A Ecstatic hypothesis

[kingdxm]

Several years ago I wrote a few post dealing with natural amphetamines. It has been proven by 2 scientists that the species of acacia rigidula and acacia berlanderi have the chemicals amphetamine, methamphetamine, dimethylamphetamine, para-hydroxyamphetamine, and para-methoxyamphetamine. The other chemicals found in this plant are: DMT, n-methyltryptamine, mescaline, n-methylmsecaline, nicotine, and about 2 dozen other phenylathylamines. http://www.erowid.org/archive/rhodiu...a.rigidula.pdf
The species acacia farnesiana has also ben found to have dimethylamphetamine, mescaline, and 5-MEO-DMT. Now if a plant is able to make a-methyl-phenethylamines how does it do it? What are the starting chemicals and enzymes used in the process? Bioengineering drugs, is in my opinion, the new age of chemistry. It will be the safest and easiest way to synthesize drugs. Ephedrine is already being made this way using benzaldehyde, sugar, and yeast to make the starting chemical 1-hydroxy-pheny-2-propanone(actually a fairly old synthesis). I have had a theory for several years now about how a plant would go about making MDA and/or MDMA using starting materials like safrole or piperonal. Mow piperonal is only found in a few plants and never in a high quantity. But there are many ring-substituted allylbenzenes and a few propenyl benzenes(such as p-methoxypropenylbenzene in anise and b-asarone) found in plants. The alkaolids found in nature are made from amino acids and these so-called essential oils. I have had a theory about how safrole and glycine can be turned into Ecstasy. One way I have heard is using microwave irradiation to produce hydoamination of styrenes. Aniline has been reacted with propenylbenzene in a microwave for 10 min. to make N-phenylamphetamine. One way that is used to make E is by using HBr. HX(X= Cl, Br, or I) works by adding a negative ion from an inorganic acid to the double bond to create an organic halide, the more negative adduct ordinarily adds to the carbonbearing theleast hydrogens-Markownikoff's rule. Sulfuric acid can be used on allylbenzene but not with substituted allylbenzenes as it will attack the benzyl add-ons and destroy them. Perhaps an organic sulfonic acid could work as the ph-level isn't quite as extreme as sulfuric acid. One chemical I have thought of is taurine (1-amino-4-sulfonic acid). It occurs naturally on a couple of plants, mainly legumes, but not in high quantity. The sulfonic acid could perhaps react with the double bond in the allylbenzene to make a sulfonate, which would then react with the methylamine(by decarboxylation of glycine) or ethylamine(from decarboxylation of alanine). The amino group on the taurine would have to have a chemical attached to it to block its reactivity so that the methylamine ot ethylamine would react with the sufonate. The decarboxylation could possibly be carried out by pyridoxal 5'-phosphate , which the body uses to decarboxylate amino acids in the body. Another natural decarboxylation chemical is carvone found in spearmint, caraway, and dill oils(dill oil also has dillapiole used to make DMMDA-2). Or perhaps there are several chemical that can be taken together that the body would become the laboratory. An example of this is gamma-Butyrolactone . The body metabolizes this chemical into GHB. Another more complex idea of using the body as a clandestine lab is the conversion of tryptophan into DMT.
MAOI + tryptophan + L-methionine (+ B12 + B6 + folic acid) = DMT
See Alexander Shulgin's new book 'TIHKAL'. This is a must for anyone
interested in psychedelics, it is destined to become a classic. I will
quote directly (without permission, sorry) where it describes the
chemistry and effects of tryptamine:

page 283.
..... Almost forty years ago a researcher in the National institute
of Mental Health, in Maryland, discovered an enzyme in rabbit lung
that could transfer a methyl group to a tryptamine from the amino
acid donor, S-adenosyl-methione. With this system, sorotonin gave
N-methylsorotonin, N-methylsorotonin gave bufotenine, trptamine gave
N-methyltrptamine, and N-methyltrptamine gave DMT. What a fabulous
black box that would make. Get two enzyme preparations, one that can
methylate S-adenosyl-homocysteine to S-adenosyl-methionine and
another that can regenerate S-adenosyl-homocysteine by transferring
the methyl group to an available amine. Two catalysts in a chamber
heated to 37 C, with a spigot adding tryptamine at the top, and
another releasing DMT out the bottom. That's the science - I'll leave
the details to the engineers.

page 582.
(with 15 g, orally with 150 mg iproniazid) "this was a daily
treatment given to schizophrenic patients, tryptophan along with an
antidepressant which is a monoamine oxidase inhibitor. Most showed
marked changes such as an elevation in mood, an increased
involvement with other people in their ward, and an increased
extrovertism. A separate study of this composition with the addition
of the amino acid L_methionine produced in about half of these
patients a toxic or deliriod state."

...... Tryptophan, a natural and nutritionally essential amino-acid,
is a centrally active intoxicant and sleep provider in man. It is
converted metabolicaly to tryptamine, which is a little bit
psychedelic. When administered with methionine (another amino-acid
know to methylate things) it produces methylated tryptamines, the two
best studied being N-methyltryptamine (NMT) and N,N-dimethytryptamine
(DMT). The effects that result are hard to categorize, reflecting the
the diagnostic state of the patient. But something happens. In short,
tryptophan, alone or in combination with MAO inhibitors or methyl
donors, is a fabulous tool for exploring brain function...........
A quick Web search turned up some useful information relating to
methionine (again without permission):
The Cognitive Enhancement Research Institute
S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)

Well none of this is certian that it will work but I will continue to investigate these theories as well as others I have not spoken of. Hopefully I have sparked someone's brain out there and perhaps this concept can become a reality. What I don't care about is somebody's ridicule about this. I can only hope there is someone out there has some positive feedback on this. I could sure use the help. Kudos, the King.