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What is wrong with the MDMA available today? - v2

Ran into a batch two weeks ago that I think may be “meh.” It felt like it might get there in the beginning but never quite reached the heights I was aiming for, then it got wavey as fuck. It was from my usual source of many years which is always quality. It was some of that dark purple crystal people talk about. Usually I pass on that but got curious this time.

Still haven’t reagent tested it fully but will be this weekend.

The next night my buddy took more and proceeded to have a psychotic break. Which has never happened before when I’ve been with him.

-GC
 
Ran into a batch two weeks ago that I think may be “meh.” It felt like it might get there in the beginning but never quite reached the heights I was aiming for, then it got wavey as fuck. It was from my usual source of many years which is always quality. It was some of that dark purple crystal people talk about. Usually I pass on that but got curious this time.

Still haven’t reagent tested it fully but will be this weekend.

The next night my buddy took more and proceeded to have a psychotic break. Which has never happened before when I’ve been with him.

-GC
I hadn't had any in years and got some of that. I had a few batches of it this year. 1 being way more purple (more like a amethyst crystal) and 1 barely having that tint. Was big differences between the 2. Both were still kinda weak mg per dose and overly stimulating imo.

Idk if it's me or the mdma. Probably both is what I'm thinking.
 
Here is another sample from a few weeks back. I could post dozens of reports.

Honestly it's not difficult at all to purify MDMA to very high levels. Simply crush the MDMA, wash with cold anhydrous acetone. Filter out the powder, let it dry, dissolve 1 gram into 10mL of boiling anhydrous isopropyl alcohol and stick in freezer. Pour off the iso. Do this as many times as it takes for the iso to be colorless. No more mehmdma. Problem solved.

If you wanted to clean up a pill it's slightly trickier. Crush the pill up toss in a few mL of water, filter out the binder, evaporate the water for your mdma powder/crystal, proceed to acetone wash and recrystallization.

Also fair warning if there are other drugs as adulterants, they will stay with the mdma. The procedure i described will remove impurities/synthetic byproducts.

 
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I never said there wasn't sub-par MDMA out there. There probably is. I just haven't run into it. I've also demonstrated how easy it is to actually come out with clean MDMA. If your source can't do the simple procedure I provided then I still say "You guys need to find better hookups" if you're getting adulterated MDMA, the same applies.

However the title of the the thread is "Whats wrong with the MDMA available Today?" which implies that all the modern MDMA is not good or theres something wrong with it. And all the crying in the comments and speculation without any evidence just makes me annoyed. I've presented actual evidence that there's still good MDMA out there.

Not that evidence/test results will change anyone's opinion here, because I think most people in this thread just love hearing their own voices.

So yeah, I still think this thread is more Meh than any MDMA ive come across in 15 years. This thread is dumb af and I wish it was dead. There's nothing wrong with MDMA today. If you can't find good material that's different and I'm genuinely sorry. Anyone who truly believes that good MDMA doesn't exist, I think is a sentimental old fart whose brain chemistry has changed. Being a Mod, I hate to troll, but it's so easy, especially when I have hard data. I will continue to post actual test results.

Show me some evidence and not just speculation and maybe I'll change my tune.

Till then, I'll be rolling balls laughing at yall.

---
My lab has also just purchased a polarimeter, so I'll be able to see the S vs R enantiomer ratio. Yay science! Boo speculation!
 
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I never said there wasn't sub-par MDMA out there. There probably is. I just haven't run into it. I've also demonstrated how easy it is to actually come out with clean MDMA. If your source can't do the simple procedure I provided then I still say "You guys need to find better hookups" if you're getting adulterated MDMA, the same applies.

However the title of the the thread is "Whats wrong with the MDMA available Today?" which implies that all the modern MDMA is not good or theres something wrong with it. And all the crying in the comments and speculation without any evidence just makes me annoyed. I've presented actual evidence that there's still good MDMA out there.

Not that evidence/test results will change anyone's opinion here, because I think most people in this thread just love hearing their own voices.

So yeah, I still think this thread is more Meh than any MDMA ive come across in 15 years. This thread is dumb af and I wish it was dead. There's nothing wrong with MDMA today. If you can't find good material that's different and I'm genuinely sorry. Anyone who truly believes that good MDMA doesn't exist, I think is a sentimental old fart whose brain chemistry has changed. Being a Mod, I hate to troll, but it's so easy, especially when I have hard data. I will continue to post actual test results.

Show me some evidence and not just speculation and maybe I'll change my tune.

Till then, I'll be rolling balls laughing at yall.

---
My lab has also just purchased a polarimeter, so I'll be able to see the S vs R enantiomer ratio. Yay science! Boo speculation!

I don't believe that anyone has ever said that all MDMA these days is rubbish. We all know that isn't true, because we all come across the real deal occasionally. Maybe the title of the thread is a tad misleading, but many of us are mystified as to why there is MDMA out there that tests positively for MDMA, but acts like a totally different drug.

The sheer number of entries in here shows that this is a real concern.

As for showing some evidence, perhaps your fancy science toys may throw some light on the subject?
 
I never said there wasn't sub-par MDMA out there. There probably is. I just haven't run into it. I've also demonstrated how easy it is to actually come out with clean MDMA. If your source can't do the simple procedure I provided then I still say "You guys need to find better hookups" if you're getting adulterated MDMA, the same applies.

However the title of the the thread is "Whats wrong with the MDMA available Today?" which implies that all the modern MDMA is not good or theres something wrong with it. And all the crying in the comments and speculation without any evidence just makes me annoyed. I've presented actual evidence that there's still good MDMA out there.

Not that evidence/test results will change anyone's opinion here, because I think most people in this thread just love hearing their own voices.

So yeah, I still think this thread is more Meh than any MDMA ive come across in 15 years. This thread is dumb af and I wish it was dead. There's nothing wrong with MDMA today. If you can't find good material that's different and I'm genuinely sorry. Anyone who truly believes that good MDMA doesn't exist, I think is a sentimental old fart whose brain chemistry has changed. Being a Mod, I hate to troll, but it's so easy, especially when I have hard data. I will continue to post actual test results.

Show me some evidence and not just speculation and maybe I'll change my tune.

Till then, I'll be rolling balls laughing at yall.

---
My lab has also just purchased a polarimeter, so I'll be able to see the S vs R enantiomer ratio. Yay science! Boo speculation!

You should check the ratios with as many batches as you can. I suspect nearly all of them will be racemic but I’d be willing to bet like we’ve seen in that other research article a possibility of a few with enatiomeric excess in one direction or the other. Is it the culprit of “meh” product? No but I’m curious nonetheless.

And I do 100% agree with the sentiment that it isn’t ALL bad, I’ve been arguing that unsuccessfully from day 1. But I do believe there’s “meh” product out there, and I do believe some folks come across it alot more than others. I get the impression most of the US does just fine with product that gives the intended effect. The few times I’ve come across suspected meh was imported in from elsewhere.

This is also why I make sure I grab a lot when I find something I enjoy, completely solves this problem :)

-GC
 
You should check the ratios with as many batches as you can. I suspect nearly all of them will be racemic but I’d be willing to bet like we’ve seen in that other research article a possibility of a few with enatiomeric excess in one direction or the other. Is it the culprit of “meh” product? No but I’m curious nonetheless.

And I do 100% agree with the sentiment that it isn’t ALL bad, I’ve been arguing that unsuccessfully from day 1. But I do believe there’s “meh” product out there, and I do believe some folks come across it alot more than others. I get the impression most of the US does just fine with product that gives the intended effect. The few times I’ve come across suspected meh was imported in from elsewhere.

This is also why I make sure I grab a lot when I find something I enjoy, completely solves this problem :)

-GC
Someone was asking me about MDMA synthesis and I basically told em good luck, competing against the mass scale to dollar even if you did have many of the unmentioned less popular unwatched, cheaper precursor. It got me thinking and I would like to share some new thoughts.

Anyone can make pancakes. Anyone with enough time can make their own pancake mix with their "special" sourdough or buckwheat starter. However, the difference between someone following a recipe, someone making their own mix and someone (making, eggo waffles/pancakes or poptarts for Kellogg's doing chemical engineering) are 3 different skills. And I believe that is where we are at.

The path for a molecule, therefore, from early-phase API and drug product to a commercial product, is an iterative one. It involves increased levels of understanding around the synthesis, potential impurities, isomers, crystalline forms, and physical properties—all of which need to be controlled and understood to the fullest, as they can have an effect the safety and pharmacology of the drug.

The chemistry of MDMA is not a given, and requires expert development to get to the commercial standard we need to ensure patient access and safety at scale. However, it should not be expected that we will stop learning about the chemistry of this compound; changes in manufacturing process, scale, and product formulation can bring with them new challenges and lessons.

These are mechanics of chemistry that while anyone can make bathtub MDMA or meth.It takes someone true understanding not only the synthesis but how to also chemically manipulate the bonds.

I also, told em To go from 94% to 99% is reallly hard.

He asked, How detrimental is the 5-6 percent really when asked is there much of a difference. There are the Walter White's and Gales of the world. There is also Gus fringe "How pure can pure reallly be"

Gale mentions the blue meth that Gus had him test. He tells Gus that his own meth is 96% pure, a hard work and HARD EARNED but this blue meth is 99% pure. Gale says there's a huge difference between the two and that Gus should hire whoever made the blue meth. Gus says for our purposes 96% is just fine. Gale goes. It might not seem like it's a lot but it's a lot. It's TERMENDOUS




Is cooking crystal meth in a very pure form as in Breaking Bad really just 'basic chemistry' like Walter White says?
Yes and no.

Yes, the basic chemistry is clod-simple, or at least as close to clod-simple as organic chemistry ever gets. You can, if you're of a mind to, learn how to do it in an hour. I've done more complex experiments in a high school chemistry class that I failed.

But the devil, as they say, is in the details.

There is a difference between running a reaction in a beaker when you're sitting there with your goggles and your lab coat babying it, and doing it at production volumes. Even a simple reaction becomes a whole ‘nother world when you're doing it repeatably on an industrial scale. It's the difference between a notion of water and an ocean of water.

Doing it is just chemistry. No, scratch that, it's not even chemistry, it's following a recipe. Can you make pancakes? Then you have what it takes to cook meth, other than the difficulty in sourcing the chemicals.

Doing it on the scale that was in the TV show as reliably and with the level of quality control they showed on the TV show is not chemistry. It's chemical engineering. Chemical engineering is neither simple nor easy. Chemical engineering is a combination of chemistry, process management and control, mass production, manufacturing, and engineering design (and the chemistry part is not necessarily the hardest part).

I believe Jessie Pinkman, when hired by the cartel in mexico and told to work talks about what about. If there is excess humidity in the room ,what will you do. That goes back to polymorphs and hydrates debate. Without the right equipement.
There are 3 anhydrous and 4 hydrates of MDMA. DO YOU KNOW if you have form 1,2 or 3... or do you know if you have 1 of the 4 HYDRATES? I bet you dont... Do you have a XRD to test which form or hydrate you have? This of course goes back to talks of

For over 100 samples, only one sample was found to contain anhydrous MDMA·HCl. This seized sample had a peculiar appearance as a very fine and dusty powder. It is noteworthy that re-analysis of this particular sample a year after seizure showed that the MDMA·HCl transformed into its hydrated state as described for model substances in section 3.5. The rareness of anhydrous MDMA·HCl is also depicted in Fig. 8, where an overlay of randomly selected casework samples (2019 – 2020, The Netherlands) showed that all crystalline samples (Fig. 8, B) and all tablets (Fig. 8, C) show the spectral features diagnostic for hydrated MDMA·HCl in their NIR spectrum.


Thorough polymorph screening is crucial in the understanding of active pharmaceutical ingredients as different polymorphs may exhibit variations in solubility, bioavailability, stability, and other critical properties in the evaluation of a drug. (1,4,10,11) There are many techniques to induce crystallization for polymorph screening including antisolvent methods, solution-based methods, evaporation methods, high-pressure crystallization, and crystallization from the melt. (4,11−20) While many recent studies on ritonavir relate to its performance as an amorphous solid dispersion, there have been recent advances in understanding the crystallization of ritonavir. (4,21−25) After the appearance of Form II ritonavir, two new solvates and an anhydrous form were discovered by Morissette et al. (4) In 2014, Kawakami et al. published their findings after crystallizing ritonavir from its melt. They detected the appearance of a crystalline form after annealing in a 60 °C oven over a period of several days. (24) They concluded that the material was Form IV identified by Morissette et al. (4,24) However, the X-ray powder diffraction (XPRD) patterns labeled as such do not match the Form IV XRPD pattern in the publication by Morissette et al. (4,24)


The path for a molecule, therefore, from early-phase API and drug product to a commercial product, is an iterative one. It involves increased levels of understanding around the synthesis, potential impurities, isomers, crystalline forms, and physical properties—all of which need to be controlled and understood to the fullest, as they can have an effect the safety and pharmacology of the drug. [see]


I hope in the end this starts to clear up some things, and advances in more advanced chemistry and biology discussions. With each sample having multiple tests not just HPLC or alike.
 
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Here are some of my own observations I would like to add.

LSD in NL and EU seems weak. I haven't tried it but I see people taking droppers. Now I have people that PARTY. I know tolerance, I know subpar. It's easy for me to hit 16+ five day events a YEAR. that means more then 1 party every month.

Subpar LSD they can go thru a sheet. Good shit. 1-3 has people on the floor with tolerances/group. And they personally ask for my domestic source of fluff.

Personally I think from my minor visual operation northern American hemisphere produced product is better.

Maybe in Holland we have more level 2 for LSD and MDMA. And in NORTH Regional of America we have more chemical engineering due to the risk and cost per dollar. If I'm gonna risk my life, I want to sell and synthesis of the best shit. And 95 vs 99% is a drastic difference.

There are all visual not personal but in my experience any LSD from France, NL etc has been meh at best and 100% refund at worse.

Good API KETAMINE The active ingredient in a pharmaceutical drug is called an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Comes from India. That's about what I know.
 
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Here are some of my own observations I would like to add.

LGood shit. 1-3 has people on the floor with tolerances/group. And they personally ask for my domestic source of fluff.

Personally I think from my minor visual operation northern American hemisphere produced product is better.

Maybe in Holland we have more level 2 for LSD and MDMA. And in NORTH Regional of America we have more chemical engineering due to the risk and cost per dollar. If I'm gonna risk my life, I want to sell and synthesis of the best shit. And 95 vs 99% is a drastic difference.

There are all visual not personal but in my experience any LSD from France, NL etc has been meh at best and 100% refund at worse.

Good API KETAMINE The active ingredient in a pharmaceutical drug is called an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Comes from India. That's about what I know.

Here are some of my own observations I would like to add.

LSD in NL and EU seems weak.
IME GGs used to be strong and accurately dosed as well as LLs analogues. But depending on source it of course varies, as I'm sure it does in the US too.
 
Hello because a polarimeter is a very important tool in my opinion. Unfortunately, but not many have the money to buy one, I will explain a DIY polarimeter to you. Isn't as accurate as a store-bought one, but at least you can see if it's chirally enriched. With a few motifications. Can it be made much more precise.
You will need :
-A cuvette
- Polarized foil
- Your smartphone (LCD, OLED display)

-Look at the polarized film on the smartphone display to see how it behaves. And when they turn it. Make a small continuous line over the foil and the smartphone. Preferably when they can't see anything through the foil and it's black.
- fill the cuvette with distilled H2O, mark the ml level on the cuvette.
- Now turn on your smartphone and make sure that the screen illumination stays on.
- Now place the cuvette on the smartphone screen
- now hold the foil over the cuvette, preferably on the old lines where you could no longer see through the foil at the beginning. Normally, it should be the same as before.
- Now you are producing a well-known h2o solution with your product. And fill your cuvette with it up to the ml mark on your cuvette
-Now put it back on your smartphone, and hold the film over it, ideally you should when you put the film on the
Set aligned strokes. If you can see something through the foil, then you know it's chirally enriched. If it is still black, then there is still a racemat.

As I said, the method is not the most accurate, but at least somewhat

These 2 sheets of polarizing film were $5 on Amazon. I could easily cutnthem inton32-1" squares, which is plenty big enoughntomcover a test tube.. A tip, if its optically active( you see light at the start) If younturn it clockwise and it goes black, its dextro, and if the black spot is counterclockwise from your start it's levo. You can even estimate the enantiomeric excess by how far it turned, with a little practice
 
Ran into a batch two weeks ago that I think may be “meh.” It felt like it might get there in the beginning but never quite reached the heights I was aiming for, then it got wavey as fuck. It was from my usual source of many years which is always quality. It was some of that dark purple crystal people talk about. Usually I pass on that but got curious this time.

Still haven’t reagent tested it fully but will be this weekend.

The next night my buddy took more and proceeded to have a psychotic break. Which has never happened before when I’ve been with him.

-GC
I had a really fucken bad psychotic break on a batch of MD recently. Not sure if it's something they're mixing in it or what. Haven't had anything similar happen to me on any other drug thus far, also happened after taking more the second day
 
I had a really fucken bad psychotic break on a batch of MD recently. Not sure if it's something they're mixing in it or what. Haven't had anything similar happen to me on any other drug thus far, also happened after taking more the second day
I'm sorry to hear that. MDMA is an amphetamine-class drug in addition to being a mildly psychedelic empathogen, entactogen, and sometimes entheogen. It is definitely capable of triggering an amphetamine-induced psychosis state that persists until the drug wears off, especially in those prone to schizotypal states of mind. It's important not to dose too much, avoid redosing, make sure you've eaten something that day and slept the night before, etc. It could be from some mixed in RC stimulant, but I've seen pure MDMA alone do this to a few people over the years on occasion.
 
Check out this article on MDMA from Nov 2024(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871624013929):

Misrepresentation of MDMA in the United States, 1999–2023
________________

Highlights​

  • About half of alleged MDMA samples tested between 1999−2023 contained only MDMA.
  • MDMA quality fluctuated across time but stabilized at high levels in recent years.
  • Overall, 199 unique adulterants were detected in the unregulated MDMA supply.
  • Molly-powder had higher MDMA concentrations than traditional pressed tablets/pills.

Findings​

Most samples (75 %) were expected to contain MDMA, but this varied significantly by represented content (p<0.001). About half the samples (48 %) contained MDMA-only, which also varied significantly by represented content (p<0.001). MDMA-only prevalence declined from 1999–2009 (57.4–15.2 %, p<0.05), recovered from 2009–2017 (15.2–56.0 %, p<0.05), and increased more moderately from 2017–2023 (56.0–74.1 %, p<0.05). Overall, 199 unique adulterants were detected in the MDMA supply across 25 years. We confirmed robust correlations in adulterant prevalence trends between drug checking and law enforcement seizure data.

Conclusions​

While users typically expected alleged MDMA samples to contain only MDMA, more than half of the submitted MDMA samples were misrepresented in some manner. Despite high levels of misrepresentation, MDMA quality has stabilized at relatively high levels in recent years
 
Ran into a batch two weeks ago that I think may be “meh.” It felt like it might get there in the beginning but never quite reached the heights I was aiming for, then it got wavey as fuck. It was from my usual source of many years which is always quality. It was some of that dark purple crystal people talk about. Usually I pass on that but got curious this time.

Still haven’t reagent tested it fully but will be this weekend.

The next night my buddy took more and proceeded to have a psychotic break. Which has never happened before when I’ve been with him.

-GC
Getyourdrugstested and UVIC will lab test for free.
 
I had a really fucken bad psychotic break on a batch of MD recently. Not sure if it's something they're mixing in it or what. Haven't had anything similar happen to me on any other drug thus far, also happened after taking more the second day
With G-Chem... I'll and other mods might give him a little more pass this one time with his comments as he is more OG here.. has a deeper understanding of basic chemistry and I'm familiar have tested Multiple batches with the purple color all passed as MDMA via multiple labs. It is manily caused by impurities in the synethsis they leave after recrystallization. You have have junk sit but still forms big rocks of MDMA and junk and basic labs can't decern. And YES, I've personally extracted, purple junk out of white MDMA. And if you let junk sit in a jar or 55 gallon drum and let the solvent evap slowly it does test as MDMA but it's bad impurities mostly. But someone I know personally doing bulk has encountered a dyed product that was purple. It was starting when the purple hype started, but not as common as one will think.

Also just because it's clear doesn't mean it is good. Ive turned the white MDMA, removed purple shit and turned white into CLEAR MDMA that straight up looks like meth shards 3-5 inches long. The product was in fact MDMA. Still tested as MDMA. But multiple people said the purple was better, the original white was better then my recrystallization batch. I assume because my area has extreme humidity and made a hydrate or dimmer when chemically bonding.

Anyways, please read/reread the rules on the page 1, then feel to chime in. "We are specifically discussing MDMA that has been sent to a lab (such as Energy Control or Drugs Data), tested with some form of GCMS or other lab testing, found to be MDMA, but presents with a different effects profile than typical MDMA. We are not discussing un-tested product that could be anything or contain any adulterant."

As such we always please ask to send your product to 2 different labs that offer lab testing for free. Or more preferably https://www.kykeonanalytics.com/ as they are the ONLY LAB willing to help us on a much deeper level with this project for fee. Or free if you are an official MD/MASTERS student as academic researcher in the chemistry field in harm reduction . Anyone else has pretty much blown me off. And blue light does not wish to help us get free tests. Understandably.

Getyourdrugstested.com in Canada. They will test via FTIR for free/donation, then come back here.

And UVIC. UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA Substance program in Canada as well. They use RAMEN, FTIR and paper spray mass spec.

https://substance.uvic.ca/

Please then report your findings and effects. If you want a more advanced test. The best is https://www.kykeonanalytics.com/ offers NMR for a reasonable fee and more advanced diagnostic for a reasonable fe. With full spectra graphs. And will tell you of other free testing services in for aren't USA based but more EU/AUZ/new Zealand based.

Kykeon Analytics is a public service initiative that provides analytical solutions for harm reduction in the field of newly emerging chemical entities. We work with users and organizations. We create Spectral Libraries to provide researchers and organizations with the tools they need to save lives and advance science, free of charge. We also offer a testing service for users at competitive prices. Furthermore, we do an anonymous monitoring of the market to detect adulteration, mislabeling and novel substances, publishing warnings when dangerous substances are found.

Where can I test my drugs?
You can test your drugs at various locations led by harm reduction organizations, health service providers, or through community-based programs located in the United States, Canada and Europe. You can also test your drugs anonymously at Kykeon Analytics by utilizing our mail-in service that allows you to send your sample from anywhere in the world. Detailed instructions and support are provided to ensure that the process is straightforward secure and anonymous.

DIRECTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN DRUG CHECKING PROGRAMS


Canada with some places accepting US/NA/EU and African samples please use a Canada return addy to blend in.


Trans-European Drug Information Network (TEDI)

2023


Fieldwork drug checking services from 13 different European countries
EU to EU or intercountry only with some services Weindos Various methods for drug checking:

UPLC-QTOF, NMR and more


For our french researchers I don't believe they are apart of Trans-European Drug Information Network (TEDI). However...

fraance L-analyse-de-drogue-a-distance-Psychoactif-en-a-reve-et-l-a-fait is an Option https://www.psychoactif.org/blogs/L...Psychoactif-en-a-reve-et-l-a-fait_7273_2.html
 
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I live in South Africa so not sure if I could submit it there. It's a pure white powder, not crystal at all, not sure if that helps in any manner. I've ordered another larger batch that is arriving soon so I will see if I can find a good way to test it, maybe marquis? I will post pics of the test after they arrive for anyone who knows this stuff better than me

@chris_p

I'm not a mod, but we do NOT allow just reagents results as proof, sorry.. It's an assumption and allowed with lab testing ... but not really allowed alone since the start of this discussion... I'm not trying to bash your lack of knowledge, only trying to educate with my deep understanding on chemistry to help others learn. Ive even have given sources locally in your area or how to find more below. They may or may not be free, but you can ask them the right questions we might want. Multiple reagents with something like a melting point test would probably be not used as proof. But will help with other assumptions auch as using a TLC plate, we may mark as an eh well you tried better then most, the data could help. Thank you for your submission .

Please at the very least please send to UVIC and getyourdrugstested for free. They will accept your donation by mail for free from any country they just don't advertise it. If you want to pay for QUALITY results with questions we can get feedback on, I suggest

https://www.kykeonanalytics.com/ for the lab results we NEED. and the quality of testing and response from our above greater then normal questions we can ask. Their prices are on par with energy control but have been more accurate with better equipment and responding to questions we need vs other lab services.


Now then for you. As an independent researcher . Your local or surrounding university maybe help. For example. ALOT of us use to use Tele Aviv mainly jere when it was less accessible in the USA.



Choose from a wide range of experiments including some that are unique and not available anywhere else in the World.

Fast turnaround: Often the same day.

We can help with routine quality control, compound identification and assignment along with a wide variety of advanced experiments.

Ask our NMR team for advice. Tel.: 026585327, Email: [email protected], Fax: 026585084,

Location: Room 3, Level 0, Philadelphia Building, Institute of Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel.


There is also closer to you. University of the Witwatersrand.

1 Jan Smuts Avenue,
Braamfontein 2000,
Johannesburg,
South Africa

The facility is pivotal to wide-ranging research programs and supports over a hundred users from the School of Chemistry and other departments within the University. In addition to this, NMR services are performed for several clients from industry and other academic institutions.

We provide services at different rates to:

Researchers and students within the University
Researchers from other academic institutions in South Africa
Scientists in Industry and the private sector
We are one of the best-equipped NMR labs in South Africa and we currently house a 300 MHz, 400 MHz and 500 MHz Bruker NMR Spectrometers.



NMR and Mass Spectrometry Service
High-resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Service

NMR is available to students and researchers as well as industry through training, but a limited service is also run.

Training is conducted on the 300 and 400 MHz NMR instruments in the first place, but regular access to 600 MHz NMR requires a free-form application.

Occasional analyses are available through one of our trained operators to anyone for a fee.

This fee ranges from R50 an hour to R500 an hour depending on the complexity of analysis and sample.

Rhodes University
PO Box 94
Makhanda (Grahamstown) 6140
Eastern Cape, South Africa

+27 46 603 8111

[email protected]


Please test your product in a LAB, preferably multiple, then get back with results. We like to see HPLC/ HPLC-DAD, NMR, XDR (to check for polymorphs and hydrates), MALDI (molecular weight) and a polarimeter for Stereoisomers and chiralality as they molecules that have the same numbers and types of atoms, but differ in their three-dimensional relationships. They have equal atomic connections and orders of building blocks. If you are afraid or don't know what to ask. Just ask and we will help guide, you.

If you are worried about calling it MDMA. Call it by it's IUPAC, SMILES, or cas# to look more official. The formal (IUPAC) name is N-methyl-1-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)propan-2-amine, but MDMA (CAS-42542-10-09) is commonly known as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine or methylenedioxy-methylamfetamine.

SMILES denotes a molecular structure as a graph that is essentially the two-dimensional valence-oriented picture chemists draw to describe a molecule. In chemistry, "SMILES" stands for "Simplified Molecular-Input Line Entry System," which is a standardized way to represent the structure of a molecule using a simple string of characters, allowing computers to easily read and manipulate chemical structures; essentially, it's a line notation system for describing chemical compounds using a short, computer-readable format.

Functionality:
SMILES allows users to input a molecule's structure as a text string, which can then be used by computer programs to generate 2D or 3D molecular models, perform calculations, or search chemical databases.

Structure representation:
The string consists of symbols representing atoms, bonds, and ring closures, with specific rules governing how these symbols are combined to accurately depict a molecule's connectivity.

It's smiles for MDMA is.
CC(CC1=CC2=C(C=C1)OCO2)NC

You can even ask how this sample will vary from what was stated and why.


Enantiomers testing, and other more official like DIY experiments currently partially allowed as experimental only.. such as TLC spot plate or melting point.​


This type of stereoisomer is the essential mirror-image, non-superimposable type of stereoisomer introduced in the beginning of the article. Figure 3 provides a perfect example; note that the gray plane in the middle demotes the mirror plane.

GC/MS is ok but not thought of around kindly, in the analytic testing community here by a few people.

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Geometric isomers have the same empirical formula or molecular formula and also the same structural formula, but have a different relative arrangement of the substituent groups. For example, the two geometric isomers of 1,2-dichloroethene (Figure 1.7.1
.31) have the molecular formula of C2H2Cl2, and the same structural formula of Cl(H)C=C(H)Cl, but the relative position of the two chlorine atoms can either be the same side of the C=C double bond (i.e., cis, see Figure 1.7.1 .31a) or on opposite sides of the C=C double bond (i.e., trans, see Figure 1.7.1
.31b). The use of cis and trans is not limited to organic compounds such as olefins, but can also be used in metal complexes,

A chiral molecule is non-superimposable with its mirror image, and has a "handedness" (think of shoes, which specifically go with a right or left foot) it D METH vs DL meth vs L meth. An achiral molecule is superimposable with its mirror image and do not have "handedness" (think of a baseball bat, which can be used with either hand)..

Now this is one test DIY YOU can experiment with. But is not official and in our testing phase.


Normally a polarimeter is a very important tool in my opinion. Unfortunately, but not many have the money to buy one, I will explain a DIY polarimeter to you. Isn't as accurate as a store-bought one, but at least you can see if it's chirally enriched. With a few modifications. Can it be made much more precise.
You will need :
-A cuvette
- Polarized foil
- Your smartphone (LCD, OLED display)

-Look at the polarized film on the smartphone display to see how it behaves. And when they turn it. Make a small continuous line over the foil and the smartphone. Preferably when they can't see anything through the foil and it's black.
- fill the cuvette with distilled H2O, mark the ml level on the cuvette.
- Now turn on your smartphone and make sure that the screen illumination stays on.
- Now place the cuvette on the smartphone screen
- now hold the foil over the cuvette, preferably on the old lines where you could no longer see through the foil at the beginning. Normally, it should be the same as before.
- Now you are producing a well-known h2o solution with your product. And fill your cuvette with it up to the ml mark on your cuvette
-Now put it back on your smartphone, and hold the film over it, ideally you should when you put the film on the
Set aligned strokes. If you can see something through the foil, then you know it's chirally enriched. If it is still black, then there is still a racemat.

As I said, the method is not the most accurate, but at least somewhat

These 2 sheets of polarizing film were $5 on Amazon. I could easily cutnthem inton32-1" squares, which is plenty big enoughntomcover a test tube.. A tip, if its optically active( you see light at the start) If you turn it clockwise and it goes black, its dextro, and if the black spot is counterclockwise from your start it's levo. You can even estimate the enantiomeric excess by how far it turned, with a little practice. As such the mol weight, polymorphs impurities dont like to be picked up on GC/MS let alone reagents is why we do not accept reagent results alone.

Living in South Africa is no excuse now, and understanding why we don't allow reagent results by then selfs. I'm not trying to flame, belittle or anything like that. This forum and discussion has evolved. And in order to answer your and everyone else's questions reagents and even most basic labs WILL NOT HELP US. And you need to go seek others I have mentioned for a baseline at least for free and more advanced paid to really progress.

Some European ones allow delivery by mail but you will need a mailbox in the county that does the testing. If you did that AFTER that confirmation with reagents will be tolerated. Saying you live in South Africa is now NO EXCUSE. The path for a molecule, therefore, from early-phase API and drug product to a commercial product, is an iterative one. It involves increased levels of understanding around the synthesis, potential impurities, isomers, crystalline forms, and physical properties—all of which need to be controlled and understood to the fullest, as they can have an effect the safety and pharmacology of the drug.

As stated earlier

I'm familiar have tested Multiple batches with the purple color all passed as MDMA via multiple labs. It is manily caused by impurities in the synethsis they leave after recrystallization. You have have junk sit but still forms big rocks of MDMA and junk and basic labs can't decern. And YES, I've personally extracted, purple junk out of white MDMA. And if you let junk sit in a jar or 55 gallon drum and let the solvent evap slowly it does test as MDMA but it's bad impurities mostly. But someone I know personally doing bulk has encountered a dyed product that was purple. It was starting when the purple hype started, but not as common as one will think.



Also just because it's clear doesn't mean it is good. Ive turned the white MDMA, removed purple shit and turned white into CLEAR MDMA that straight up looks like meth shards 3-5 inches long. The product was in fact MDMA. Still tested as MDMA. But multiple people said the original white batch was better then my recrystallization batch. I assume because my area has extreme humidity and made a hydrate or dimmer when chemically bonding.

A semi approved diy home test that might be ok around here would be, multiple reagents, a melting point test, a TLC spot plate, a DIY polarimeter and column chromatography.

Usually you run a tlc before a column to find the best column conditions/solvent(s), then you tlc the column fractions afterward to check that everything separated / which fractions have product. A lot of the time before running your column it’s important to know how your unknown behaves in different solvent systems. Running TLC standards beforehand can help with this. It clearly shows you which solvent system has a high degree of separation and which will elute one component better than the other. In other words it guides you to picking a good mobile phase for use in your column.

If a mod or a staff member has a different take, then feel free to let me know and I'm willing to modify or clarify. We are all hear to learn about this on a deeper level with most of us having no understanding to good understanding to degree level understanding.

The path for a molecule, therefore, from early-phase API and drug product to a commercial product, is an iterative one. It involves increased levels of understanding around the synthesis, potential impurities, isomers, crystalline forms, and physical properties—all of which need to be controlled and understood to the fullest, as they can have an effect the safety and pharmacology of the drug and reagents aren't going to cut it man.

Do they serve a purpose. Yes, but for our observations reagents alone is a no
 
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Check out this article on MDMA from Nov 2024(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871624013929):

Misrepresentation of MDMA in the United States, 1999–2023
Would be very iteresting to see similar for Europe. It's from DrugsData and I've heard many complain that their testing is't that precise. As an ignoramus in chemeistry, can some one explain to me what the following taken fro the referenced article means in plain English? "Tests of association were conducted using Pearson’s chi-square or Spearman’s rho, and tests for trends were performed using joinpoint regression."
 
It's really more about statistics and probability than chemistry.

Pearson's chi-square test is one of a variety of chi-square tests – statistical procedures whose results are evaluated by reference to the chi-square distribution. It tests a null hypothesis that the relative frequencies of occurrence of observed events follow a specified frequency distribution. The events must be mutually exclusive. One of the simplest examples is the hypothesis that an ordinary six-sided die is "fair", i.e., all six outcomes occur equally often. Chi-square is calculated by finding the difference between each observed and theoretical frequency, squaring them, dividing each by the theoretical frequency, and taking the sum of the results:

x² = SUM (OE)² / E

where:

O = an observed frequency
E = an expected (theoretical) frequency, asserted by the null hypothesis

For example, to test the hypothesis that a random sample of 100 people has been drawn from a population in which men and women are equal in frequency, the observed number of men and women would be compared to the theoretical frequencies of 50 men and 50 women. If there were 45 men in the sample and 55 women:

x² = (45 – 50)² / 50 + (55 – 50)² / 50 = 1

Meanwhile Spearman's rank correlation coefficient represented by the Greek letter P (rho) is another measure of rank correlation. This wiki article breaks it down better than I can (I think): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearman%27s_rank_correlation_coefficient

And this one's on Pearson's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearson_correlation_coefficient
 
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