Where to send for analysis?

[vortech]

I have two different crystalline batches of MXE, both look nearly identical on the surface. One has great therapeutic potential, the other just makes the user feel 'fucked up'.

I'm willing to pay a lab to have an analysis done to determine the differences between these two batches. My best guess is that the differences in effects are the result of differences in their stereochemistry, but I need hard data to confirm it. Where can I send samples to get this data?

 

[serotonin2A]

Analysis of the stereochemistry is much more specialized then just assessing the identity and purity of the compound. I think you need to find a lab that does x-ray crystallography. You could try the chemistry instrumentation core at a large research university. It will cost a good deal of money to complete this analysis, probably a few thousand dollars.

I don't think any facility that can do this work for you would appreciate having their info listed in this thread, unless this data is being collected as part of a real research project.

 

[sekio]

I talked to someone who had the exact same scenario as you. (Two batches of purported MXE, supposedly differing in effects, etc). Turns out both were analytically pure MXE (GC test) after all so it would either be a bioavailibility issue (in which case, weigh out 100mg of each powder and see how long it takes to dissolve in 1-2ml of room temperature water with gentle agitation - a large difference in dissolution time indicates a different polymorph - but that was not observed.) or just mental expectation effects.

GCMS showed no difference between the two. A "blind bioassay" in an independent observer who was never told which should be "good" and which should be "bad" showed no difference between the two either. So I chalked it up to the usual superstition/nocebo gremlins. People are weird sometimes.

Nobody makes anything but racemic MXE to my knowledge, either. You can easily test optical rotary power of compounds by dissolving them in DI water and then building a polarimeter (glass cell, 2 polarizers, light source).

 

[serotonin2A]

I talked to someone who had the exact same scenario as you. (Two batches of purported MXE, supposedly differing in effects, etc). Turns out both were analytically pure MXE (GC test) after all so it would either be a bioavailibility issue (in which case, weigh out 100mg of each powder and see how long it takes to dissolve in 1-2ml of room temperature water with gentle agitation - a large difference in dissolution time indicates a different polymorph - but that was not observed.) or just mental expectation effects.

GCMS showed no difference between the two. A "blind bioassay" in an independent observer who was never told which should be "good" and which should be "bad" showed no difference between the two either. So I chalked it up to the usual superstition/nocebo gremlins. People are weird sometimes.

Nobody makes anything but racemic MXE to my knowledge, either. You can easily test optical rotary power of compounds by dissolving them in DI water and then building a polarimeter (glass cell, 2 polarizers, light source).

This would certainly work to measure optical activity, but it still wouldn't identify what isomer the sample contained. I don't think the absolute configuration is known.