Amphetamine synthesis from P2NP via Al/Hg (video)

[ch3wbacca]

Adding metallic mercury to some 50% nitric acid and not inhaling the fumes, then using this to amalgamate Al in water or alcohol.
Works always, relieable and fast.
If this is now the (I) or (II) nitrate I confess I never spent a thought on.

But all mercury salts work, solubility is secondary. Mercury alone is not really the hit, but some nitric acid or some HCl and a pinch of nitrate help it to get on the way.

The amalgamation is cake from the mercury side of the fence, the problems blamed on the mercury are IMHO virtually always to blame on the aluminium in special the stupid foil which still is believed to be suitable.
Get some good 99,9% Al granules and amalgamation will be the least of your troubles, the whole reaction will then be troublefree most probably.

 

[Johnny Ringo]

Funktioniert pulver auch solamge die reinheit ausreichend ist oder sollte man granulat nutzen?

 

[Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton]

In my experience, aluminum foil is the best form of aluminum for amalgam. The main condition is that it does not contain any foreign components, only 99.9% Al. Powder and granules of aluminum are also suitable, but they are recommended to be taken in larger quantities for the reaction and the yield will not be as good as when using foil.

 

[Johnny Ringo]

Kannst du mir prozentual sagen welche mengenanpassung ratsam wäre?

 

[G.Patton]

It is necessary to produce hydrogen H2 gas. You can read about reaction in this topic.

You can. It's better to use food grade.

 

[waltjr5858]

On one of the amalgam videos on this site it say when the amalgam is ready hydrogen evolution stops... I am having a big issue on telling when the amalgam is ready. One person said when it all floats another when it's a rich gray.... there has to be a better way to tell. I have waited until gas evolution stops and it never does.. the aluminum just gets completely consumed. I have tried thin and thick foil and aluminum grains. I have tried cleaning with hydroxide prior also. I have gotten the reaction to work a couple times out of at least 50+.... I'm stubborn. Most of the time the p2np is definitely consumed but come out with very very weak effects... actually nothing really as a very light orange solution. The time it did work it came out a dark orange solution. It's absolutely an issue with the amalgam because I have tried so many times I am very familiar with each stage. I find when it reacts very abruptly when the p2np solution is poured in i know it will be a decent reaction. When I have to shake it a lot to get it started it doesn't really work at all.
Does anyone know ow what the symptoms of using to much or to little mercury are so I can try to figure out the issue. I am using the solution of mercury that is described on this site to make mercury ii nitrate but using it as a solution and not dehydrating it as a salt. It says take like 1.5 grams of mercury and 20mls of concentrated nitric acid and wait till the mercury dissolves. Then add 5mls to 12 grams of aluminum. So I'm guessing you would use let's say 2.5ml for 6 grams of foil? There's something escaping me and I can't figure it out help please....

 

[golab071]

It may not be the optimal solution, but it is possible to combine the reduction reaction with amalgamation in a single step

 

[G.Patton]

As I already answered you in DM, you need to get grey amalgam. You don't need to wait until it will be completely dissolved. In the video, it's clearly shown how it should look like. Simple Al foil from a hardware or grocery store.

 

[nofuckups]

I had a failed first attempt and kinda fucked up big time by inhaling toxic fumes from the violent reaction.

As I poured the P2NP solution into the flask, the funnel on the flask couldn't hold itself and started bouncing (simply because of vapor pressure from the reaction). It happened so quickly that I couldn't find any time to process what's happening and to put a condenser. As a result, I inhaled some toxic fumes from the reaction and I'm not exactly sure how toxic they were but it smelled so bad. Some solution got spilled as a result and the reactants got evaporated in the early stage.

The yield from my 10g setup was like 300mg of white salt(turned out it was some basic byproduct or unreacted amphemine freebase). It tasted like a soap and had a burning sensation so I threw it away. 5-6% yield was a red sign anyway.

Some mistakes that I made that newbies can avoid:
1. Don't use a small funnel on flask: When pouring the P2NP solution in the amalgam, make sure your funnel's stem is big enough (especially w/ a >=10g setup). Smaller stem/funnel size in general can be a bottleneck and cause spillage or other adverse outcomes (you have to be very quick here to add a condenser and shake the flask).

2. Make sure you don't evaporate the solvents in the P2NP+IPA+GAA solution while heating it. Sometimes P2NP crystals may not dissolve so gentle heating may help(40-50'C) but if you heat it more then solvents like IPA would begin to evaporate and you'd lose solvents.

3. Ensure that your water is distilled and has close to zero TDS. I bought some "destilled water" bottles but they turned out to be just purified water with a 25-30 TDS. It's not a significant issue but contaminated water should be avoided in the amalgam phase to avoid unnecessary reactions with water impurities.

4. Properly acidify the amphetamine freebase before proceeding for drying. My pH papers were shit so I couldn't measure properly but you shouldn't stop before a pH of 6. Keep adding more acid solution until you reach it. Mistakes at this stage can result in a basic soapy product, not amphetamine sulfate.

5. Extract your amphetamine freebase with a non-polar solvent. The video doesn't include this part but it's an important step to not miss if you want a successful and pure yield. Something like Toluene could work. I haven't tried this it before but next time I'm going to do this.

6. If it's your first time, be very careful with the exothermic reaction when adding P2NP solution to the amalgam. In reality it can be far more violent than what's shown in the video so be prepared for that. Proper PPE and preparation can help like keeping cold water and condenser handy.

---

I have a few questions here for the experienced chemists:
1. How to deal with solvents volume loss? Even after a condenser and ice-baths, sometimes it can evaporate more. At what stage are we safe to add some IPA to the mixture? The video descriptions says you can add some IPA after the reaction is complete(to rinse the flask). Is that correct and if yes, how much are we talking at this scale? 15-20ml?

2. Can we add the P2NP solution slowly and in batches instead of at once? I can see this can result in more solvent evaporation but I really want to avoid overheating and violent reaction.

 

[G.Patton]

You had to use simple PPE like face mask. It's sad to read. I wrote a topic about PPE. It's cheap and may save you from poisoning.
This overheating means that you spoiled your P2NP. That is the reason of low yield.
Just add more at the beginning of the reaction. Yes, 20-30 ml more would be enough.
Yes, you can split P2NP solution in several portions.

 

[rampage]

for me its been between 10-15minutes for amalgam to be ready, not sure how long fellow members do it for

 

[CezaryNieStary]

what could be the reason that I can't get ph 12 I have broken down NaOh 50g into 75ml of water 100g into 120ml of water and I can't get ph 12