Making meth out of straight Ephedra plant?

[Jabberwocky]

There are convenient ways of making pseudoephedrine which should get circumvent the domestic shortage of pseudoephedrine in the USA.

https://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume19/v19i3/Pseudoephedrine.pdf

Ok. Now I’ve read it. Very clever. Quite amusing.

 

[vecktor]

the improbably pdf is just amusing. Lack of reliable decongestants is a big problem in the USA.
the rest is real information.

PM me if you want the synthesis of the useful emetic apomorphine from the readily available (5α,6α)-7,8-didehydro-4,5-epoxy-17-methylmorphinan-3,6-diol diacetate

 

[thetaylordokc]

It all depends on the route, if using the typical RP/I cook both ephedrine and pseudo ephedrine will yield d-methamphetamine.

If using something like a Al/Hg reduction than there would be racemic meth. (Obviously first going to p2p.)

Also there’s other alkaloids in Ephedra sinica which will alter the final product, such as PPA. If I recall right PPA going through the RP/I would yield Amphetamine, so it’d be a bit of cocktail unless the ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are isolated.

It’s even possible to pass a crude extract of the plant through RP/I to yield a crude mixture of amphetamines, I wonder if that’s what the Afghans are doing? (I didn’t read the article.)

I personally started some Ephedra sinica myself just for using the herb as is, but if anyone is ever interested in a bit of a grow log/tips I’d be down to write it up. It’s a hardy plant capable of withstanding decent drought and heat.

To finish, the Chinese do have a cultivar that is said to be very high in alkaloids (8% over the typical .5-2%) I wonder if the Afghans are growing that as well?I

-GC

I am very interested in grow tips but, for now its alibaba for experiments

 

[Tryptamite]

There are methods to easily extract the desirables from ephedra powder using steam and a pressure cooker

 

[fastandbulbous]

Straight from Ephedra? Yeah, any l-ephedrine or d-pseudoephedrine will produce d-methamphetamine, but there is a good chance it'll end up like Breaking Bad, but instead of blue tinted meth, one that is green, due the presence of chlorophyll!

 

[dalpat077]

Another corpse thread resurrected! How does this happen! I can't keep up i.e. seems to me I'm using these forums wrong.

Anyway and dispensing with the formalities and jokes: as usual I have a link for that (although as to why I remember this one or even have it is beyond me) (and pretty fucking hard to find among the Cocaine and Fentanyl bookmarks in my library I'll tell ya). One fine day I really must archive all of this shit and make it available to all and sundry as single download i.e. it'd be a fucking shame for it to end up in some or the other used goods store (you know: like as what would happen if I kicked the proverbial bucket this information is of use to nobody around me in real life and some of it is pretty fucking obscure and even I'm surprised at the shit I've been able to find in every nook and cranny of the Internet, clear net ironically, in the past two years) (point being a lot of time and bandwidth has been expended in gathering this shit).

While there's no step-by-step instructions: sometimes it's possible glean information from simple news reports (DEA or UNODC research and studies are sometimes treasure troves and go into minute detail i.e. I've got a very old DEA report on H production and, as somebody noted that had included it as part of a study paper, probably a research paper and study that they regretted commissioning or publishing but of course it's out there now).

Oh well. Maybe the below sheds some light on this topic (not from a chemistry point of view for those in the know that have posted on this thread already).

The Wild Shrub at the Root of the Afghan Meth Epidemic

For Afghan meth makers, the wild ephedra bush has been a game-changer, breathing life into a new, troubling industry.

undark.org

Point being: tag your chemistry background onto what's detailed in the above article and maybe you have the answers?