drug - Uncle Fester - Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture (3rd ed)

The acetyl amide of amphetamine is very similar to the formyl amide of methamphetamine produced by the Leuckardt-Wallach reaction. Its main difference is that it is more difficult to hydrolyze to the corresponding amphetamine by the action of boiling hydrochloric acid. It must therefore be boiled with the acid for a longer period of time than the formyl amide.

The manufacturer may well find it to his advantage to boil the tar left over at the end of the process once more with fresh hydrochloric acid. This will likely yield an additional measure of amphetamine from the stubbornly unreactive amide.

This small hassle with the hydrolysis process could be avoided if HCN were used as the nitrile in sulfuric acid solution. However, the extreme danger of dealing with hydrogen cyanide more than outweighs the additional work needed when using acetonitrile.

To do the reaction, a solution of 450 grams of concentrated sulfuric acid in 400 grams acetonitrile is made by slowly adding the acid to the acetonitrile. Both ingredients are cold when they are mixed together, and the temperature of the mixture is kept in the 5-10øC range during the mixing by setting the reaction container in ice. An admirable reaction vessel is a glass beer pitcher.

When the addition of the acid to the nitrile is complete, the pitcher is taken out of the ice, and 236 grams of allylbenzene is slowly added to it with stirring. The mixture quickly turns an orange color, and begins to warm up.

Stirring is continued on an occasional basis, and the temperature of the mixture followed. It slowly climbs to 50øC, and then more rapidly to 80øC, as the color of the mixture darkens.

When the temperature of the mixture reaches 80øC, the pitcher is cooled down, first by setting the pitcher in cool water, and then into ice. When it has cooled down, the mixture is poured into a gallon of cold water containing 15% by weight of Iye. The Iye solution neutralizes the sulfuric acid, and dissolves most of the acetonitrile. The neutralization of the acid by the Iye solution produces a great deal of heat. The Iye solution is gently stirred during the addition, and then stirred more vigorously during the following minutes. After a few minutes of stirring, the mixture is allowed to sit for a few minutes. A yellow oily layer floats on the top of the solution. This yellow oil is the crude amide. If the oil were to be allowed to sit for a while longer, it would begin to form crystals of crude amide. There is no need for this, however, so the processing continues immediately.

The top yellow layer is poured off into a sep funnel, and any water carried along is drained off. Then the yellow oil is poured into a 2000 ml round bottom flask. It is now ready for hydrolysis with hydrochloric acid solution to make amphetamine. The approximate volume of the crude amide is determined, and five times that volume of 15% hydrochloric acid solution is added to it. Fifteen (15) percent hydrochloric acid solution is easily made by starting with the 28% hardware store hydrochloric acid, and adding just about an equal volume of water to it. A wise move here is to rinse the inside of the sep funnel with acid. This rinses off the amide clinging to the glass insides of the sep funnel.