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#128 METHYL-J
MBDB; EDEN; 2-METHYLAMINO-1-(3,4-METHYLENEDIOXYPHENYL)BUTANE; N-METHYL-1-(1,3-BENZODIOXOL-5-YL)-2-BUTANAMINE
SYNTHESIS: A
solution of 0.12 g
mercuric chloride in 180 mL H2O was
added to 5 g
aluminum foil that had been cut into 1 inch squares, and
amalgamation allowed to proceed for 0.5 h. The gray cloudy aqueous
phase was decanted, and the resulting
aluminum washed with 2x200 mL
H2O. After shaking as dry as possible, there was added, in sequence,
a
solution of 7.6 g
methylamine hydrochloride in an equal weight H2O,
23 mL IPA, 18.3 mL 25%
NaOH, 6.72 g
1-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-butanone (see under the recipe of J for
its preparation), and finally 44 mL additional IPA. The mixture was
occasional swirled, and cooled externally as needed to keep the
tem
perature below 50 °C. After the reduction was completed (no
metallic aluminum remaining, only gray sludge), it was filtered and
the residues washed with MeOH. The combined filtrate and washes were
stripped of organic
volatiles under vacuum, the residue treated with
100 mL
Et2O, and this was extracted with 2x50 mL 3 N HCl. After
washing the pooled aqueous extracts with 3x100 mL
CH2Cl2, they were
made basic with an excess of 25%
NaOH and extracted with 5x50 mL
CH2Cl2. Drying of these extracts with
anhydrous MgSO4 and removal of
the
solvent gave a residue that was
distilled at 88 °C at 0.08 mm/
Hg
to give a colorless oil that was
dissolved in IPA and neutralized with
concentrated HCl. The solids that separated were removed by
filtration,
Et2O washed, and air dried to provide 6.07 g
2-methylamino-1-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)butane hydrochloride
(METHYL-J or MBDB) as white
crystals with a mp of 156 °C. Anal.
(
C12H18ClNO2) C,H,N. Reductive
amination of the
butanone with
methylamine hydrochloride in MeOH, employing
sodium cyano-
borohydride,
gave an identical product but in a smaller yield.
DOSAGE: 180 - 210 mg.
DURATION: 4 - 6 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 210 mg) Generally very, very friendly,
very quiet effect. I can read easily, but looking at pictures in most
books is relatively meaningless.
Distinct de-stressing effect, to the
point where it's too much trouble to set out to do anything at all,
really. There is just no drive, and it isn't even bothersome to be
missing it. Do I like it? Yes, very much. Feel that I've just begun
to explore it, though. Would I consider this material in therapy?
Well, sure, it's worth trying. Destressing would be excellent, and
better than
MDMA in some ways, but the empathy and intuition levels
have yet to be explored in a therapy setting. I feel that they may be
somehow lower.
(with 210 mg) Onset rapid. Alert 20 minutes, and to a +2.5 at 30 to
35 minutes. No physical symptoms, i.e., teeth clench, no stomach
problems. Good visual enhancement; eyes open--bright colors--no
visuals with eyes closed. No 'cone of silence' that I get with
MDMA
(and enjoy), otherwise I'm not sure I could tell which was which if I
took them blind.
(with 210 mg and a 50 mg supplement) RTasted perfectly rotten.
Suspect I was getting some type of alert in 5 minutes (I often get one
quickly with
MDMA) and at 30 minutes, a full blown high developed
rather abruptly. It would be difficult to describe the high. I
suspect it is the lack of language for the
phenomenon. I would
describe it somewhat like an
alcohol high without the disabling side
effects of confusion, slurring, staggering and etc. The high never
got any more intense than at that 30 minute point and with a
noticeable drop in another hour, I took a 50 mg supplement. I enjoyed
the high. I relaxed with the material. However, it did not seem to
have the same qualities as
MDMA, in that it was not as stimulating,
and it had very little visual activity. I talked with others, but
found it easy to lie down and relax. There was some jaw-clenching
towards the end, and I had considerable nystagmus at the peak which I
could control. After the experience, I did not want to drink
alcohol
very much (sell it as a
substitute for
EtOH!).
(with 210 mg and a 70 mg supplement) RI begin to feel the rush at 20
minutes, increasing rapidly. Very much like
MDMA, only more intense
intoxication. Otherwise same symptoms: intense
euphoria that I call a
feeling of grace, soft skin, voices, youthful appearance, animated
discussions, feelings of great closeness to others. I start to drop
noticeably at less than an hour and a half into it, but I delayed a
supplement until the hour and fifty minute point. It does not get me
back to the original intoxication. However, it is very nice, very
much like
MDMA. Only difference is that there seems to be more
quietness, less inclination to talk than with an
MDMA supplement. My
conclusion: Seems an excellent
substitute for
MDMA, Next time may try
somewhat lower amount, supplement sooner.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: An observer who was familiar with the
outwardly apparent effects with groups experimenting with
MDMA felt
that, although most subjects commented favorably in their comparisons
of METHYL-J with
MDMA, there was lacking some of the spontaneity, the
warmth, and the clear intimacy of the latter drug. The dosage range
explored is remarkably tight, attesting to a consistency of response.
The typical supplement used, if any, was 70 milligrams or less, just
before the two hour point. This indicates a chronology similar to
that of
MDMA, and about two thirds the potency.
The arguments that weigh the use of the code name of MBDB against the
use of METHYL-J are present in the recipe for BDB (or J). But what is
the source of this H, I, J, K naming thing that I have called the Muni
Metro?
First, a little bit of local color. In San Francisco, there is a
public transportation called the S.F. Municipal Metropolitan System
complex that has integrated an underground street-car system that
emerges above ground and connects with a bus network. A number of the
street-car lines fan across the city to the outer reaches which are
called the Avenues. These lines are named by sequential letters.
There is the J Church Street line, the K Ingelside line, the L Taraval
line, the M Ocean line, and the N Judah. And in the
pharmacological
complex that involved the lengthening of the
aliphatic chain, there
were two coincidental benchmarks in the names that were proposed.
Those without an
alpha-substituent (no
carbon atoms at the position
alpha to the
amine group, the
phenethylamines) were originally called
the H compounds. H stood for "
homopiperonylamine." And the first of
those with the
alpha-ethyl group there (two
carbon atoms at the
position alpha to the
amine group) was familiarly called "Jacobamine"
in recognition of a famous chemist who had set the
synthetic wheels in
motion.
It is quite obvious, that with one
carbon atom lying on that
alpha-position, you are precisely half-way between no
carbons and two
carbons. And there was one letter of the
alphabet that lies precisely
half-way between an H and a J. So, an natural naming pattern
developed. The I compounds were already pretty well known by names
such as
MDA and
MDMA and
MDE, so I, and METHYL-I, and ETHYL-I, didn't
have any appeal. But for the new, the
alpha-ethyl compounds, why not
call them the J-compounds? If it has a
methyl on the
nitrogen it will
be METHYL-J and if it has an
ethyl group it will be ETHYL-J. And in
the next longer group, the 3-
carbon propyl group on the
alpha-position
becomes the K family, and the 4-
carbon butyl group located there, the
L family. Each with its METHYL and ETHYL prefixes, if the
nitrogen
atoms are
substituted with a
methyl or and ethyl group. V'la, comme
on dit en Français. Le systième Muni Metro. Plus simple.
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