DMT

Introduction

N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (commonly referred to as DMT, N,N-DMT, Dmitri, or "The Spirit Molecule") is a well-known psychedelic compound belonging to the tryptamine class. Among psychedelics, it stands out for its capacity to induce brief yet profoundly vivid visionary experiences and full-scale hallucinations. Its effects are believed to result from its interaction with serotonin receptors in the brain, although the exact biological mechanism remains unclear.

DMT Crystalls

DMT has been detected in more than 65 plant species and is recognized as a natural component of human metabolism as well as an endogenous neurotransmitter in some rodent species. Its widespread occurrence in the plant kingdom is well-documented. Despite various hypotheses, its precise role in neurobiology has not been definitively established.

When vaporized or smoked, DMT produces effects of short duration that occur almost instantaneously, often likened to an "incredibly fast rollercoaster ride." When taken orally alongside a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) or a reversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase (RIMA), it becomes orally active, resulting in effects that are significantly longer-lasting, immersive, and interactive. This combination is referred to as pharmahuasca, closely related to the traditional brew ayahuasca.

DMT Forms

Unlike many strictly regulated substances, DMT has not been demonstrated to cause addiction or significant physiological harm. Nonetheless, negative reactions such as intense anxiety, delusions, and psychosis can occur, even among experienced users, and are particularly risky for individuals predisposed to mental health issues. It is strongly recommended to adopt harm reduction strategies when using this substance.

Physical and Chemical Properties of DMT

DMT, or N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, is a naturally occurring indole alkaloid with a chemical structure resembling serotonin. Its molecular formula is C₁₂H₁₆N₂, and it has a molar mass of approximately 188.27 g/mol.

DMT typically appears as a white, crystalline solid, ranging in color from white to yellow or orange depending on its purity. It is often described as smelling like rubber It is only slightly soluble in water but dissolves readily in organic solvents such as ethanol or acetone. The compound has a melting point between 44°C and 47°C and is stable under normal conditions but can degrade with prolonged exposure to heat, light, or air.

Chemically, DMT belongs to the tryptamine family, containing both an indole ring and an amine group, which allow it to interact with biological systems, notably the serotonin receptors in the brain. Its psychoactive properties are linked to its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and bind to these receptors, though its precise mechanism of action remains a topic of scientific investigation.

DMT Molecule Structure

It has many homologs and analogs from base tryptamines like MET and DPT, to four and five position substituted variants such as 4-PO-DMT (psilocybin), 4-AcO-DMT (psilacetin), 5-HO-DMT (bufotenin), and 5-MeO-DMT.

DMT Solubility

Note: Dimethyltryptamine is soluble in dilute mineral acids and organic acids.

Production of DMT

The synthesis of DMT can be achieved through various chemical methods, typically starting with readily available precursors such as tryptamine or indole derivatives. The most common method involves the N,N-dimethylation of tryptamine using methanol and a reducing agent like sodium cyanoborohydride or sodium borohydride with glacial acetic acid catalyst.

DMT Synthesis From Tryptamine

Another approach employs indole as a starting material, followed by alkylation and subsequent amination to introduce the dimethylamine functional group. The resulting 2-(1H-Indol-3-yl)-N,N-dimethyl-2-oxoacetamide is reduced to DMT.

2-(1H-Indol-3-yl)-N,N-dimethyl-2-oxoacetamide Synthesis From Indole

DMT Synthesis From 2-(1H-Indol-3-yl)-N,N-dimethyl-2-oxoacetamide

DMT also can be produced from indole-3-acetic acid via several step synthesis with intermediate products products indole-3-Acetate (IAA) and 2-(3-Indolyl)-N,N-dimethylacetamide.

Methyl Indole-3-Acetate (1) (IAA) Synthesis from Indole-3-acetic

2-(3-Indolyl)-N,N-dimethylacetamide Synthesis From Methyl Indole-3-Acetate (IAA)

DMT Synthesis From 2-(3-Indolyl)-N,N-dimethylacetamide

Advanced methods may involve the use of protected intermediates or optimized reaction conditions to increase yield and purity. Due to the compound's natural occurrence, DMT can also be extracted from plant sources such as Mimosa Hostilis or Acacia species, where it exists as a natural alkaloid. These extraction processes often use acid-base techniques and organic solvents to isolate DMT in its freebase or salt form.

DMT Extraction Kit

Applications of DMT

DMT has both traditional and contemporary applications, reflecting its unique psychoactive properties. Historically, it has been used by indigenous cultures in ceremonial and spiritual practices, primarily as a key ingredient in ayahuasca, a psychoactive brew. These rituals aim to induce altered states of consciousness, facilitate spiritual healing, and foster a deeper connection with nature and the cosmos.

In modern contexts, DMT is gaining attention for its potential therapeutic applications. Preliminary research suggests it may help address mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD by promoting neuroplasticity and altering deeply ingrained thought patterns. Additionally, some users report transformative insights and emotional healing after DMT experiences, making it an area of interest for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

Moreover, DMT is used in academic research to explore the nature of consciousness, the functioning of serotonin receptors, and the potential roles of endogenous DMT in human physiology. However, its recreational use also remains widespread, primarily for the intense, visionary experiences it provides.

Health Effects of DMT

The health effects of DMT vary depending on the method of use, dosage, and individual predispositions. When smoked or vaporized, its effects are intense but short-lived, often lasting only 5 to 20 minutes. Oral ingestion in combination with MAOIs, such as in ayahuasca, leads to a longer experience, typically spanning several hours.

DMT is generally considered to have a low risk of physical addiction, and it does not appear to produce withdrawal symptoms. However, its psychological effects can be profound, and individuals with a predisposition to mental health disorders may be at risk of experiencing severe anxiety, delusions, or psychosis. Physiologically, it has a favorable safety profile when used responsibly, with few reports of adverse physical effects.

Nonetheless, certain risks are associated with its use, including increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and potential interactions with other substances or medications, particularly MAOIs. Harm reduction strategies, such as proper dosing, mental preparation, and a safe environment, are strongly recommended to mitigate these risks.

DMT Dosages and Duration of Its Effects

Physical effects

• Changes in felt bodily form
• Increased heart rate
• Neurogenesis
• Pupil dilation
• Physical autonomy
• Spatial disorientation
• Temperature regulation suppression
• Spontaneous bodily sensations - The "body high" of DMT can be described as a pleasurable all-encompassing glow. It maintains a consistent presence that quickly rises with the onset and hits its limit once the peak has been reached. It is capable of becoming very powerful at higher doses and can remain after the experience itself has ended for up the same amount of time of the trip's entire duration.
• Physical euphoria - It should be noted that, when smoking DMT, this effect is not as reliably produced as it is with substances like stimulants or entactogens, and can just as easily manifest as physical discomfort for no apparent reason. However, this effect seems to be more consistent and long-lasting when a MAOI is used to prevent the renderization of DMT or to extend the duration of the experience and, ocasionally in such conditions, this effect can become as powerful as with opioids, in a fashion depicted as waves of feelings of warmth and relief invading the user's body.
• Changes in felt gravity - When smoking higher DMT breakthrough doses, physical feelings of being launched across vast distances at incredibly high speeds are commonly reported.
• Nausea - This effect is much less common than it is with 5-MeO-DMT as well as longer-lasting psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms or mescaline. However, it can still manifest spontaneously and sometimes lead to sudden bouts of vomiting, particularly when a MAO inhibitor has been used to induce a "long DMT trip". Fasting during the previous hours to the experience or eating small portions (and preferently light foods) can prevent this effect.
• Increased libido
• Seizure - This is a very rare effect but is believed to happen in those who are predisposed to them, especially while in physically taxing conditions such as being dehydrated, fatigued or undernourished.

Visual effects

• It has been proposed that DMT visual effects will increasingly show up during the come up of the experience but will reach a peak of hallucinations that can last about ten to twenty minutes after the experience started, and after that, despite the cognitive effects will still be in the peak, the visual effects seem to start fading slowly during the rest of the experience. Since smoked DMT provides an experience that doesn't last more than half an hour, the visual effects disappear at the same time than the rest of the effects, but with rectally, sublingually or intranasally active DMT, the user can notice the slow decrease of visual effects even if they're experiencing an ego death.
• Enhancements
• Colour enhancement
• Pattern recognition enhancement
• Visual acuity enhancement
• Magnification
• Distortions
• Drifting (melting, breathing, morphing and flowing) - In comparison to other psychedelics, this effect can be described as highly detailed, slow and smooth in motion and static in its appearance.
• Colour replacement
• Colour shifting
• Colour tinting
• Tracers and after images - For most users, these are probably the most long-lasting visual effects of DMT, and can still be noticed even when towards the tail end of the entire experience.
• Recursion
• Scenery slicing
• Symmetrical texture repetition
• Environmental patterning
• Geometry
• The visual geometry encountered can be described as more similar in appearance to that of psilocin than LSD. It can be comprehensively described through its variations as intricate in complexity, abstract in form, equally organic and digital in feel, structured in organization, brightly lit, multicoloured in scheme, glossy in shading, equal in sharp and soft edges, large in size, fast in speed, smooth in motion, equal in rounded and angular corners, immersive in depth and consistent in its intensity. At higher doses, it is significantly more likely to result in states of level 8B visual geometry over level 8A.
• The geometry present with smokeable DMT is considered by many to be the most profoundly intricate and complex set of visual geometry found within the entirety of the psychedelic experience. In comparison to ayahuasca (or other forms of active DMT), it is significantly more digital in appearance and contains a colour scheme which is similar to LSD and a structured style that resembles a high dose of psilocin (4-HO-DMT).
• Hallucinatory states
• DMT produces a full range of high level hallucinatory states in a fashion that is more consistent and reproducible than that of any other commonly used psychedelic. These effects include:
• Machinescapes
• Transformations
• Internal hallucination (autonomous entities; settings, sceneries, and landscapes; perspective hallucinations and scenarios and plots) - DMT produces high level internal hallucinations at appropriate doses more consistently than that of any other psychedelic. They are more common within dark environments and can be comprehensively described through their variations as lucid in believability, interactive in style, new experiences in content, autonomous in controllability, geometry-based in style and almost exclusively of a personal, religious, spiritual, science-fiction, fantasy, surreal, nonsensical or transcendental nature in their overall theme.
• External hallucination (autonomous entities; settings, sceneries, and landscapes; perspective hallucinations and scenarios and plots) - These are more common within dark environments and can be comprehensively described through their variations as lucid in believability, interactive in style, new experiences in content, autonomous in controllability, geometry-based in style and almost exclusively of a personal, religious, spiritual, science-fiction, fantasy, surreal, nonsensical or transcendental nature in their overall theme.

DMT Effects

Auditory effects

• Enhancements - Enhancements of one's auditory acuity, often following the end of the experience, have been reported in clinical studies with intravenously-administered DMT.
• Distortions
• Hallucinations

Multi-sensory effects

• Synaesthesia - In its fullest manifestation, this is a very rare and non-reproducible effect. Increasing the dosage can increase the likelihood of this occurring, but seems to only be a prominent part of the experience among those who are already predisposed to synaesthetic states.

Cognitive effects

• Anxiety - Anxiety seems to manifest more consistently with DMT in comparison to other psychedelics like LSD or psilocybin and it's oftenly present during the come up phase, fading off while the user enters the peak. This effect may be related to the drug's capacity to produce high levels of memory suppression given that the feeling itself is oftenly described as if one's consciousness is losing touch with reality or that the mind is being ripped apart. In very high doses the user may suffer the percepton that is being driven to insanity against their will, getting disintegrated or even fall into the not uncommon delusion that is dying. The practice of grounding exercises can help the user to deal with this effect.
• Feelings of impending doom - While this effect can be manifested during the experience itself -particularly during the come up-, it's extremely common for nervousness, anxiety or fear to be suffered minutes, hours or sometimes even days prior to the experience. This effect is described as if the user is about to face, alone, an inminent danger, and depending on the set and setting, the level of experience and how often the user "trips", this effect can vary from mild to overwhelming, which can lead to the user's decision to delay or decline the consumption of the drug. It's discouraged to users to make use of anxyolitic drugs to inhibe this effect since the experience can be significantly "numbed", making the user to regret such decision.
• Déjà vu
• Delusion - Delusions can be presented alongside personal meaning intensification, and are common among inexperienced users, who may be not completely aware that this is an effect on itself and not necessarily a strict implication that feeling a connection or implication of any kind means that there is actually one.
• Ego replacement
• Emotion enhancement - While smoking DMT doesn't present this effect with enough consistency, the co-consumption of a MAOI will lead to a prolonged "trip" in which the user can experience common emotions in an intensified fashion, and even if so called negative emotions such as sadness or melancholy can appear during the experience -depending on the set, setting and background context-, it's common for the experience to still be defined as "pleasant" since such emotions often produce catharsis and can be properly dealt through personal bias suppression.
• Empathy, affection, and sociability enhancement - This effect differs from MDMA and other entactogens in that it isn't as central to the experience and it's mainly presented during "long DMT trips" where the user consumed the drug alongside a MAO inhibitor. It feels more natural and less forced, and is experienced predominantly during the come down or after the experience ended.
• Euthymia - This effect manifests itself acutely for all classical psychedelics when one to three doses are combined with a psychotherapy treatment program. In case of DMT, euthymia has a slightly higher ocurrence when a MAOI is added to the ingestion. When comparing meta analyses, psychedelic psychotherapy greatly outperforms "gold standard" treatments for several mental health problems.
• Catharsis - While smoking DMT doesn't provide a long enough experience to process trauma or difficult situations while under the influence of the drug, the co-consumption of a MAOI alongside the non-oral DMT will extend the experience duration and some users that have been going through certain traumatic backgrounds can experience a process of "healing" and "letting go" in a very similar manner to ayahuasca.
• Analysis, creativity and immersion enhancements - While smoking DMT can produce these enhancements, these are not as noticeable as with "long DMT trips", given that such experiences will last long enough for the user to get involved in activities where the effects can be much more appreciated. In these situations, these effects are similar to those of LSD, psilocybin or ayahuasca.
• Cognitive euphoria - When applied a "long trip" method, DMT can induce this effect with one of the highest consistencies among other psychedelics. It's commonly reported that, when the peak starts transitioning into the come down of the experience, feelings of bliss, fulfillment and appreciation will become central to the experience. Sometimes and depending on the set and setting, this effect can be accompanied by an existential self-realization and/or feelings of unity and interconnectedness, which occasionally can lead to the user to a trascendental experience, even if the peak itself of the whole experience has already passed.
• Increased music appreciation - When DMT is smoked or vaporized, this effect typically occurs only at sub-breakthrough doses, and many people prefer to have their DMT experiences in complete silence to prevent a muddled or overwhelming experience. On the other side, when a MAOI is added and DMT is administred rectally, sublingually or intranasally, this effect can become as prominent as with LSD or psilocybin and sometimes will be central to the experience, especially during the come down.
• Memory suppression
• Ego death
• Mindfulness - Mindfulness tends to occur after the experience has ended and the individual has returned to ordinary waking consciousness, to a sense of presence and sensitivity towards one's inner sensations as well as outer environment. This effect can last significantly longer once the experience has ended if the user went through a "long DMT trip" by using a MAOI to extend the experience's duration.
• Multiple thought streams - This effect tends to manifest in a much more chaotic fashion, in tandem with the sensation of cognitive overload.
• Novelty enhancement - With DMT, this effect is percieved as a sensation of mental refreshment. The user becomes sensitive towards elements of the environment that in other conditions would be defined as trivial, common or boring, such as the blue color of the sky, the texture of a blanket or a joke told by someone else.
• Personal bias suppression
• Suggestibility enhancement
• Rejuvenation - This effect tends to occur after the experience has ended and the subject has returned to ordinary waking consciousness, often in Near-Death Experience (NDE) variants of a DMT experience.
• Appetite suppression and decreased libido - Despite the fact that both effects are commonly referred as physical effects, "long DMT trips" are capable to leave the user in a status of overall satisfaction and contentment, thus decreasing any urge to eat or take part in sexual activities, even if the user is perfectly capable of doing so in physical terms. This effect, alongside mindfulness is one of the common effects of the afterglow and it has been reported to last for several days or weeks even.
• Autonomous voice communication
• Conceptual thinking
• Thought acceleration, connectivity and organization
• Time distortion - When smoking, this particular effect is most prevalent and notable with "breakthrough" experiences, and only tends to last under fifteen minutes but is commonly reported to subjectively feel as if it had lasted much longer, in some cases "many lifetimes" or even an "eternity". On the other hand, during "long DMT trips", while the user can still experience an "eternal" breakthrough experience, after the peak ends and the user enters the comedown, they can still feel that time is passing slower than usual; this effect is related to other effects like analysis enhancement and immersion enhancement.
• Wakefulness - The administration of DMT with a MAOI can extend the effects for long enough to suppress the user's urge to sleep.

Transpersonal effects

• For a number of individuals these effects are consistently more reproducible and powerful with smoked or vaporized DMT than they are with other “classical psychedelics” such as LSD or mescaline, this is most likely due to its very intense but relatively short-lived effects. These components are unique to DMT in that for a majority of its users they are significantly more likely to manifest during "breakthrough" experiences as opposed to sub-breakthrough level experiences.
• Spirituality enhancement
• Existential self-realization - This effect makes the everyday instant assumptions such as being alive or having loved ones around to be reprocessed, making the user more aware of their own situation and leading to feelings of gratitude.
• Near-death experience
• Perception of eternalism
• Perception of self-design
• Perceived exposure to inner mechanics of consciousness
• Unity and interconnectedness

Conclusion

DMT stands out as one of the most fascinating and enigmatic substances within the realm of psychedelics. Its natural occurrence in plants and animals, unique chemical properties, and ability to induce profound altered states of consciousness have made it a subject of significant cultural, scientific, and therapeutic interest. While its traditional and recreational uses highlight its transformative potential, careful consideration of its health effects and responsible use is paramount. Continued research into DMT's mechanisms, therapeutic applications, and neurobiological roles holds great promise for expanding our knowledge of both the human mind and the broader mysteries of consciousness.

Bibliography

• Strassman, Rick. DMT: The spirit molecule: A doctor's revolutionary research into the biology of near-death and mystical experiences. Simon and Schuster, 2000. https://books.google.com/books?hl=ru&lr=&id=J14oDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT10&dq=DMT&ots=ljUbeK80nS&sig=OBb3bWHZ_SXkEMxI5YPvMSSzqxk
• DMT Synthesis From Indole https://bbgate.com/threads/dmt-synthesis-from-indole-experimental.265/
• DMT Extraction From Plants https://bbgate.com/threads/dmt-extraction-from-plants.727/
• Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) synthesis from Indole via Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) https://bbgate.com/threads/dimethyltryptamine-dmt-synthesis-from-indole-via-indole-3-acetic-acid-iaa.606/
• DMT Synthesis From Tryptamine https://bbgate.com/threads/dmt-synthesis-from-tryptamine.13978
• Psychonaut Wiki https://psychonautwiki.org
• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org