It appears it is indeed likely active!!!
en.m.wikipedia.org
This is the n-formal intermediate for amphetamine in Leuckart said to be active.
While not studies look at how much N-formyl MDMA is found a study on PMA/PMMA found around 20% so extrapolation from that we can assume the old Leuckart MDMA had at least 10-20% too.
There’s the smoking gun for Leuckart, how I never spotted this n-formyl-Amphetamine wiki before I won’t know.
“Formetorex (INN), also known as formetamide or N-formylamphetamine, is an amphetamine described as an anorectic which does not appear to have ever been marketed.”
Edit- This study goes over amphetamine and methamphetamine purity in the 80’s when they were both primarily made via Leuckart.
www.ncjrs.gov
Notice how Amphetamine reached purity of 99% but meth only tops out at 72%. That’s because Leuckart works better for primary amines over secondary amines.
Anecdotal reports say the same for MD amphetamine species. So we can assume MDMA in the 90’s was almost certainly impure.
Notice how 99% meth samples contain the n-formyl intermediate but only 79% for amphetamine.
With all this we can be almost certain of a number of things...
1. MDMA in the 90’s was made via Leuckart.
2. Secondary amines made via Leuckart such as PMMA, Meth, and MDMA all are less pure and almost certainly contain at least some n-formyl intermediate.
3. While very little research has been conducted, the n-formyl intermediate of amphetamine has been found to be an active anorectic even with its own pharmaceutical name.
Now if anyone finds info on pharmacological data for n-formyl-amp or any other n-formyl intermediate I’ll kiss you.
-GC