Methcathinone (ephedrone/βk-methamphetamine) synthesis

ymaaah

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Chemicals:
KMnO4 [Potassium Permanganate] - This is sold at 'Sears' in a blue bottle. (Catalog #4234415)
It's used to remove iron from water filters.
Pseudoephedrine HCl - Get a box of 96 'Equate' Tablets from Wal-Mart, or Sudafed's will work.
Isopropyl Alcohol [Isopropyl 70% Rubbing Alcohol] - Any grocery store or pharmacy
Hydrochloric Acid [HCl] - Sold as "Muriatic Acid"
Acetone - Sold at any hardware store or paint store
Distilled Water - Sold at any grocery store
Lab Stuff:
Strainer - The smaller the holes the better
Plastic Funnel - Check your local grocery store
Coffee Filters - Use "Maxwell House"
3 Mason Jars, Snapple Bottles, whatever works
Large Jug - Like a glass fruit juice jug
Measuring Cup - Marked in ML (Milliliters)
Syringe - The kind they use to feed babies by mouth, marked in ML's
Pyrex Dish - PYREX only!
Access to a refrigerator
Access to a microwave

Ephedrine Extraction:
Take all 96 pills, and put them in the strainer. Add some crushed ice, you want more like
ice shavings other than big chunks of ice. Simply shake the strainer back and fourth, as
the ice melts, you will notice the red coating on the pills coming off. You may want to
quickly rinse the pills once or twice. When you notice most of the red coating is gone
(the pills will be a light pink in color), it's time to take the pills and put them in one
of the Snapple bottles. You must now add 150ml of distilled water. Now place the jar in the
microwave (leave the cap off), and heat until the water is hot, not boiling but hot. Shake
the bottle (with the cap on) until all the pills break apart, then let it settle. Using the
plastic funnel and coffee filters, you now want to filter the water into another Snapple
bottle, cap this bottle and set it aside. You will want to scrape all the mushy ephedrine
powder from the coffee filter back into the first bottle, add 150ml of distilled water, and
heat again. Filter adding the water to the second Snapple bottle (that all ready has the
150mLs from your first filtration). Again you will repeat this process (another 150mL of
water).

You should now have 450mL of water in one bottle and some gritty ephedrine in the other. Cap
the bottle with the water and put it in the refrigerator. Wash the other bottle out and set
it aside. The bottle with the water contains the ephedrine water.
You must now prepare your KMnO4 (Potassium Permanganate) solution. Measure out the 7.43 grams
of Potassium Permanganate, and put it in the clean, empty Snapple bottle. Now, add 100mL of
distilled water, cap the bottle, and shake it real hard for a few minutes. Using the syringe,
measure out 15.5mL of this solution, and add it to 250mL of distilled water in the 3rd Snapple
bottle. Cap, shake, and put it in the refrigerator. 15.5mL is about one tablespoon (15mL),
so if you do not have a syringe, then you can just use a tablespoon measurement.
You MUST allow both of these liquids to cool. If they are not cold then your reaction will
fail. So leave them in the refrigerator for a good 4-6 hours. I can not stress this enough;
the solutions must be cold. If you are an impatient person, then put them in your freezer
until they get a bit of ice on top.

Now it's time for the actual reaction. You simply mix the 265.5mLKMnO4 (potassium
permanganate) Solution, with the 450mL ephedrine extract in a jug. Just cap it, shake, and
set it in the refrigerator for at least 8, but no more then 12 hours.
After about 8 hours, check the mixture to see if there is any purple color, if there is then
let it set for another hour or so. Once you see there is no more purple color, remove the
solution from the refrigerator. It should smell sweet, kind of like pistachio ice cream.
You must now add 100mL of Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol. This is done so that the remaining
potassium permanganate will have something else to oxidize (instead of the ephedrine). Just
let this mixture sit out for about 2 to 3 hours in room temperature.

Your mixture should now be at about room temperature; it's time to filter. Set up the funnel
over one of the Snapple bottles used earlier (wash the Snapple bottle first). Put about two
or three coffee filters in the funnel, and slowly pour the solution through them (slowly so
all those particles in the bottom don't pour out and clog your filter). You will probably
need to filter three or four times. You want your liquid to be as clear as possible.
You need to adjust the pH to about 5 to 6.5. To do this, use a little muriatic acid. Only
add a few drops, not much is needed. Once you have the correct pH, swirl your final mixture
and let it set for a while. Now, filter it through about five coffee filters. This is your
last chance to get any junk out of it. Your liquid should be almost totally clear. What you
have is methcathinone. If you desire to do so, you can drink the solution. Most people would
prefer to have a crystalline powder however. So on to the next step.

Pour all your liquid into the Pyrex dish, and set in on the stove for about 3 hours at low
heat, you want to evaporate most of the liquid. Once you notice you have a mostly gummy
substance left, remove the dish from the stove. Now you can either use a blow drier, or
simply leave the dish out for about a day. You should notice crystals in the dish the
crystals are going to be gummy, so you simply add some Acetone. The methcathinone is not
soluble in Acetone, the other gummy substance is. After adding the acetone, swirl it around
a bit. As the gummy substance dissolves, pour it off. You should notice some brownish to
white crystals, this is your methcathinone! You may have to do this again, just let the
crystals dry and add more acetone. Once all of the crystals are dry, scrape the crystals
out of the dish into something.


You should have about 3 grams of Methcathinone HCl
 

cubesquare

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Will Sudafed work for this? They have a lot of paracetamol and caffeine in them...?
If i got Sudafed capsules and did a cold water extraction for step one or is that what your microwave to heat the water step is doing, dissolving the paracetamol?
 

cubesquare

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Just had a look at Sudafed capsules - they don't contain Pseudoephedrine HCL, they contain Phenylephrine HCL so are probably useless in this extraction/synthesis.
 

cubesquare

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Ok, so there is one brand of Sudafed available in the UK (Sinus Pressure and Pain Relief) that contains Pseudoephedrine. It would be very expensive to make even a small amount via this route.
 

Osmosis Vanderwaal

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1985 called, they want their synthesis back. Imagine, using Sudafed and making M-cat out of it, with sears kmno4! 😂 Methamphetamine isn't harder to make, the chemicals aren't harder to get and it's probably 30% or more stronger.
 

cubesquare

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I am very curious about this stuff - it used to be everywhere, now it seems to be nowhere but isn't M-Cat 4MMC Mephedrone? That's not the same thing.
 

Osmosis Vanderwaal

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M-cat, methyl-cathinine. Mm-cat? Meow meow! Amphetamine to meth. Some call it all speed. I'm not big on colloquial names but people look at you funny when you offer them a snoot of benzoylecgonine methyl ester 🤷
 

Osmosis Vanderwaal

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I am just a drug enthusiast. I smell like cat piss. I slept 40 hours last month 😜
 

Savaş Avşar

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what else can be used in place of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine (as an alternative)
Unfortunately, the only drugs I can't access in my country are ephedrine and pseudo
 

Anarchy Labz

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I tried doing this synthesis and it ended up looking and having the texture of caramel. There were no crystals at all. I used pills that contained cornstarch, povidone, lactose and magnesium stearate. Instead of adding the pills in microwaved water I added them to ethanol then I evaporated off the ethanol and it had that caramel texture. I then added the same amount of water to the caramel pseudoephedrine as the recipe said. After that I did as the recipe said but the color change appeared immediatly after 1-2 hours instead of 8-10. I waited 8 hours anyway then I filtered it and left it on the counter and I meant to add hcl but I couldn't because I wasnt home and I ended up adding it 3 days after the mixture was filtered. I added 1.5 tablespoons of hcl I tried to overshoot because I didn't have ph strips at that time. I then boiled away the liquid and was again left with that caramel like substance. I tried recrystalizing it in acetone but it didnt work, it was still caramelly. What caused the failure of this synthesis? Is it the tablets, the extraction method, me adding the hcl too late or adding too little hcl? Or did I succeed in this synthesis and I should have just let it dry a bit more? Please help.
 
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