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Tryptamine degrading

floydpink

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Mar 14, 2012
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I have some metocin lying in a glass vial since new years. I've not checked up on it for months, but I am aware of the possiblity that it might have degraded. But I have a few questions:
1. Is there any way to easily "test" it for degradation? I mean like, does the color change? The consistency?
2. Does it degrade into more dangerous bi-substances? I mean, is eating a partly degraded tryptamine something to avoid, or can I just eat the rest with an elevated dose?
3. Next time I'll order an Aco-based tryptamine.. These have a longer duration, right? By how long, approximately?
 
1. If it goes brown and smells like shit, it's degrading. (Unlikely unless it was exposed to extreme heat/moisture). Seriously though, any change in color or consistency may indicate degradation. (yellowing) If the compound has been in a sealed vial and is the fumarate salt it shouldbe fine. The real issue is freebase 4-oh-tryptamines that turn to (reportedly still active) blackish quinone tar.
2. None of the decomposition products should be toxic in the relatively small amounts you'd be ingesting; that said, they're not going to make your experience any nicer.
3. Not neccesarily, the acetoxy group is more for preserving stability (preventing decomposition) and evading the law. To the best of my knowledge the 4-ACO-xxx series all get metabolised quite rapidly to the corresponding 4-OH-xxx tryptamines and are essentially prodrugs.
 
3. Not neccesarily, the acetoxy group is more for preserving stability (preventing decomposition) and evading the law. To the best of my knowledge the 4-ACO-xxx series all get metabolised quite rapidly to the corresponding 4-OH-xxx tryptamines and are essentially prodrugs.

Well if they're prodrugs it would make sense if they last longer. Anecdotally, 4-AcO-DMT has somewhat different effects from 4-HO-DMT (psilocin), implying that the AcO compound is active and present long enough to influence the effects. Though that's hardly scientific :P
 
In the MIPT entry of TiHKAL, Shulgin wrote:

A couple points of passing interest. As to stability: many of the free-base tryptamines are sensitive to air oxidation, some of them extremely so. This particular base, standing for a goodly number of years with no particular protection from air, has remained almost colorless, with no apparent signs of decomposition.

So it seems that the proneness to decomposition can be very different with different tryptamines, and also depends on whether the compound is in salt or freebase form.
 
Thanks for the answes.

As for the "duration" of Aco-tryptamines, I meant the max duration of storage (stability I guess), not the duration of the experience.
 
Metabolism / pharmacology of other acetoxy ester pro-drugs would indicate this as esterases are not that selective IIRC.
I wonder about the addition of something like vitamin C as being a good idea to prevent oxidation, but I'm not sure if it sacrifices itself in the same way or if it's only good for free radical quenching.
 
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