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Methylphenidate hydrochloride (ritalin/equasym) conversion process

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Swampwoman

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Apr 16, 2015
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Does anyone know of a process for converterting methylphenidate hydrochloride to pure ethylphenidate powder, and if so can it be done without complex hard to obtain lab equipment etc.
Hi guys this is my first post so i hope its in the right place etc. Looking forward to getting to know you guys.
 
converting MPH to EPH would be synthesis discussion and then you wont get answers here, but if you just want to turn MPH HCl into MPH base im sure some knowledgeable member will chime in... if you have plenty you can try with ammonia like turning cocaine into crack

btw why would you wanna do this, do you wanna smoke MPH or something?
 
Don't see this too often,
If you have a supply of prescription methylphenidate why would you want to turn it Into ethylphenidate if you don't mind my asking?
 
supposedly EPH is better? a lot of people say ritalin sucks and i see a lot of people doing EPH...

i enjoy ritalin a lot though
 
I've always preferred methylphenidate,
I've found ethylphenidate to be good only for the first hour or two and then the negative effect start to manifest themselves. Heart pain/palpitations, paranoia and jitters from hell.
There's a lot more info in the megathread.

I would definitely trade it for some methylphenidate.
I'm no chemist but I would think you would need a fair amount to start with to make it worthwhile and lose quite a bit in the process.
Ethylphenidate is freely and cheaply available (unless you are in the UK atm)
 
Isn't the only difference using ethyl alcohol instead of cheaper methyl alcohol during the synth? I believe someone posted a thread in which they ordered some EPH and actually got MPH instead and it was intercepted by customs and they were prosecuted for it. The reason being methyl alcohol is cheaper and more likely to be used than ethyl.

So maybe OP is trying to change his MPH to a legal alternative. Either way I don't think your gonna get an answer her, try drug forums they tend to be more shady than this place.
 
Reflux methylphenidate HCl in excess absolute ethyl alcohol, probably with a little acid catalyst. You'd want to do that in a fume hood though, with indirect heating; ethyl alcohol fumes are flammable.

You could use 95% ethanol if you do a Dean-Stark setup (azeotropic distillation), I'd think? Otherwise I would suspect some of it would be hydrolysed to ritalinic acid.

Likewise you can go the opposite way, reflux ethylphenidate in excess anhydrous methyl alcohol w/ a little acid catalyst. Methanol is even more flammable than ethyl alcohol and can burn with a barely visible flame, so fume cupboards and no sparks are a must.
 
Sort of. The last part of the synthesis of the phenidates involves a compound that isn't either methyl or ethylphenidate as a precursor. But converting them to each other is easy enough, they're all a group of compounds known as esters, and those can be broken and reformed easily.

This is probably on the edge of synthesis discussion... I don't know if there's much point in keeping this open.
 
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