So half the bag contains a isomer that assume ably is better then the racemic.
Any DIY procedure to get em seperated ?
Yes.
The thing is, in Tihkal Shulgin reported that aET (alpha ethyl tryptamine) had actually been legally produced and marketed by a specialist supplier. In the 80s someone set up a fake company to purchase the stuff and then sold it on the street AS ecstasy. Not as MDMA - that's an important detail.
Why? Because when the seller was caught they were found not guilty BECAUSE the term 'ecstasy' isn't a chemical definition but a nickname and aET was legal at the time. So what then? Then that same seller went on buying & selling aET and got arrested a second time!!! This time the judge made it clear that although aET was not legally controlled, there were still many charges that COULD be made (poisoning, unregulated medicine or whatever). The situation eventually resolved itself because the price of aET went up by 2000% shortly afterwards.
Why do I mention aET? Because that longer chain is what stops the 5HT2a affinity. But since it's only one of the isomers of aMT that is a 5HT2a ligand, resolution or chiral synthesis is an alternative.
We used O,O-dibenzoyl tartaric acid to resolve the isomers and it was me that got sent two little bags, one labelled with a (+), the other with a (-). Over a couple of weeks I slowly worked up the dose of each. I was vaping it so it was VERY evident which one was the hallucinogen and more importantly, which one wasn't. I DO NOT recommend people do this. Vaping potent tryptamines is a risky thing to do but not knowing how much would be required, I had to minimize the amount of material used in each test. Most researchers who self-test IV the stuff, but I hate needles.
Chemists will be aware that small samples are extremely expensive to produce as if novel, one has to essentially guess a workable route.
I thought about it and realized that the 50% 'waste' might not actually BE waste. I'm pretty sure that racemization is possible or at worst, the amine could be oxidized back to the ketone so could be fed back into the feedstock. Better, I strongly suspect that with a chiral catalyst or using a chiral auxiliary, the pure enantiomers could be produced. Lastly, it's not as if the (R) isomer is inactive. It's VERY trippy. In fact, it's possible that it's better than the racemate if only because the body only has half as much to metabolize. There is generally a rate-limiting step in metabolism. I suppose the example most people will know is booze. Hangovers are largely due to the body not being able to remove the oxidation product of ethanol, acetaldehyde. I don't KNOW because I've never actually sampled the raecemic product, but it seems like a reasonable guess.
Long ago I read that Ken Casey had declared aMT to be the 'Rolls Royce of psychedelics lasting 12 hours and having a very gentle comedown'. Now here is the thing. I'm uncertain how THAT aMT was made. If it had been made by the reduction of the amino acid tryptophan, it would be optically active. I think that's one of those things we will never know for sure.
But I think the important point is that tryptamines can be entactogens. Until now almost every entactogen has been a ring-substituted PEA or bioisostere thereof (e.g. Benzo Fury).
I will conclude by noting that in the original 60s patents Upjohn obtained include 7-methyl aMT and 7-methyl aET. In animal models these proved to be an order of magnitude more potent as a monoamine releaser BUT I don't think anyone tested if it's MAOI properties likewise increased. It's worth noting that if one overlays aMT and amphetamine, that 7 methyl perfectly overlays the para (4) position of amphetamine. I am only too aware that PMA is a dangerous compound so I would be very careful studying it.
Sorry if I over-explained all of that. It wasn't an attempt to 'blind you with science' but I tested the isomers of aMT about 15 years ago and I'm still not certain why nobody has gone down that path. I suspect it's because the initial reaction is 'we waste HALF of the product?' but I've had a long time to consider the various ways in which ALL of the product gets used, one way or another.
