Electrolytic reduction of P2NP to yield amphetamine

idunno

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Did any of you ever manage to make it work? It's a method described in the US patent 1,879,003.

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1 mol of phenyl-2-nitropropene, C6H5CH=C(CH3)NO2, is dissolved with a solvent
prepared by mixing 1000ml of ethanol with 500ml of acetic acid and 500ml of 12 N
sulfuric acid. The resultant solution is placed in the cathode compartment of a
divided electrolytic cell containing a metallic cathode of mercury, copper, or
other metal of similar nature. Current is passed, using a current density of
~0.2 amp/cm2 of cathode surface. The temperature is kept at about 40°C during
the electrolysis which is continued until at least eight Faradays of electricity
have been passed.

When the reduction is completed, the amphetamine may be separated from the
solution. A convenient way of doing this is by removing the ethanol and ethyl
acetate present by evaporation and then making the residual solution strongly
alkaline by addition of caustic alkali. The basic layer thus formed is separated
from the aqueous solution and contains the desired amphetamine freebase.

It looks nice because it doesn't use any mercury, which is not easily available and also toxic.

I managed to make it work but I have a hard time increasing my yield past the point of 10%. :( Which is extremely poor, but I am a beginner hobby chemist so I hope that maybe someone here would have some advice as to how to make it work better. I never see anyone talk about this route, but I think that figuring out how to master it would benefit us all. One can make meth and MDA in a very similar way too according to Uncle Fester.

I guess that my issue might be in the fact that my P2NP sometimes turns red during the electrolysis. What does it mean when P2NP turns red? Is this decomposition? If so, how do I avoid it?
Or is my P2NP just old and spoiled? Could be as it's 1 year old, but it was kept in a fridge and looks ok while still in a jar (bright yellow).

I'm also thinking that the sulfuric acid might be making this entire thing so fragile? I read somewhere here that amphetamine salts can be damaged by too much acid... But it has to be there in order to make the electricity flow (it's an electrolyte). I tried to add water before evaporating ethanol and ethyl acetate to dilute the acid and it did help the yield but it's still only 10% (was 2% before lol).

It has to be possible to make it work, it's a patented method and the author claims possible good yields. If anyone has any suggestions it would be very helpful and appreciated.
 
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MadHatter

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I love this post and I want to marry it.

I have been thinking about the possibility of electrochemical reduction in amphetamine production for some time, but never got around to trying it out. You're an absolute KING for doing it.
I've never seen a write-up ANYWHERE for it, not on any bee forum and not on Erowid or The Hive, which made me wonder why? For me as a noob, this should have great potential.
Maybe the answer is in the low yield. But what yields were reported in the experimental section of the patent?
Have you tried the more classic route with the P2NP, and if yes, what yields did that produce?

The other thing is the actual amount of energy that would need to pass through the vessel. 8 faradays would mean 4-5 days of 2 amps, right? If one is working with a cathode of aproximately 10 cm2. Or are my noobish calculations off?
1 faraday = 96500 coloumbs.
8 faradays = 96500 c x 8 = 772000 coloumbs
1 coloumb = 1 amp x 1 sec
2 amps for 1 hour = 2 x 60 min x 60 s = 7200 couloumb
772 000 c / 7200 c = 107 (hours of 2 amps) = 4-5 days
If the current density is supposed to be 0,2 amps per cm2, then 2 amps should be passed through 10 cm2.


So can you give a more detailed write-up of your process? What was the exact weights and concentrations of your reactants, what was the temperature, voltage/amps, how was your cell constructed, how long did you run it for and what materials did you use for the anode and cathode?
 
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Needtolearn

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Mercury is easy to get if you don't mind the high prices. MANY Periodic table/element collection sites sells this. example under:

 

BHBlueberry

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500ml of Acetic Acid tells me everything I want - never ever ;)
 

MadHatter

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Sorry, what do you mean?
 

BHBlueberry

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I mean neutralization of this acid :)
 

MadHatter

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I would be more worried about neutralization of 500 ML 12 N sulphuric acid ... these and other parts of this text is why I'm longing so much for a detailed write-up from OP. It would be super interesting!
 

chemden

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Has anyone tried this method? If so, what results did you get?
 

chemden

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In the original publication, the author mentions that you can evaporate ethanol and acetic acid. You will need to neutralize only H2SO4.

I don't know how easy you can find NaOH in your country. In my case, I can walk into a construction store and ask for "caustic soda," which is NaOH.
 

41Dxflatline

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I'm getting some equipment together to do it properly soon. Nearly every write up I've seen has been complete garbage. No potentiostat, no reference electrode, using a garden pot as a ion exchange membrane
 

w2x3f5

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There are reverse osmosis membranes, this is the best option. take one that works at normal pressure, conventional osmotic membranes work at high pressure.
 

w2x3f5

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You need to use a membrane through which only ions and water can pass, without it it's all nonsense, you have two compartments in one p2pnp in solvents with acetic acid, in the second compartment sulfuric acid.

Much easier to get through electrochemical amalgam, mercury absorbs sodium from sodium hydroxide electrolysis and reduces p2np, mercury as a barrier to mixing the two solution. The output is 80 percent of theoretical.
 

ItsMee

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I tried this methods before. It works, but yields are not so great but ok.
I got 2,5g - 3g sulphate from 5g P2NP
I used lead plates, cut from roofing lead. You have to use clean, blank surface on your electrodes.
Using porous clay pot for seperating your anode/cathode compartments works fine.
Anode compartment has to be filled with 12N sulfuric acid aswell.

Yes your mixture gets red. you have to remove it with non polar washings before basification.

What is important is temperature. in the paper it says not exceeding 40°C, but i experienced that this is too high.
Try to run it as cold as possible. Running your cell in an ice bath is an option. 10°C is prefered. and at the end you will see, that you just have a slightly red color. (less impurities, higher yield).

I tried this with max 10g P2NP, because my cell was that small. scaling up could be a problem because of heat generation.
You have to be creative in terms of active cooling than.

Trying this in a bucket with a big unglazed flowerpot would be awsome.

Maybe i will come up with a detailed procedure in future. unfortunately i cant provide pictures, because i tried this years before.

But hey, it is easy, non toxic and you need just common chemicals. But it takes time. you have to run your cell maybe for days, when you go large scale.
 

w2x3f5

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you can obtain sodium amalgam during the reaction (electroisynthesis), then the amalgam will remarkably restore your p2np
 

41Dxflatline

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This is my electrolysis cell. There are many like it but this one is mine:
A9YxsrDutH
 

ItsMee

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This one looks great! Can you explain this?
Is this a little geared dc motor on top for stirring?
I stirred just with a stirring rod on a magnetic hotplate stirrer
And the inside chamber is a porous clay cup?
I see two terminals for electrode connection. Is the blue cable a thermometer probe, or reference electrode?
You can attach two lead electrodes, put this in a cooling bath and give it a go.
Flat sheet of lead is necessary to calculate the dimensions in cm², because you have to pass 0,2A /cm² this is important.
Less is also ok, takes a bit longer, but more is bad, and forms byproducts.
Great device!
 

41Dxflatline

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Yeah you've got it. It's what you think it is. It's not going in a cooling bath, there's going to be a spiral of tubes where the water flows though a small metal tank thermal pasted onto a peltier coolers with heatsinks and fans in a closed loop. The cell isn't finished yet, it needs a temperature probe. I'm using an STC-1000 to control the temperature. I've got my opamps to make my potentiostat. Also it's not P2NP I'll be using, I'm turning it into the oxime before electrolysis.
 
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ItsMee

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I had this idea for cooling aswell. wanted to use a glass tubing coil immersed in the anode compartment, but never tried, because my cell was already very small.
It looks like you are really have the knowledge about electrochemistry.
the stuff with reference electrode etc. was too high for me. but hey it still worked.

So P2NP to oxime first? With Sn/HCl? I only formed the oxime from the ketone and hydroxlamine before.

Afaik the oxime is formed by electrolysis in good yields after passing just 4 F instead of 8 with lower A density and adding hydroxylamine.
The tricky part is to reduce the oxime to amine because of the favored hydrogen formation at the end of the electrolysis.
Your probably know this reference but i will give the link. maybe it will help the other members aswell. Oxime yield 85-91%

 

41Dxflatline

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When you electroreduce P2NP it first goes to the oxime before the amine. Doing the first step with Sn/HCl should result in higher yields than starting with P2NP. I'm not doing the glass coil inside the anode like Otto Snow does I'm going to use silicone tubing in a coil and I've not decided whether I'll put it inside or outside the anode yet. I'll be using HCl and acetic acid for everything since sulfuric acid eats silcone. The current is not important, you need to control the potential between the two electrodes and let current vary. Oxime fits in the blue group as per this handy chart and I'll be wanting 1v potential and methanol will be my solvent. I could actually do a cyclic voltammetry with my other potentiostat I made from a PSoC. I can't use it othewise because it's only rated for USB levels of volts and amps.

VZAzLJ64fy
 

ItsMee

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Indeed, this chart is very helpful. Didn't know, that methanol is the better solvent.
Of using HCl i heard earlier. And i think i tried once. The RM doesn't get so red as with sulfuric acid.
What kind of electrodes you are planning to use?
Otto Snow... wow, i remember that dude. Thank you that you reminded me again. I will look at his book again.
My friend, you have a nice setup, and the knowledge to make this work better than me, with reference electrode etc.
Please keep going, test it out and give us frequently updates about your progress, i am very interested in.
I have to learn more about electrochemistry, potentials, reference electrode ect. I will read a lot in the coming weeks.
 
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