necropolis
Bluelighter
Yes, provided that one doesn't also partially or entirely reduce the double-bonded oxygen on the cyclohexanone ring. HI would probably be far too aggressive for such an undertaking; perhaps HBr or BBr3 might work. Or even diphenyl lithium phosphide. But the cyclohexanone must be kept intact.
On another note:
To the extent of my knowledge, the presence of brownish impurities in the context of arylcyclohexylamine drugs is generally due to unreacted aryl Grignard reagent - Phenyl magnesium bromide in the case of PCP, or cyclopentyl magnesium bromide for ketamine which would also most likely be employed in the synthesis of substituted compounds like MXE and such. I do know for certain that Grignards do not like to react in the presence of terminal oxygens. In some cases they fail to react entirely. Perhaps this is the problem that was encountered with HXE - an earlier post mentioning the "brown" impurities present in the final product. Proper distillation would have easily separated the desired material from any unreacted precursors, so whomever was making this was not practicing proper laboratory purification. Most, if not all arylcyclohexylamines should appear as pure white to off-white powders in their final state as acid salts. Obviously this does not necessarily mean that they are pure. PCC (1-piperidine cyclohexane carbonitrile, employed commonly in the manufacture of PCP) is virtually indistinguishable from PCP itself in pure form.
On another note:
To the extent of my knowledge, the presence of brownish impurities in the context of arylcyclohexylamine drugs is generally due to unreacted aryl Grignard reagent - Phenyl magnesium bromide in the case of PCP, or cyclopentyl magnesium bromide for ketamine which would also most likely be employed in the synthesis of substituted compounds like MXE and such. I do know for certain that Grignards do not like to react in the presence of terminal oxygens. In some cases they fail to react entirely. Perhaps this is the problem that was encountered with HXE - an earlier post mentioning the "brown" impurities present in the final product. Proper distillation would have easily separated the desired material from any unreacted precursors, so whomever was making this was not practicing proper laboratory purification. Most, if not all arylcyclohexylamines should appear as pure white to off-white powders in their final state as acid salts. Obviously this does not necessarily mean that they are pure. PCC (1-piperidine cyclohexane carbonitrile, employed commonly in the manufacture of PCP) is virtually indistinguishable from PCP itself in pure form.
