SYNTHESIS: The starting material 3,5-dimethoxy-4-bromobenzoic acid
(made from the commercially available resorcinol by the action of
methyl sulfate) was a white crystalline solid from aqueous EtOH with a
mp of 248-250 °C. Reaction with thionyl chloride produced
3,5-dimethoxy-4-bromobenzoyl chloride which was used as the crude
solid product, mp 124-128 °C. This was reduced with tri-O-(t)-butoxy
lithium aluminum hydride to produce 3,5-dimethoxy-4-bromobenzaldehyde
which was recrystallized from aqueous MeOH and had a mp of 112-114 °C.
Anal. (C9H9BrO3) C,H. This aldehyde, with nitroethane and anhydrous
ammonium acetate in acetic acid, was converted to the nitrostyrene
1-(3,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenyl)-2-nitropropene, with a mp of 121-121.5
°C. Anal. (C11H12BrNO4) C,H,N. This was reduced at low temperature
with just one equivalent of LAH, to minimize reductive removal of the
bromine atom. The product 3,5-dimethoxy-4-bromoamphetamine
hydrochloride (4-BR-3,5-DMA) was isolated in a 37% yield and had a mp
of 221-222 °C. Anal. (C11H17BrClNO2) C,H,N.
DOSAGE: 4 - 10 mg.
DURATION: 8 - 12 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 3 mg) This is certainly no placebo. At
about 2 hours I felt some analgesia and numbing in my extremities, but
if there were any sensory distortions, they were barely perceptible.
(with 6 mg) There is a very shallow threshold, no more.
(with 10 mg) I can certainly confirm the indications of anesthesia
that were hinted at. It was for me central in nature, however. I
could (this at three hours) pierce a skin pinch on my left arm with no
bother except for the emerging of the needle due to skin resistance.
There was little bleeding. And multiple needle prickings into the
thumb abductor were not felt. A quick plunge of the tip of my little
finger into boiling water elicited reflex response, but no residual
pain. Judgment was OK, so I stayed out of physical trouble, luckily!
The perhaps ++ was dropping in the fourth or fifth hour, and by the
tenth hour there were few effects still noted, except for some
teeth-rubbiness and a burning irritation at the pin-prick area, so
feeling is back. No sleep problems at just past midnight.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: Here is a complex and, at the moment,
totally undefined drug. There were two independent reports of
analgesia, yet a thorough screen in experimental animals, conducted by
a major pharmaceutical house, failed to confirm any of it. A ++
report does not necessarily reflect a psychedelic effect, since this
quantitative measure of the level of activity represents the extent of
impairment of function, regardless of the nature of the drug producing
it. In other words, if you were experiencing the effects of a drug
that would in your judgment interfere with safe and good driving, this
would be a ++ whether your performance was being limited by a
psychedelic, a stimulant, a hypnotic or a narcotic. None of the
quantitative reports ever mentioned any sensory distortion (analgesia
is a loss, not a distortion) or visual effect. Perhaps 4-BR-3,5-DMA
showed its ++ as a narcotic. But then, the rats had said no.
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