Again, my bad,
@Jmoda. To be fair, when I read it at face value I thought it was inconsistent with some of the other things you've commented with which I generally agree.
Obviously. I'm not adhering to any particular academic standards when I post either, no MLA format. I think the term "MDMmeh" > "MehDMA", but it's amusing nonetheless. However, I have to disagree, respectfully, that using the terms "magic" and "meh" are "
diction that was born out of the conversation". Calling something unremarkable "meh" wasn't invented here and even Dr. Shulgin had a "magic half-dozen", so I get it, but Dr. Shulgin also wrote PiHKAL and TiHKAL, so he gets a pass, lol.
Anyway, yes anecdotal reports are important, but there's a limit to how many we actually need. I guess I understand some of the frustrations you yourself have mentioned in this very thread now.
Clearly. I'm hoping you're overstating the obvious for rhetorical purposes here.
Not sure what you mean by "our lingo". It is not unique to call a thing "meh" or "magic", and yes I picked up on the use of these terms.
Why are you giving me an ELI5?
Exactly. We're probably good on the anecdotes and subjective opinions.
I was thinking this when I first read that comment, too. I recall reading that 4-MAR is serotonergic from a good source. However, I have to disagree with your assessment of placebos – it's unreal how potent and ubiquitous placebos are, many of them right under our proverbial noses without us knowing (or
up our noses more like it).
EXACTLY – wine-tasting has been debunked as pseudoscience monkey-garbage. Wine experts are all full of shit, whether they realize it or not
→ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis
Here's "The Legendary Study That Embarrassed Wine Experts Across the Globe" →
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/08/the_most_infamous_study_on_wine_tasting.html
It was also on the TV show,
Adam Ruins Everything → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PeKcWCC-tw
No one who grants money to research gives a fuck about anyone's subjective experience and their claims of personal accuracy and blah³. You can't just pretend the scientific method doesn't matter. It very much does still matter and for good reasons at that.
Makes zero difference, and your confidence only confirms your bias. Come on, man; you're smarter than this.
Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy mainly followed by
careful analysis of the spectrograph, comparing it to an analytical standard of the pure compound. Here's some literature on the exact subject, in fact:
"GC-MS studies on side-chain regioisomers related to substituted methylenedioxyphenethylamines: MDEA, MDMMA, and MBDB" →
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20875234/
"Chromatographic and spectroscopic methods of identification for the side-chain regioisomers of 3,4-methylenedioxyphenethylamines related to MDEA, MDMMA, and MBDB
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12841949/
This assumes said precursors are coming from an illicit source then, b/c no legitimate supplier would be selling List I chemicals that aren't reagent-grade quality. I've theorized that the chemists themselves are more likely to be producing their own methylamine from ammonia and methanol in the presence of a metal catalyst (something with aluminum, I think). Dimethylamine and trimethylamine are co-products; "the reaction kinetics and reactant ratios determine the ratio of the three products." The reaction kinetics most favor trimethylamine, though evidently dimethylamine is in greater commercial demand. (source:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920586197000035)
I swear I recall having read that there is at least one other major method of MDMA synthesis that results in these side products in small quantities; I think it's a method involving performic acid and also producing the impurity
n-formyl-n-methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine but I don't have any more time or will power to go looking that one up as well. I posted the link much earlier in this thread, so if you
wade through enough anecdotes you'll eventually find it somewhere…