The Phenethylamine class of chemicals includes some of the most popular products of clandestine drug labs around the world. These include MDMA, Methamphetamine, 2C-B, and a variety of “research chemicals”. This class of chemicals was giving center stage in the great Dr. Alexander Shulgin’s book Pihkal, which stands for “Phenethylamines I have Known And Loved”. The Phenethylamine class of drugs spans a wide variety of structurally similar chemicals with the base structure Phenethylamine. These drugs possess a wide range of effects, from the stimulants amphetamine and methamphetamine, the hallucinogenic 2C-X chemicals such as 2C-B and 2C-I, and the empathogenic MDX chemicals which include MDMA, MDA, and MDE.

Phenethylamine

Dopamine

The synthesis of the bulk of these drugs is rather straight forward with the simple qualification of the availability of a direct precursor. For example, 2C-B is extremely easy to synthesize from the chemical 2,5-dimethyoxyphenethylamine, requiring only a reaction with elemental bromine, and the chemicals MDA, MDMA, amphetamine, and methamphetamine are all easily synthesized through the reaction of MDP2P with either ammonia or methylamine for the former two and P2P with the same for the later two. These reactions are easily carried out once the precursors are obtained.

MDA

MDMA

MDP2P

In addition to the general synthesis of methamphetamine from P2P, methamphetamine and methcathinone may also be easily prepared from ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. These former of these syntheses is one of the most popular throughout the world, utilizing a variety of routes. One such route utilizes the action of hydriodic acid (known by a variety of names, such as “Push Pull” or “LWR” usually dependant on the vessel used), another uses anhydrous ammonia and sodium or lithium metal (known as the “Birch reduction”), and another utilizes hypophosphorus acid.

Methamphetamine & Methcathinone

Barring the availability of a direct precursor, some of these drugs still lend themselves well to synthesis from farther removed precursors. The 2C-X chemicals may be synthesized from 2,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde, the MDX chemicals may be synthesized through a variety of routes from the chemical safrole, and methamphetamine may be synthesized from benzaldehyde.

In some instances total synthesis of the drug is desired, and while this is possible for all of the Phenethylamines, most of the total syntheses require more skill than most possess. The one exception is the drug methamphetamine, which is easily produced from such basic chemicals as benzene and acetone. With the decreasing availability of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine these methods are becoming more popular.

A variety of other chemicals, some well known like mescaline and some not so well known like DOM, also fall under the Phenethylamine umbrella. The synthesis of these drugs, as well as the previously mentioned “popular” chemicals, can be found here in our drug chemistry information pages, as well as a variety of articles pertaining to the synthesis and extraction of the necessary precursor chemical to carry out a large number of the synthesis.

Some other Phenethylamines

2C-B

DOM

2C-E

2C-T-21

Mescaline

TMA-5