 5 to make chloroephedrine. It's worth a try if 48% HBr is the only form of
hydrobromic acid you can obtain.
Another way of drying 48% HBr is one I came up with a few years ago. I got this procedure to work on
the tirst try, so I considered it a slam dunk gimme. Apparently, other people have had some trouble doing
it, so let me give more detail.
To get good yields of bromosafrole from 48% HBr and sassafras oil, mix one part sassafras oil with
one part glacial acetic acid and two parts 48% HBr in a nearly full Erlenmeyer t1ask. Chill this mixture
down in ice, then with strong magnetic stirring pass a stream of dry HCI gas into the solution for abollt an
hour. See Chapter 5 tor the dry-HCI gas-generator. How much HCI to pass into solution􀽷 Well , for a
batch using 50 ml of sassafras oil, the amount of dry HCI generated by dripping 75 to 1 00 ml of sulfuric
acid onto a half-full 500 ml t1ask of salt-hydro chi or ie-acid paste is about right. A little bit more wouldn't
hurt. Good ventilation is required'
A nearly full Erlenmeyer is used to give maximum column depth for the bubbles of HCI to rise up
through. The drying is a surface phenomena. An Erlenmeyer is used because the inward sloping walls
slow up the rising bubbles. A plug of glass wool stuck in the neck of the flask down into the solution
would slow them up some more.
As the dry HCI passes into the solution, it dehydrates the 48% HBr, causing it to react with the safrole.
The dehydration and the reaction both generate a good deal of heat, so fresh ice will periodically have to
be put into the bath around the reaction t1ask. The temperature of the reaction shouldn 't be allowed to
rise above 1 0 _ 1 5° C. The reaction mixture first turns green, then blue, then purple, and tinally burgundy.
When the bubbling with dry HCI is finished, stopper the flask and continue stirring in the cold for two
days. Sometime around a day into this stirring, no separation of phases can be seen when stirring ceases.
I would say that the maximum temperature seen by the reaction mixture during this time was roughly
20° C. Keeping things cold in Wisconsin is easy.
CH,O " • Ib ' Hit --(10 0 0 CH 􀎚CHCH , ..
3A-mett¥enedlo􀁷henyl.-2-bromopropane
a k.a , • bromosafrole
Chapter Twenty Two
Production from Allylchloride and Benzene
205
The amount of dry HCI produced by dripping sulfuric acid onto salt will vary with the exact
conditions, so the batch should be checked for reaction before quenching it on ice. It doesn 't hurt to add
too much dry HCI, within limits, but too little won't dehydrate the acid sufficiently. To check this, atler
the day of stirring is done, pour some of the reaction mixture into a beaker, then from the beaker, return it
to the reaction vessel. This leaves a coating of the reaction mixture on the glass in the beaker. Fill the
beaker with water to rinse away the fuming acids, empty it, and snitI' inside the beaker for the aroma of
the organics clinging to the glass. If it still smells like the candyshop fragrance of sassafras oil, an
additional bubbling with dry HCl is going to be required, followed by another day of stirring in the cold.
After the first batch or two, it's easy to gauge how much dry HCI one is getting. If the aroma has changed
to something more chemical and fruity, yes, just like phenyl acetone, sufficient HCl has been added.
When two days of stirring are completed, the batch is poured onto crushed ice, as in the other methods.
When the ice has melted, a little bit of toluene is added (a volume about equal to the amount of sassafras
oil used), and the water-bromosafrole mixture shaken. Prior to adding toluene, the bromosafrole will
likely be on the bottom of the container, but after adding toluene and shaking, it should be floating on
top. It's still burgundy-colored. Separate the bromosafrole layer with a sep funnel, and then wash it with
about 3 volumes of water. Add bicarb slowly until the fizzing stops. This will knock out the carried-over
HBr, HCl and acetic acid. Shake some more, then add a little more bicarb to make sure all the acid has
been neutral ized.
Separate the toluene-bromosafrole, and place it in a distilling t1ask. Distill off the toluene at normal
pressure, then vacuum-distill the remaining bromosalrole. A vacuum that distills safrole at 1 1 00 C will
distill bromosafrole at about 1 40- 1 45° C. Some chlorosafrole distills at about 1 25° C. It can be used as is,
or the chlorosafrole can be converted to iodosafrole according to the directions found in Chapter
Eighteen in this book. The yield is about 66-75% conversion to bromosafrole, with the remainder being
unconverted salrole and chlorosafrole. Bromosati'ole smells a lot like phenyl acetone. It may tum pink on
standing, and should be stored in a freezer until used.
Last, but certainly not least, check out the Pugsley Bromosalrole Recipe in Advanced Techniques of
Clandestine Psychedelic & Amphetamine Manufacture. People have been getting very good results using
this procedure. Essentially, it involves reacting sulfuric acid with sodium or potassium bromide in ice
cold DMSO solvent to give anhydrous HBr solution. Sassafras oil is then added to the reaction mixture to
give virtually 1 00% yields of bromosafrole.
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Chapter Twenty Three
Phenyl acetone from Benzene and Acetone
This procedure makes use of the simple and common solvents, benzene and acetone, and links them
together to form phenyl acetone. Back when I was cooking phenyl acetone, I often fantasized about how
this could be done. Little did I know that it had been accomplished by a couple of Russians a few years
before my cooking began.
This isn't a procedure to get overly excited about, as the yields are low (36% based upon the
manganese I I I acetate used), and a quite dilute solution is required. This procedure is most suited to
someone willing to do large-scale cooking, not the typical basement experimenter.
The interested reader should see Chemical A bstracts, Volume 77, column number 1 5 1 620 ( 1 972), and
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Volume 93, pages 524 to 527 ( 1 97 1 ), and Bulletin of the
Academy of Science of the USSR, Volume 2 1 , number 7, page 1 626 ( 1 972).
In a large glass pot, as for instance one could get from people who sell milk pipeline equipment to
dairy farmers, place 20 moles of acetone (900 ml). Hardware store acetone can be used by drying it with
1 1 1 0 volume of calcium chloride, also available at the hardware store as ice melt. Then add 5 moles of
benzene (340 ml), and 1 000 ml of glacial acetic acid, and one mole of manganese 1 l I acetate (268 grams;
price about $500). Equip the flask with a reflux condenser.
These ingredients are mixed together, and then heated at 70° C until the brown color of Mn+3
disappears (about 2 to 3 hours). Then the contents are poured into a large stainless-steel distil lation set up
as described in Chapter One of this book, and the acetone, benzene, and part of the acetic acid are
distilled off under reduced pressure. The weak vacuum produced by cheapie vacuum pumps, or lowpowered
aspirators, is about right for this vacuum distillation. By chilling the receiving flask in ice, the
unused acetone and benzene can be recovered for reuse.
Then the residue, which consists of phenylacetone and other organic products dissolved in acetic acid
along with Mn(II) acetate, should next be diluted with several volumes of water. The product
phenylacetone can then be extracted from this watery mixture, with toluene. The extracts should next be
washed with dilute sodium hydroxide solution, and then the toluene-phenylacetone solution can be
distilled to yield around 25 ml phenylacetone.
To get decent results from this reaction, the amount of water in the reaction mixture should be held to
under I %, and preferably under v,%. Improperly dried acetone is a prime culprit when tracking down
sources of water in the reaction mixture. Water introduced from Mn(H) acetate can be removed by
distilling off the water-acetic acid azeotrope at 76° C.
The other main problem with this reaction, besides the large dilution used, is the need for Mn( l l I )
acetate. This expensive material isn't something one can find o n hardware store shelves. Mn( H) acetate,
on the other hand, is a very common industrial chemical, used as a mordant in dying, and as a drier for
paints and varnishes. It's also pretty cheap, so long as one doesn't want 99.9% pure chemical.
To get Mn(llI) acetate from Mn(U) acetate, we return to a recurring theme in industrial chemistry - the
electric generation of Mn( lII) Ii'om Mn(H). We saw one example of this kind of conversion back in
Chapter Nine in the benzaldehyde recipe. For this next one see Acta Chemica Scandinavica B 33 ( 1 979),
pages 208-2 1 2. At a graphite or platinum anode in a simple, undivided cell, using a cathode much smaller
than the anode to minimize reduction of the Mn( l I I ) formed, the chemists produce Mn( l l I ) acetate from
Mn(ll) in glacial acetic acid solvent.
One mole o f M n( l l ) acetate is dissolved in one liter of glacial acetic acid. A little bit of sodium lithium
fluoroborate (a few grams) is added as current carrier to the solution. One could also try sodium or
potassium acetate as current carrier; it may not interfere in this reaction. The fairly large graphite or
Chapter Twenty Three
Phenylacetone from Benzene and Acetone
207
platinum anode is placed i n the solution, along with the smaller cathode. The mixture is warmed. and
then with stirring, DC current is made to flow through the cell. One should apply 4 mill iamps of DC
current for each square em of anode surface facing the cathode. This is a one-electron oxidation and one
can count on getting around 66% efficiency in the oxidation, so one should pass about 1 .5 faradays of
current. One faraday is 96,500 amp seconds, so if for example one is passing one amp through the
solution, the electrolysis to Mn(llI) will take 40 hours. At four amps, it will take 1 0 hours, and so on.
At the end of the electrolysis, one has the Mn(lll) acetate solution in acetic acid. Then to this solution,
one can add the benzene and acetone with stirring, and react as usual. It's a lot of work to get 30 ml of
phenylacetone, but those chemicals certainly arc low-profile, cheap, and easily available.
For another example of electric generation of Mn(lll), see US Patent 4,560,775. One can also use
permanganate in glacial acetic acid to oxidize the Mn(ll) acetate to Mn(lll). For an example of this
procedure, see Journal olthe American Chemical Society, Volume 96, pages 7977-79 8 1 ( 1 974). On a
smaller scale, this procedure is preferable to the electric oxidation. The phenyl acetone synthesis can be
made to work, and it is j ust plain unstoppable from a policing point of view. It won't be long now, and
every chemical under the sun will be on the "watched list."
A kind of related reaction can be found in Journal olOrganic Chemistry, Volume 54, pages 733-34
( 1 989). Here phenylacetone is made in 85% yield. Just two problems with this reaction. It runs in a pretty
dilute solution, and it uses 2-nitropropene as a reactant. A quick look through my chemical catalogs
doesn't tum it up for sale anywhere. I would imagine it isn't too hard to make one's own 2-nitropropene
though. The reaction proceeds as follows:
Phenylacetone
The strong acid trifluoromethanesulfonic acid proto nates 2-nitropropene, and this intermediate then
links up with benzene. After pouring the reaction mixture into dry methanol, and then adding water, the
product, phenyl acetone, is formed in 85% yield.
In one of their typical examples, the chemists mix 3 grams of 2-nitropropene in 45 ml of benzene. In
another container they have a solution of 3 I ml of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid in 50 ml of benzene
along with an unspecified amount of the methylene chloride co-solvent. The co-solvent acts as antifreeze
it)r the mixture. so 50 ml of methylene chloride is probably about right. They cool this solution down to -
40° C with a dry ice-acetone bath. Then with vigorous stirring, they add the nitropropene in benzene
solution to the trifluoromethanesulfonic acid in benzene and methylene chloride solution. They allow this
mixture to react for one minute.
After the reaction time. they then pour this reaction mixture into 1 000 ml of dry methanol cooled to -
n° C (dry ice-acetone bath) with vigorous stirring. This reaction mixture is then allowed to warm to
room temperature. The yellow-colored mixture is then diluted with 1 500 ml of water.
Secrets of Metbamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
208
To recover the product, they start by adding bicarb to this reaction mixture until it is neutralized. This
is when the added bicarb no longer causes fizzing. They next add salt until the solution can dissolve no
more. Then they extract out the phenyl acetone with methylene chloride. One could also use toluene.
Distilling this extract then gives them pure phenyl acetone, around 5 ml.
As is, this isn't a c landestine-suitable process. It just uses way too much solvent to get such small
amounts of product. If one could reduce the amount of benzene used from the thirty fold excess relative
to the 2-nitropropene down to around 1 0 fold, and if then one could also reduce the amount of methanol
used, this method would have some promise. Good luck and happy cooking!
For another somewhat related reaction, I have only the abstract. The research was done in 1 959 by
Robert Levine. It gives a 34% yield of phenylacetone. To liquid ammonia, one first adds sodamide and
acetone. This forms a sodio derivative of acetone. Next, bromobenzene is added. and the mixture allowed
to react for 1 0 minutes. Then the reaction mixture is quenched by adding ammonium chloride. After the
ammonia evaporates away, the residue is extracted with toluene. This extract is washed with some dilute
hydrochloric acid to remove aniline and diphenylamine formed as byproducts. Then the toluene extract is
distilled to get pure phenylacetone. DibenzyI ketone is formed as a byproduct also.
Chapter Twenty Four
Last Resort: Extracting I-Methamphetamine from Vicks Inhalers
209
Chapter Twenty Four
Last Resort - Extracting I-Methamphetamine from Vicks I n halers
By popular demand, this method of last resort will be covered in this edition. The Vicks Vapor
Inhaler is available off the shelf at your local grocery or drug store in the cold- or allergy-remedy section.
It contains 50 mg of the free base of the weaker isomer of meth, along with the "Vicks vapors" which are
bOnlyl acetate, camphor, lavender oil, and menthol.
Of the above ingredients, only the meth free base ( I-desoxyephedrine) has a basic nitrogen, so
separation is possible. To extract and separate the I -meth from the other ingredients, we first disassemble
the inhaler to get at the cotton-like wadding that contains ingredients. This wadding should be
immediately soaked in 1 0 ml of the 1 0% hydrochloric acid. The hardware-store brands of hydrochloric
acid are about 20°;', - 30% strength, so dilute accordingly. Using surgical gloves, squish up this wadding
repeatedly to get the HCI into contact with the meth free base and convert it to the hydrochloride, which
is water soluble. After a good thorough squishing, pour the hydrochloric acid into a sep funnel. If solids
are t10ating around, tilter the solution. Now add another 1 0 ml of plain water to the wadding, squish it
around again to rinse out more product, and pour this too into the sep funnel.
Now extract out the entrained vapors with a couple of 20 ml portions of toluene. Throw away the
toluene, and keep the hydrochloric acid solution. Now make this hydrochloric acid solution strongly
basic to pH papers by adding some lye or lye solution, with strong shaking between additions of lye.
The meth has now been free based, and is freed of most of the Vicks vapors. Extract out the meth free
base with about 20 ml of toluene. Separate off the toluene, and bubble dry HCI gas through it as
described in Chapter Five. The crystals of I -meth hydrochloride should be spread out to dry after
filtering, and their aroma noted, once they are free of toluene. If they still smell like the Vicks vapors,
one should first try drying them under a vacuum for an hour or so. If this still doesn't render them odorIree,
they can be recrystallized by first dissolving them in a minimum amount of alcohol ( 9 1 % isopropyl
Irom the drug store shelves), and then adding toluene with shaking until about 1 0 volumes of toluene
have been added. After some standing in the cold to get complete precipitation, the crystals can be
filtered out. At this point the smell of Vicks vapors should be gone.
I have heard an unconfirmed report from a correspondent named Tammy that new versions of this
inhaler don't respond to HCI extraction so well. The wonders of polymer science. If this is the case, the
first extraction should be with 9 1 % isopropyl alcohol. After two extractions with isopropyl alcohol, add a
couple of drops of HCI and then this extract should be evaporated under a vacuum, or barring this, just
mix with 20 ml of toluene.
Now extract this toluene solution with two 20 ml portions of 1 0% hydrochloric acid. From here,
proceed as with the 1 0% hydrochloric acid solution.
Secrets of Metbamphetamine Manuracture
Eighth Edition
2 1 0
Chapter Twenty Five
Keeping Out or Trouble
Making methamphetamine, it should be remembered, could be a dangerous activity. But, in addition to
any dangers inherent in the activity, underground chemists making methamphetamine face dangers of
another sort. The sources of these other dangers are the agents of the various law enforcement agencies.
This chapter will discuss some of the dangers and how underground chemists avoid them.
How then does the underground chemist minimize his risks? The lirst and most important thing is to
use hit-and-run tactics. He makes a lot of product at a time, and then closes up shop. It is much safer to
spend a week or so on steady work and make a supply of product that will last for a while than to keep
setting up and supplying a lab every few weeks to make smaller amounts. This cuts the chemist's
exposure to a minimum. Secondly, all the chemicals to make methamphetamine are only brought together
when the chemist is ready to begin production. Having all the chemicals together could result in a
conspiracy charge. For example, having phenylacetic acid, acetic anhydride and pyridine together could
result in a charge of conspiracy to manufacture phenyl acetone, if the knuckleheads at the state crime lab
are aware of this method of making phenylacetone. To avoid this, phenylacetic acid and methylamine arc
kept at one location, and the other chemicals and glassware at another. After the chemist is done making
his supply of methamphetamine, he washes all the glassware in hot, soapy water, rinses them a couple of
times with hot water and then with rubbing alcohol. He lets the glassware drip dry, and then bakes the
glassware in the oven at 4000 F for an hour or so. This removes all traces of product from his glassware.
The empty glass jugs of chemicals are rinsed out with water and the labels scraped off. Then they are
broken and the pieces taken to a far away dumpster.
A very important precaution for the underground chemist is to keep his mouth shut. While his Iriends
may mean him no harm, they would tell their friends and eventually the wrong ears would hear about it.
The streets are crawling with snitches who keep themselves out of jail by reporting what they hear.
Without a snitch, police agencies are incapable of detecting a cockroach crawling across a loaf of bread.
The people to whom the chemist sells his products have no business knowing where it comes from. In
fact. he is constantly on guard against his customers, because they are his main source of danger. If one
of them should foul up, he may very well try to set up the chemist to get out of his own problems. This is
the way that Johnny Law makes his busts, so the underground chemist is on guard. If one of his
customers has a newfound buddy who wants to buy from him, he starts babbling crazy nonsense or
claims ignorance. He decides how to deal with them later.
As long as the chemist does not deal with strangers. the only way that the narcs can get at him is to
have one of his customers make what is called a "controlled" buy on him. This is when they send his
customer in to make a purchase from him while they wait and watch outside.
The underground chemist protects himself by only making deliveries to his customer's home. He never
does business out of his own home, or at bars, parks, parking lots or any other place suggested by his
customers. He knows his dealers well, and knows their schedules. His dealer does not know exactly when
he will be showing up with the next shipment; he just shows up unannounced and makes the delivery. A
street-legal dirt bike is a good delivery vehicle. If the narcs try to jump the chemist at his customer's
home, he takes off cross-country, leaving a cloud of methamphetamine powder behind him. He can melt
the baggie on his tail pipe. If the narcs eventually catch him, he says they looked like a sleazy gang of hit
men. He never lets his customers talk him into meeting at a bar, park or other public place where Johnny
Law can watch and make a controlled buy. He ignores excuses such as not wanting a roommate to know
about the shipment.
Chapter Twenty Five
Keeping 0111 of Trouble
2 1 1
If the underground chemist must store significant quantities of methamphetamine i n his home, there is
a good way to keep it undetected. He dissolves the uncut material in 1 90 proof grain alcohol. He uses
uncut methamphetamine because alcohol dissolves it better than cut. Alcohol dissolves a surprisingly
large amount of methamphetamine. He records the exact amount dissolved per hundred ml of alcohol. He
pours the alcohol into a dark whiskey bottle and adds it to his liquor collection. It smells just like any
other booze. It will go undetected in a search.
When he is ready to sell undissolved methamphetamine, he measures out the required amount of
alcohol and pours it into a fi ltering flask along with a couple of boiling chips. He stoppers the flask and
attaches the vacuum hose to the vacuum nipple. He boils off the alcohol under a vacuum. He can heat the
flask with hot water to speed the process, but does not use any stronger heat. In a little while, the alcohol
is gone, leaving the crystals in the flask. He scrapes them out and chops them up. He can now add the cut
to the crystals. The filtering flask can be rinsed clean with hot water.
The maker of methamphetamine, like the user, may be subjected to urine testing, and so he is aware of
Ihe following information. A single dose of methamphetamine can be detected in the urine for three days
atier taking it. When repeated doses are taken over an extended period of time, it builds up in the cerebral
spinal fluid, lymph. and other noncirculating bodily fluids. As a result, it is detectable for considerably
longer than three days.
The three day period mentioned above assumes a normal fluid intake. Since the kidneys are the main
way the body has to get rid of methamphetamine. the process can be considerably sped up by putting the
kidneys on overtime. I can think of no more enjoyable way to do this than to drink a lot of beer over a
period of a few days. This process can be sped up even more by increasing the efficiency of the kidneys.
This is done by drinking a lot of cranberry juice. This increases the acidity of the urine, and shifts the
parlition coefficient in the nephrone of the kidney in favor of excreting the methamphetamine more
rapidly.
A last-ditch method to avoid detection is to get some Snowy Bleach or other similar powdered bleach,
put it on the fingertip and under the fingernail, and rinse it ofl into the urine sample. The bleach attacks
the methamphetamine by oxidation, converting it to a hannless set of fragments. This technique works
better with THe and other more easily oxidized drugs, but it works satisfactorily with methamphetamine
i f lhe urine is dilute. In order to avoid wasting the limited oxidizing power of the powdered bleach on the
olher normally occurring compounds in the urine, a lot of water is drunk before giving the urine sample.
And. in order to keep the concentration of bleach high enough to ensure the destruction of the
methamphetamine, as small a sample as possible is given.
Remember: The in(ormation in this book is intended/or in/iJrmational and research purposes onlv' I(
VOl! do anything illegal and get caught, you will have to be prepared to face the consequences ' This is a
letter that 1 recentlv received/rom one o(my readers:
Dear Uncle Fester:
I am the subject of the tirst methcathinone (Cat) case in the Fifth Circuit (Texas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, etc.). I was one of many whom a dude named Bill Killion "fingered" to avoid
prosecution in Wichita, Kansas. You may know him; his correct name is William Killion.
I still await sentencing sometime in early January, 1 996. And many of the investigations for my
defense involve research of ephedrine, white-cross and methcathinone, which I thought might interest
you. Since I didn'l discover your book, Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture, until after my
arrest, I learned of cat through its American patent (2,802,865). There is a German patent, and one other
toreign patent with R+ and S- melhcathinone types. I wish I knew how to obtain those patents, because it
may be argued that all of these types are not covered by statute, and the yields from the ephedrine may be
helpful in establishing "drug-quantity" guidelines for my sentencing.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
2 1 2
Currently, under federal laws, once an individual has been found guilty o f manufacturing any amount
of any drug, he may then be sentenced according to any amounts that can be established by a light
standard of proof. The sentencing in all federal drug offenses (except simple possession) is governed by
the drug weights involved. In my case, where no drug seizure was made, the drug quantity involved is
estimated based on the lab seized or the established amount of precursor seized.
In my case, Killion fingered me as having ordered mini-thins from two distribution companies (T &M
and Olympus), and stated that I was in possession of a methcathinone lab. The first thing the Kansas
OEA did was call and subpoena the companies' records, which showed that 39,000 mini-thins had been
shipped to my parents' and sister's addresses (both living next door to me). Then the OEA simply
awaited the next order and shipment.
I was found guilty, based largely on the DENs surveillance of me picking up 3,000 mini-thins at the
post office. Soon, after agents followed me to my sister's home, my wife was observed going to buy a
can of Red Devil lye and delivering it to me. A warrant was sought, and seven hours later the DEA
rushed in to find me in a detached garage on my sister's property, where two five-gallon paint buckets
containing toluene paint thinner were discovered, along with some Batman drinking glasses (one with a
trace amount of chrome salt), a jug of HCI, a container of water mixed with sodium hydroxide, and one
broken-up, duct-taped 3,OnO ml flask.
My point is that on a bust where these white-cross mini-thins are involved, the distribution company's
records (and any other records that the law can obtain) are used to establish the amount of precursor that
had been involved in the laboratory manufacture, and from this the total quantity of drugs involved is
determined, which in turn sets the length of the sentence to be imposed. The same thing has been done
with methamphetamine precursors for years, but the yields of cat from ephedrine have not yet been
established.
In early 1 993, two cases of cat manufacture arose in Marquette, Michigan. One is published: US vs
Baker, 852 F. Supp. 609 (W.o. Mic 1 994). Affirmed on appeal i n the Sixth Circuit, this case established
that 50% of the weight of the ephedrine pills will reasonably equal the weight of the cat which could be
produced from it. This amount was established by a government-employed chemist who testilied at the
trials in these cases. The prosecutor in my case is using Baker to calculate my sentence. I do not feel that
50% is unreasonable, unless I could find proof that it is. I am now arguing that insufficient proof exists
that the 39,000 white-crosses were actually dropped into a cooking pot! They were ordered COD over a
four-month period in 3,000-lot batches. And white-crosses have been sold for many years themselves as a
"'speed" on the black markets. The FDA, which is now blasting against these pills, is a good source for
this information.
I wrote the FDA for information about white-cross mini-thins being illegally abused and sold as speed
and lookalike-speed. The FDA sent me a copy of their proposed laws or regulations on ephedrine under
published law, from the Federal Register, part 3 1 0 & 34 1 , Volume 70, October, 1 994 or 1 995, I believe
( I sent it to my lawyer, so I ' m going by memory). It's a section on bronchial medications which are sold
over-the-counter (OTC). In the FDA's proposed regulations, they mean to designate all ephedrine,
norephedrine, and racephedrine products as prescription drugs. I do not believe that the DEA will
succeed in its proposal, but they also propose (and have moved forward considerably) to remove all
single-ingredient ephedrine products from OTC sales. They focus on the white-cross thins (which
companies are selling now as stimulants) being sold as bronchial-aid products. Well, it's obvious that the
distributors of white-crosses that sold them as stimulants before they were outlawed by the FDA have
now relabeled them as asthma medicine, and continued their sales. Stimulants were prescription drugs at
the time of those former sales, and that's why white-crosses were commonly sold as speed on the black
markets years ago. There have been official discussions about outlawing OTC sales of the white-cross
bronchial products, as recently as November 1 4, 1 995. Also noticeable is that the FDA has mentioned
Chapter Twenty Five
Keeping Out of Trouble
213
how the DEA has moved in to dictate distribution-wmpany regulations and notification rules on these
single-ingredient ephedrine sales until they can persuade the FDA to outlaw the OTC sales. The DEA
recognizes the manufacturing implications, and claims that the FDA is hampering their attempts to
control precursor chemicals.
I have also noticed that the feds have added benzaldehyde and n itroethane to their list of "hot"
chemicals, under 2 1 USC 80 I in 1 995. However. I do recognize that the grocery-store "extract" oil of
bitler almond has distil lation potential for quantities of benzaldehyde. I am not aware of where the
nitroethane is commonly sold. But I like this recipe the best of any in Secrets of Methamphetamine
Mal/ufacture, because i t is so easy to get the ingredients. I ran across your book when my lawyer gave it
to me as part of the government's evidence against me. They never used it at my trial, though.
Secret.􀄨 of Methamphetamine Manufacture was found in Killion's abandoned car after I had run him
olT Irom my Texas home because he was getting too crazy on drugs. He went a short distance towards
Kansas before his car conked out, and then he abandoned it, leaving a copy of your book and others to be
t,)und by the DEA. When Killion got back to Kansas, he started manufacturing cat again in that state, but
then got popped and started fingering a lot of folks. [ had to settle for a crappy court-appointed attorney
who lost the case. If the 39,000 white-crosses are sufficiently proven to be involved, my sentence will be
from I O ta 1 2 Y, years without parole. I've been kept in solitary for my protection, due to blindness in one
eye ( medical), for over a year now, while fighting this case. Please, if you think of something that might
help me, let me know. I'd be greatly obliged and most appreciative.
I thought you might be interested in taking a look at the Baker case and the Federal Register, part
3 1 0, at your local law library. They are very interesting. [ will send you a copy of them if you like. I ' d
scnd them now, but my attorney i s currently reviewing them.
Sincerely, a fan and friend,
Mr. X
P.S.: I plan to leave the USA and do my own thing with chemistry in a better country, atier [ win my
appeal and get out'
Posted by Uncle Fester on February 24, 1 998 at 22:35 : 20: A Story for Hive Bee
You asked for a story, so . . .
I ' l l tell you a bedtime story, and ['II make it a scary one because I know that the scary ones make you
hot.
Once upon a time there was a happy little cooker. He loved to cook, and between consuming the
product himself and some dealing, he produced a few pounds of product over the years.
Our happy little cooker thought he was pretty safe because he never kept much of the goodies he
woked around his place, and he always cleaned up his glassware when finished cooking.
But our happy little cooker had been making some tragic mistakes. Our cooker loved his meth, and so
did his friends. He ordered lots of ephedrine, and then pseudoephedrine pills, from various mail-order
companies. He paid for them with his credit card. This credit card had his real name'
He also bought chemicals with this credit card. Things like iodine and red P. Also a couple of quarts of
sassafras oil, PdCI2, ammonium chloride, and formaldehyde.
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
2 1 4
One day while checking over reports o f mail-order pill purchases, the evil narcoswine became
interested in our happy little cooker. They decided to check him out Just the purchase of large amounts
of pills is enough to get a search warrant In the happy little cooker's house, they found about a gram of
stash, and just a little trace of meth on some glassware, Our happy little cooker was now not so happy,
but he thought he'd get otT lightly because he only had a gram around the house.
Oh, he was so wrong' Using his credit card records, the evil federales were able to reconstruct all of
our shell shocked cooker's past activity. That includes the X he made last year'
Our now very unhappy little cooker was portrayed as a menace to society at trial and lost. In the
federal system, sentence is based upon how much they can show you made. A very flimsy standard of
proof suffices. Using those credit card records, they were able to give our tragic little cooker 1 5 years in
the Big House. He doesn 't like it there, but at least now he has gotten rid of that American Express Card.
The End
Posted by flaskjockey on March 06, 1 998 at 2 1 : 1 0:55
In reply to: A story for Hive Bee, posted by Uncle Fester on February 24, 1 998 at 22:35:20:
The state system doesn 't care how much or how complete, which is scarier. California has an amusing
way of convicting you, called "Intent to Manufacture." All they need now is extracted ephedrine (any
amount or trace) OR any reducing agent, even if the agent doesn' t reduce ephedrine, These police state
bastards can get away with anything. The only solution is to shoot them.
The Telltale Trashcan
by Uncle Fester
Once upon a time in the sleepy, little town of Dullsville, there lived some people who liked to go fast
and stay up late. These fast people kind of stood out from the other folks in that sleepy little town, but
they thought they were safe because they were a tight-knit group and not in business in a big way. Yes,
my friends, these fast people were meth cookers.
Tight-knit and generally careful as they were, these fast people were not safe at all because they were
sloppy in one small area of their lives which was about to become very important to them. They were
sloppy in what they put out in their trash.
Over time, word of these fast people who stood out from the rest of Dullsville made it to the attention
of the dreaded narco swinc. A very fast and easy investigative technique for them to use against our
heroes was to simply grab the trash which they put out before the garbage man could pick it up.
Oh, the things they found in that trash! Emptied bottles of ephedrine pills, emptied packages of
Sudafed, and coffee filters which had been cut to size to fit various filters were all just laying in their
trash to be found. A quick walk around the outside of their house revealed the presence of a propane
cylinder. The brass fitting on that cylinder had turned green from exposure to the anhydrous ammonia it
contained.
It took no time at all for the dreaded narco swine to obtain a search warrant for the fast people's house.
They found a little bit of stash meth, and some items which the narco swine described as "a meth lab
capable of churning out multi-pound batches of meth, and blow the neighborhood up to boot"
After the narco swine took off their moon suits for the TV cameras, our heroes were led off to jail.
There they are now going even slower than the rest of Dullsville. With plenty of time on their hands, they
now realize that they should have been more careful with their trash. It's too late for them, but not for
you.
The End
PENNYWISE AND POUND FOOLISH
by Uncle Fester
Chapter Twenty Five
Keeping Oul of Trollble
215
There once was a man named Jack who had the normally virtuous trait of thriftiness. When Jack was
able to save a few cents on a small purchase, he felt that he had won a victory and held his head up high
as he walked out the store. A penny saved is a penny earned, after all. Jack shopped sales, and Jack cut
coupons, but above all Jack loved his "store card".
Jack's fondness for his collection of "store cards" would have done him little harm except for one little
detail.. . .Jack liked to cook some crank once in a while too! He picked up his packages of Sudafed as part
of his weekly shopping runs and just tossed them in with all the other sruff he was buying. Jack thought
that this would cause less suspicion towards him than if he just showed up at various stores and simply
loaded up at the cold medicine counter. On this point Jack was right, but his penury was setting a trap for
him because at each checkout he flashed his "store card" to get his few penny discounts.
One day, Jack's girlfriend had all of his stinginess that she could take. The final straw was the
anniversary gift he brought home from the rummage sale. She stormed out of the house, and vowed to
make Jack's lite a living hell.
Jack's former girlfriend knew all about Jack's meth hobby, and she ran to the police. After she told her
talc, the police did some checking to gather evidence for a search and bust. When they checked Jack's
garbage, it was simply pristine, as he rarely threw anything out. Watching and tailing Jack yielded them
nothing either. He wasn't a "dealer" and lived a frugal and spartan life.
Finally the narco swine stumbled upon Jack's Achille's Heel...his addiction to "store cards". You see,
whenever that little card is flashed at the checkout, the entire purchase is recorded in the files of the
central scrutinizers with your name attached. Once there, it could linger for centuries ...
When Jack's "store card" records were checked, what a gold mine they stumbled into! Box after box of
"cold medicines", bottles of ephedrine pills at the gas station, along with cans of solvents at the hardware
store. acids and drain openers at other stores. It was a gold mine for them, and the shaft for Jack!
Now Jack is whiling away some time at a place where he doesn't have to pay for his meals or housing.
Thanks to those "store card" records, they were able to string together years of cooking and claim that he
made outrageous amounts of go-go powder. They were proud to give h i m more time than his cellmate
Bubba who stabbed three guys because he didn't like the way they had their hats screwed on. Welcome to
the War on Drugs.
The End
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture
Eighth Edition
2 1 6
Chapter Twenty Six
Legitimate Uses of Some Chemicals
Acetic Anhydride - commonly used in the chemical industry, especially for making dyes. * * *
Benzene and ether - common solvents, but they are sometimes used for tree basing coke. * *
Fomlic acid - used for taxidermy and tanning leather. *
Hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid - the two most common mineral acids, with too many uses to list.
When buying them, underground chemists say they want them for electroplating. *
You can pick up these two at the hardware store. Hydrochloric will often be labeled as muriatic acid,
and will generally be 30% HC\. This is good enough for most uses. I found an industrial grade
concentrated sulfuric at my local hardware store in the plumbing section. It was a product called Liquid
Fire by Amazing Products. It sells for around $6 a pint, and is used as drain opener. This is plenty good
enough for dripping on salt to make HCI gas.
Methylamine -used in photography, as an additive to racing fuels, and as an ingredient in rocket fuel
and tanning solutions. * * * *
Phenylacetic aci d - used in perfume to produce the smell of honey, and added to the nutrient broth of
penicillin mold to increase the yield of penicillin. * * * *
Platinum and Raney nickel - catalysts used in all hydrogenations. * *
Pyridine - a common but expensive solvent and reagent. * *
All other List I chemicals * * * *
All other List I I chemicals * * *
One should obtain toluene and acetone at the hardware store in the paint section. There they carry
zero stars, so long as you don't buy so much at one place that you get them wondering.
* Least suspicious to purchase
* * * * Most suspicious to purchase
Chapter Twenty Seven
Web Sites
Chapter Twenty Seven
Web Sites
1 1 7
Learning about clandestine chemistry is a lot of fun, as you well know after finishing this book. It's
also a lot of fun to follow along with conversations and "posts" that people put on the Internet. There are
a few web sites exclusively devoted to such conversations and postings. They are great places to drop in
on and spend hours keeping up with the latest news or reading about clandestine processes and
equipment.
Before you eagerly dive into the Internet, let me give you a few necessary caveats. To start with, go
ahead and read, but keep your mouth shut. If you are doing any cooking, you certainly don't want to draw
attention to yourself by posting questions or mentioning any results you are getting. These bulletin
boards require registration before you are allowed to post. The heat trolls on these web sites, either by
asking questions that giving an answer to would involve you in their "conspiracy," or by checking out the
e-mail addresses of posters who seem like they are actively cooking. By keeping quiet and just reading,
no one will know you are there.
Caveat number two is a corollary to the first one. Since no one who is actively cooking would be
stupid enough to wave around their e-mail address for everyone to see, the people doing the posting will
fa ll into two classes: retired cookers who stil l love to talk about the excitement of their glory days and
relate war stories, and simple students of the field, ranging from rank amateurs to the fairly advanced.
The problem is to discern the two classes, and separate the wheat tram the chaff in the huge amount of
material posted on these boards.
Making this differentiation is a difficult task for the beginner. The second class tends to be skilled at
sophistry, and in the process they give birth to misconceptions that carry onward in time with the tenacity
of urban legends. Let me give you some help in this sifting process; a good source posting on the net will
cite references I,)r the readers to follow up on rather than just making claims. This is the same style your
Uncle uses in this book and all my other ones. It is the only legitimate style to use when making posts as
well. Suspect sophi stry and underlying agendas when references aren't mentioned during chemical
discussions.
Now that you have been suflicientiy warned, Jet me pass along two web sites where one can read about
the world of clandestine chemistry at great length. Site number one is a site I like to visit and pass along
cooking tips when I ' m not busy writing books, raising my kids, working my day job, or running a
publishing company. The site is commonly referred to as The Zonez, and is run by Android, or Andrew.
depending upon how well you know him. This site has relatively low tranic with postings by old retired
c.:{)uks.
I\. much more active and current board is wetdreams.ws. It is moderated by old cooks, and most BS
postings are removed by them. It also has a search engine and quite an archive of pill extraction methods.
It is a great place to kcep current on the news which effects clandestine cooking.
I\.nother site with a long history and a really extensive archive which could be accessed through their
search engine was called The Hive. This site is now defunct after its founder got himself into trouble by
going into the chemical sales tield. Enjoy the websites, and keep your mouth shut if you are cooking!
YOU WILL ALSO WANT TO READ:
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Only Fester can show you:
• A new way to turn over-the-counter pills into meth
• The innovative balloon technique
• How to make your own ephedrine, so you'll never scrounge for pills again
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• The besl chemicals to use to avoid sales scrutiny
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xxxxxxcx

Stereospecifickou syntézy, a optické rozlišení Norpseudoephedrine

Stereospecifickou syntézy, a optické rozlišení Norpseudoephedrine

US Patent 5962737

HTML Rhodium

Abstraktní

Stereospecifickou syntézu racemických threo izomery 2-nitro-1-phenylpropanols reakcí benzaldehyde derivát s nitroalkane v přítomnosti terciárního aminu a snižování 2-nitro-1-phenylpropanols s, například hliník lithia hydride na 2-amino -1-phenylpropanols je popsán.Také jsou popsány fáze přenosu rozlišení racemické směsi 2-amino-1-phenylpropanol a jeho deriváty v jejich opticky čisté izomery reakcí racemické směsi s mono sůl alkalického kovu ester kyseliny vinné ve dvoufázovém systému uhlovodíků a vodou. Specifikace dále popisuje terapeuticky užitečné opticky čisté izomery threo-2-amino-1-(dialkoxy nebo alkoxy) phenylpropanols a jejich adiční soli s kyselinami.

Stavu techniky

Smíšené stereoisomers 2-amino-1-phenylpropanol lze snadno připravují reakcí benzaldehyde s nitroethane v přítomnosti alkalických katalyzátorů pro výrobu 2 - nitro-1-phenylpropanol, který je pak snížen na aminů.Například, Hoover a Hass, Journal of organické chemie, 12, 506, (1947) . Tato reakce dává vynikající výnosy za nízkou cenu. Nicméně, oddělení stereoisomers vyrábí tato reakce nebyla uspokojivá. Jako výsledek, doposud, jediný praktický stereospecifickou syntézu 2-amino-1-phenylpropanols zahrnuje snížení propiophenone deriváty racemic erytromycin diastereoisomery a frakční krystalizace soli aminu opticky aktivních kyselin.

DL-erytromycin formuláře lze snadno získat z příslušného propiophenone derivátů nebo převracením DL-threoderiváty. Vzhledem k tomu, farmakologické vlastnosti D a L izomery se liší, je vhodné oddělit dvě, což v maximální terapeutický nástroj. I když tyto potenciálně užitečných výrobků může také být připraven, že je obtížné oddělit, tj. "Řešení", izomery se brání jejich rozvoji.

Konkrétně je základna převedena na sůl opticky aktivních kyselin. Například, DL-báze reaguje s D-kyselina. To má za následek vznik směsi D-base-D-kyselina a L-base-D-kyselina. Tyto dvě soli se liší rozpustnost. Když je směs ochladí a ponechá, D-base-D-kyseliny, obvykle je méně rozpustný, urychlí se z řešení první. Po odstranění sraženiny ve vhodnou dobu, získané sraženiny je z velké části D-base-D-kyseliny, zatímco L-base-D-kyseliny zůstává v roztoku.

I když to vede k čištění optických izomerů do jisté míry zásadní příměsí často zůstávají. Tyto nečistoty jsou odstraněny do určité míry frakční krystalizace. "Čistý", D a L podklady se pak osvobodili přidáním dostatečného množství alkalických k řešení "čisté" sůl na výrobu pH nad 7.

Výše uvedený proces je velmi zdlouhavý, časově náročné a neefektivní. Kromě toho je základ se stejnou konfigurací jako řešení kyseliny snadněji oddělit a čištěná, než opak enantiomer. V důsledku toho v praxi, musí být požadovaná isomerní základna být uzavřeno s opticky aktivní kyselinou stejné konfiguraci pro dosažení maximálního výnosu.

Popis vynálezu

Bylo zjištěno, že pokud benzaldehyde derivát reaguje s nitroalkane v přítomnosti terciárního aminu, vzniklý nitroalcohol je konfigurace threo než směs izomerů threo aerytromycin, který je způsoben hydroxidu sodného jako katalyzátoru. Reakce se nejlépe provádí ve vodném alifatický alkohol.

Terciárního aminu, musí být zaměstnán bez primárních a sekundárních aminů, které narušují reakci. Ty mohou být z komerčních produktů refluxu kyselinou octovou nebo anhydridu ftalové následnou destilací.

Ve výhodném provedení syntetické metody vynálezu je benzaldehyde derivát reaguje s nitroethane v přítomnosti triethylaminu ve vodném ethanolu. Směs se nechá reagovat při pokojové teplotě po dobu dvaceti čtyř hodin. Tato směs se pak okyselí organické kyseliny, protože minerální kyseliny mají sklon k podpoře rozkladu, stejně jako teplo. Přebytek rozpouštědla a reaktanty se odpaří a nitroalcohol vytěžené.

Nitroalcohol lze snadno snížit katalytickou hydrogenací nebo konvenční redukční činidla, jako zinku a kyseliny.Hliník lithia hydride bylo zjištěno, že pracuje výjimečně dobře. Racemic threo izomery mohou být snadno převést na racemicerytromycin izomerů reakcí s acetanhydridem a thionyl a hydrolýza. N-methyl deriváty lze připravit přidáním equimolecular množství vodného formaldehydu do primárního aminu a snížení Schiff základ Použití primárních výsledků alifatické alkylamin ke vzniku dehydratace produktu nitroalcohol - beta-nitrostyrene. Tím, že zaměstná sekundární nebo terciární amin v přítomnosti vody, je nitrostyrene vznik zcela odstranit. Použití sekundární nebo terciární amin zabraňuje vzniku základny Schiff aminu potřebné zprostředkovatelem nitrostyrene formaci.

Namísto obvyklých frakční krystalizace aminovou sůl kyseliny, způsob řešení stereo izomerů vynálezu používá novou fázi přenosu rozlišení. Bylo zjištěno, že v případě, že amin základna se rychle míchá s mono sůl alkalického kovu ester kyseliny vinné ve dvoufázovém systému uhlovodíků a vody, může být rychlé a účinné řešení dosáhnout.

V praktickém provedení usnesení způsobu podle vynálezu, DL-2-amino-1-phenylpropanol derivát v dichlormethanu v kombinaci a míchá s dibenzoyltartaric kyseliny ve vodě a vodný roztok hydroxidu z asi jeden až tři hodiny. Reakční směs se nechá stát po dobu přibližně stejnou dobu. Dichlormethanu fáze se oddělí a vysuší bezvodým sulfát hořčíku. Odpařování dává L-izomer threo téměř kvantitativní výnos. Vodné fáze je alkalická s amoniakem a extrahuje dichlormethan. Extrakt dichlormethanu se vysuší bezvodým sulfát hořčíku a odpaří dát D-izomer threo téměř kvantitativní výnos.

Experimentální

Příklad 1

Racemická směs threo nitroalcohols byla připravena tím, že kombinuje čerstvě destilované benzaldehyd (1 mol), nitroethane (2,5 mol) a triethylaminu (0,05 mol) v ethanolu (150 ml). Vodou (75 ml). Tato směs se nechá stát při pokojové teplotě v temnu po dobu dvaceti čtyř hodin. Směs se pak led-se ochladil a kyseliny octové (0,05 mol) byl přidán do reakční směsi. Alkohol a nadměrné nitroethane se odpaří (vakuum). Vody (75 ml) byl přidán, a alkohol Nitro extrahuje ethylacetátem, vysuší bezvodým síranem sodným a rozpouštědlo se odpaří (vakuum), aby výrobek, viskózní olej (70-80% výnosu na benzaldehyd).

Příklad 2

Nitro alkoholu byl snížen o dvě metody, zinku a kyseliny metody a hliník lithia hydride způsob, jak je popsáno níže:

(A), zinek a kyselina

Kyselina chlorovodíková (4 moly), který zní (míchání), aby směs nitroalcohol (1 mol), zinkový prach (4 moly) a 400 ml. 95% ethanolu. Kyselina se přidává tak rychle, že teplota zůstává na 45 stupňů nebo méně (několik hodin, je obvykle zapotřebí). Míchání se pokračuje po dobu 1-2 hodin po ukončení sčítání. Kyselý roztok se extrahuje éterem odstranit non-základních materiálů. Přebytek NaOH roztok je poté přidán a volné báze se extrahuje éterem. Éter řešení je sušené (MgSO ₄₎ odpaří a produkt destilované nebo vykrystalizovala obvyklým způsobem (70-80% výnos).

(B), hliník lithia hydride ("LAH")

Řešení nitroalcohol (1 mol) v tetrahydrofuranu (400 ml) se přidá k roztoku hydride hliník lithia (4 moly) v tetrahydrofuranu (500 ml) s rychlým míchání a chlazení (podle potřeby) k udržení jemné reflux. Po přidání je kompletní, směs pod zpětným chladičem po dobu dalších 2 hodin.

Voda se přidává k neutralizaci nadměrné LAH (1 litr) a produkt se extrahuje benzenem. Benzen Extrakt se suší (MgSO ₄₎ a benzen odpaří. Výsledný produkt se čistí buď destilací nebo krystalizací (80-90% výnos).

Příklad 3

Reakční směs se sníženou Nitro alkoholů byl vyřešen do opticky čisté isomery tímto procesem.

Směs DL-threo-2-amino-1-phenylpropanol (1 mol) v dichlormethanu (600 ml), dibenzoyltartaric kyseliny (0,5 mol) v destilované vodě (30 ml), a hydroxidu sodného (0,5 mol) v destilované vodě (50 ml) se míchá rychle na dvě hodiny a ponechá po dobu dvou hodin. Dichlormethanu fáze se oddělí pomocí dělící nálevky nad bezvodý síran hořečnatý. Rotary odpaření dichlormethanu fáze dává L-izomer threotéměř kvantitativní výnos.

Vodné fáze je alkalická amoniakem na pH 13 a extrahuje dichlormethan. Extrakt dichlormethanu se vysuší bezvodým sulfát hořčíku a odpaří dát D-izomer threo téměř kvantitativní výnos. Enantiomerní čistota výrobků je 96-99% v závislosti na analýze GLC v D nebo L-  -Methoxy-  - Trifluromethylphenylacetamide (MTPA) deriváty.

Studie nečistot Nalezeno v metamfetaminu z efedrinu Syntetizované

TS Cantrell et. al. forenzní věda mezinárodní 39, 39-53 (1988)

---

Přehled

Syntéza metamfetaminu z efedrinu přes redukci hydriodic kyselinou je diskutována. Nečistoty, které vyplývají z této metody jsou identifikovány a racionalizaci. In situ tvorby iodoephedrine z efedrinu vede k stopových nečistot přes interní substituci 1,2-dimethyl-fenyl-aziridinovém, následovaný retro prsten-otevření a hydrolýzou fenyl-2-propanonu (P2P). Tento keton nebo retro s otevřeným kruhem aziridinovém dále kondenzuje v kondenzace aldol následuje dehydratace dát 1-benzyl-methylnaftalen a 1,3-dimethyl-2-phenylnaphthalene.

Úvod

Jedním z nejčastěji zneužívané drogy ve Spojených státech je metamfetamin, povzbuzující populárně známý jako "kliku", nebo "speed". Která je používána v nezákonného obchodu je syntetizován v tajných laboratořích pomocí různých cest a často obsahuje nečistoty z neúplné a nedostatečné reakce čištění meziproduktů a / nebo konečného produktu. Znalost těchto nečistot je důležitý z několika důvodů. To může poskytnout užitečné poznatky o nedovolené výroby odhalení informací o syntetické metody používané k výrobě drog, včetně potřebných chemikálií a zařízení. Proto úředníci vymáhání práva mohou sledovat výrobu a prodej komerčně dostupných prekurzorů pro metamfetaminu a to může vést k odhalení tajných laboratořích. Za druhé, může být zájem o přítomnosti či nepřítomnosti specifických nečistot vést k identifikaci vzorků, které mají společný původ, tj. spiknutí odkazy. Třetí oblastí zájmu těchto nečistot je možné škodlivé účinky na metamfetaminu, tj. poslední (1984-1986) vývoj naznačuje, že možná metamfetamin nečistoty jsou zodpovědné za případy týkající se Huntingtonovou Choreform hnutí [1]. Konečně, nečistoty metamfetamin jsou důležité pro forenzní lékárny provedení analýzy vzorku vzhledem k možným střetům s analytickou techniku ​​používají.

---

1. SOCl2
I: (-)-efedrin =============> metamfetaminu
2. H2/Pd HI / P II: (-)-efedrin ==========> metamfetamin

Obr. . 1 tajné syntetické cesty pro (+) přes metamfetamin (-), efedrin. Trasa I zaměstnává ve dvou krocích procesu, reakce, thionyl (SOCl2), následuje katalytickou hydrogenací. Trasa II zaměstnává jednoho hrnce reakci s kyselinou hydriodic a červený fosfor.

---

Allen a Kiser za stereochemie, mechanismu a vedlejších produktů, které jsou výsledkem tohoto přepočtu efedrinu na pervitinu [2]. V tomto procesu je efedrin konvertuje na chlor analogové následuje katalytické redukce na metamfetamin, Obr. 1 (směr I). V tomto článku se budeme zabývat konverzi efedrinu na metamfetaminu přes hydriodic kyseliny snížení (směr II). Chemie podílejí na trase II byl prosazován informací získaných od článku Allen a jeho Kiser.

Ilustrace shodnosti těchto syntéz je vidět na následující skutečnosti. Stereochemie implicitní v první cestě jsem totéž platí hydriodic kyseliny / červený fosfor snížení. To znamená, že pouze (-), efedrin a (+) pseudoefedrin výnos (+) metamfetamin.Kromě toho, střední v trase I (chloroephedrine z efedrinu se thionyl) je analogový halo, a tak je tomu v trase II. Efedrin reagoval HI zpočátku vytváří iodoephedrine in situ. Konečně, vedlejší produkty z aziridines jsou společné pro oba syntetické cesty. Je zajímavé, že existují značné mechanické a vedlejších produktů rozdíly mezi těmito dvěma cestami, a to především kvůli zahřátí protic kyselém prostředí druhé (směr II) ve srovnání s okolní aprotická média bývalého (směr I), které tvoří další přestavby v cestě II unikátní.

Chemie

Když je efedrin vytápěna hydriodic kyselinou, s červený fosfor ( Pozor! , čj. 3), nebo bez, zpočátku hydroxyl je nahrazen jodu (dát iodoephedrine). To je od tohoto bodu, že uspořádání chemie stopových nečistot začíná. Halo směs je předmětem snížení hydriodic kyselém prostředí vede k cíli směs, (+) metamfetamin [4]. Uvolňuje vodík při vyšších teplotách jodid na jod a vodík, který účinky hydrogenace. Reakce je reverzibilní. Jeho rovnováha je posunuta ve prospěch rozkladu reakcí vodíku s organickými sloučeninami (iodoephedrine v tomto případě) na snížení, ale také to může být ovlivněno odstraněním jódu. Toho lze dosáhnout tím, že jód reagovat s fosforem tvořit fosforu triiodide, která se rozkládá za přítomnosti vody na kyselinu fosforu a vodíku jódu. Tímto způsobem, tím, že přidá fosforu do reakční směsi, vodík je jodid recyklováno a snižuje účinnost hydriodic kyseliny se zvyšuje [5].

Halo směsi mohou být předmětem interního substituce, přičemž dusík nahrazuje jódu, aby aziridinovém, která může rozložit, aby sloučenin (N-methylbenzylamine), B (benzaldehyd), C (propiophenone) a D (fenyl-2-propanonu ). Vzhledem k extrémní kyselost reakční směsi, jen trasy C a D jsou životaschopné úvahy. Protonated dusík aziridinovém kontroly retro prsten otevření produkovat zwitterion střední. Racionální volby trasy D, na základě velmi oblíbené zwitterion střední rezonance s přesahem k aromatickému kruhu, je potvrzeno s experimentálními skutečností. Produkt retro prsten-otevření, následovaný hydrolýzou 1,2-dimethyl-fenyl-aziridinovém je P-2-P [6]. Tak, P-2-P, je obyčejná nečistota v těchto tajné laboratoři přípravy (+) metamfetamin. Tato anomálie je záhadou řadu soudních vyšetřovatelů, kde se utajované syntézy známé začít od efedrinu a ne oblíbenou cestou P-2-P/methylamine Schiff snížení základu pomocí hliníkové folie.

Z vybraného počtu ilegálních metamfetaminu vzorků vyšetřit na přítomnost stopových nečistot, jsme zjistili, že hlavní část P-2-P vyráběné v této reakci dochází k vlastní kondenzaci (aldol) dovolit uhlovodíků nečistot. Tyto nečistoty jsou 1-benzyl-3-methyl-naftalen (E) a 1,3-dimethyl-2-phenylnaphthalene (F). Obě sloučeniny obsahují dvě molekuly P-2-P v důsledku kondenzace aldol, následuje dehydratace, následuje druhá vnitřní kondenzaci a dehydratace.

Reference

1. Konference: "toxických účinků nečistot v metamfetaminu nelegální Labs: Huntingtonova nemoc", San Francisco 15. července 1986, podporovaný USA léčiv výkonu. Pro informace o dříve identifikovaných nečistot, obraťte se na následující:
   1. TC Kram, J. soudní Sci, 24 (1979) 596-599;
   2. TC Kram, J. soudní Sci, 22 (1977), 40 - 52;
   3. FT Noggle, J. doc. Anální off Chem., 68 (1985) 1213 - 1222.
2. AC Allen, metamfetaminu z efedrinu I, Chloroephedrines a aziridines . J. Forenzní Sci., 32 (1987), 953-962.
3. KN F. Shaw, J. Org. Chem., 21 (1956) 1149-1151 (poznámka pod čarou 36).
4. E. Ogata, Helv. Acta Chem, 12 (1929), 873-877.
5. Miloš Hudlickým, redukce v organické chemii, Halsted Press, John Wiley a Sons, 1984, s. 31.
6. T. Taguchi, Chem. Pharm. Bull. 7 103 až 107 (1959).

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Metamfetamin přes zmenšující amination fenyl-2-propanonu Použití hliníku a Amalgam Methylamin v mokrém Isopropanol

Metamfetamin přes zmenšující amination fenyl-2-propanonu

Použití hliníku a Amalgam Methylamin v mokrém Isopropanol

Postup adaptovaný od syntézy MDMA z MDP2P v PiHKAL # 109

Postup 1: Použití Methylamin hydrochlorid

V roce 1000 ml se širokým hrdlem Erlenmeyerovy baňky, byla 19 gramů je z hliníkové fólie nařezané na kusy 3x3cm sloučil do roztoku 500 mg chloridu rtuťnatého (HgCl2) ve 700 ml teplé vody, dokud se roztok se stal našedlá, a bublinky vodíku byl veden ve stálém sazby z hliníkový povrch. Byla voda slije pryč, a hliníkový amalgám promyje 2x500ml studenou vodou.

Do hliníkového amalgam přibylo 29,5 g hydrochloridu methylamin (0,44 mol, 3 Eqv) rozpuštěné v 30 ml horké vody, 75 ml isopropanolu, 70 ml 25% vodného NaOH (0,44 mol), 19,75 g (0,147 mol) fenyl-2-propanonu ( P2P) a nakonec 175 ml isopropanolu. Vodík byl energicky se vyvinul z hliníku amalgámu a teplota roztoku rychle vstala. Reakční rychlost byla řízena ponořením do reakční baňky ve studené vodě během 2h, whereafter bylo dovoleno stát při pokojové teplotě s magnetickým míchání přes noc, se pozornost věnuje reakční směsi v první hodině tak, aby teplota se nezvedla nad 50 ° C.

Do reakční směsi se přidá dalších 50 ml 25% NaOH, a reakční směs se míchá 30 min a nechá se usadit. Čirý supernatant se slije a 100 ml isopropanolu byl přidán do kalu šedé, a to se míchá 15 minut a supernatant opět dekantovat. Hliníkový kal na dně baňky se zfiltruje přes Celite nyní v trychtýři Buchner a omýt 2x50ml THF (methanol lze použít). Všechny decantations a myje byly spojeny, a koncentrovaný roztok ve vakuu.

Zbytek byl přijat v roce 1000 ml vody, okyselí přidáním koncentrované HCl, umyl se 3x50ml DCM, basified s 25% NaOH a extrahuje 3x100ml DCM. Kombinované DCM extrakty se vysuší MgSO4, filtrovány a rozpouštědlo oddestiluje. Zbytek byl destilovaný dvakrát za odsávačka vakuu při 100-110 ° C, aby 14,65 g (67%) metamfetaminu freebase jako voda-bílý olej. Hydrochlorid lze připravit rozpuštěním olej 10x objemu diethyletheru a plynování řešení suchý plyn HCl, dokud se nepřestane sraženina. Metamfetamin hydrochlorid se odfiltruje a promyje se sacím diethyletherem a vzduchem sušené.

Postup 2: Použití 40% vodného Methylamin freebase

Ve 500 ml se širokým hrdlem Erlenmeyerovy baňky, bylo hliníkovou fólií (10 g, 0,37 mol) nařezané na kusy 3x3cm sloučil do roztoku 200 mg HgCl ₂ ve 400 ml teplé vody, dokud se roztok se stal našedlá, a bublinky vodíku byl veden ve stálém sazba z hliníkového povrchu. Byla voda slije a sloučil hliníkové kusy se dvakrát promyje 250 ml studené vody.

Do hliníkového amalgam (ještě v baňce nahoře) přibylo, rychle, 40% Methylamin roztoku (43 ml, 0,50 mol), isopropanolu (100 ml), fenyl-2-propanon (13,42 g, 0,10 mol) a Nakonec dalších 100 ml isopropanolu (která byla použita k opláchnutí kádinky P2P byl in). Hliníkové kusy se dotkl skleněnou tyčinkou tak, že všichni z nich byli pod hladinou kapaliny. Vodík se začal vyvíjet energicky z hliníkového povrchu a teplota (která byla měřena pomocí malého teploměr vloží do baňky), zvedl se rychle. Odpařování methylamin byl zmírněn pokrývající ústí baňky s některými Al fólií (nepřipojujte ji pevně, nebo to může explodovat), a rychlost reakce byla řízena ponořením do reakční baňky do studené vody z času na čas během první hodinu tak, aby teplota se nezvedla nad 50 ° C. Na 2 hodiny bodem byla většina z hliníku, spotřeby, a 20 ml 25% vodného NaOH byl přidán do roztoku a magnetické míchání byl zahájen (dávat pozor na teplotu znovu a udržet ji pod 50 ° C). Na 3 hodiny bodem bylo dalších 20 ml 25% NaOH přidal (žádné významné oteplení), to bylo dovoleno míchat při pokojové teplotě přes noc a nechat odstát whereafter.

Čirý supernatant se slije, se 100 ml isopropanolu přidán do kalu šedé, to bylo míchá další hodinu, a supernatant opět přelije po částic suspenze usadil. Hliníkový kal na dně baňky se nyní vakuum přefiltruje přes palec Celitu v trychtýři Buchner a umýt se 2 x 50 ml methanolu. Všechny decantations a myje byly spojeny, a koncentrovaný roztok ve vakuu.

Zbytek byl přijat v 300 ml vody, okyselí se konc. HCl, promyje 3x50ml dichlormethanu, basified s 25% NaOH a extrahuje 3x100ml ethylacetátu. Kombinované organické extrakty se promyjí 75 ml solného roztoku, následuje sušení za bezvodého síranu sodného s dobrou magnetické míchání 15 min. Sušení agent byl odstraněn filtrací z křišťálově čisté řešení a rozpouštědlo oddestiluje na olejové lázni zahřeje na více než 110 ° C (jako že nebude riskovat odpařování freebase). Zbytek byl přijat ve 150 ml diethyletheru a míchání s dobrým řešením 5M HCl v isopropanolu byl přidán do roztoku kyseliny byl tlumen univerzální pH papíru. Sraženina se odfiltruje s odsáváním pomocí fritované skleněné nálevky a filtrační koláč se promyje 2 x 50 ml éteru a vysát. Po vysušení vzduchu přes noc na talíři, surového produktu (13,6 g) ještě silný zápach rozpouštědel, a byl překrystaluje rozpuštěním v 65 ml acetonitrilu (5 ml / g), a rychle vakuové filtrace horkém roztoku přes fritované Skleněná nálevka na odstranění mírné zakalení, a roztok se nechá při pokojové teplotě ke krystalizaci, a asi po hodině bylo bílé krystalické sraženiny filtrované s odsáváním, promyje 2 x 25 ml éteru a vzduchu suší. Filtrát a myje éteru (oddělený sběr), byli oba ochladí na -20 ° C v mrazáku, a od acetonitrilu byla druhá plodina shromažďovány, když nic vyšel v éteru.

První a druhá plodina vážil 12.0 g a 0,45 g, respektive, takže celkový výnos metamfetaminu hydrochlorid 12,45 g, nebo 67% teorie