Ritter
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Methcathinone - watch that manganese!
Apparently the synthesis method of choice these days in Russian drug labs utilizes a manganese reagent (KMnO4) which apparently doesn't get entirely
removed during purification:
| Quote: | N Engl J Med. 2008 Mar 6;358(10):1009-17.
A Parkinsonian syndrome in methcathinone users and the role of manganese.
Stepens A, Logina I, Liguts V, Aldins P, Eksteina I, Platkājis A, Mārtinsone I, Tērauds E, Rozentāle B, Donaghy M.
Department of Neurology, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia.
BACKGROUND: A distinctive extrapyramidal syndrome has been observed in intravenous methcathinone (ephedrone) users in Eastern Europe
and Russia.
METHODS: We studied 23 adults in Latvia who had extrapyramidal symptoms and who had injected methcathinone for a mean (+/-SD) of 6.7+/-5.1 years. The
methcathinone was manufactured under home conditions by potassium permanganate oxidation of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. All patients were positive
for hepatitis C virus, and 20 were also positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). RESULTS: The patients reported that the onset of their
first neurologic symptoms (gait disturbance in 20 and hypophonia in 3) occurred after a mean of 5.8+/-4.5 years of methcathinone use. At the time of
neurologic evaluation, all 23 patients had gait disturbance and difficulty walking backward; 11 patients were falling daily, and 1 of these patients
used a wheelchair. Twenty-one patients had hypophonic speech in addition to gait disturbance, and one of these patients was mute. No patient reported
decline in cognitive function. T(1)-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed symmetric hyperintensity in the globus pallidus and in the
substantia nigra and innominata in all 10 active methcathinone users. Among the 13 former users (2 to 6 years had passed since the last use), lesser
degrees of change in the MRI signal were noted. Whole-blood manganese levels (normal level, <209 nmol per liter) averaged 831 nmol per liter
(range, 201 to 2102) in the active methcathinone users and 346 nmol per liter (range, 114 to 727) in former users. The neurologic deficits did
not resolve after patients discontinued methcathinone use.
CONCLUSIONS: Our observation of a distinctive extrapyramidal syndrome, changes in the MRI signal in the basal ganglia, and elevated blood manganese
levels in methcathinone users suggests that manganese in the methcathinone solution causes a persistent neurologic disorder.
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and
| Quote: | Mov Disord. 2007 Jul 15;22(9):1337-43.
Manganic encephalopathy due to "ephedrone" abuse.
Sanotsky Y, Lesyk R, Fedoryshyn L, Komnatska I, Matviyenko Y, Fahn S.
Department of Neurology, Lviv Regional Clinical Hospital, Lviv, Ukraine. janush_s@yahoo.com
We describe the clinical and neuroimaging features of 6 drug-abuse patients with self-inflicted manganese poisoning. The patients injected a
home-brewed mixture called "ephedrone" (slang term) that contained manganese to produce an amphetamine-like euphoria. The desired chemical product,
phenylpropanoneamine (also called methcathinone), was synthesized from a common-cold-remedy compound using permanganate as the catalyst. Manganese was
a by-product in the ephedrone mixture. After months of self-injections, a clinical picture emerged, consisting of apathy, bradykinesia, gait disorder
with postural instability, and spastic-hypokinetic dysarthria. There was no response to levodopa. The MRI revealed symmetric hyperintense T1-weighted
signals in the basal ganglia, typical of manganese accumulation.
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And from the Wikipedia page on this substance:
| Quote: | Methcathinone is most commonly made by the oxidation of ephedrine. Oxidation of ephedrine to methcathinone requires little chemistry experience,
making it easy to synthesize. Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) is most commonly used as the oxidant.[3]
Synthesizing methcathinone using either potassium permanganate or various chromates is considered undesirable because of the low yields and the
high toxicity of these oxidants. A method that yields more methcathinone is oxidizing ephedrine with sodium hypochlorite.[4] If done
in a proper laboratory using the proper procedures, however, potassium permanganate can be a high-yielding reactant.[5]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methcathinone
[Edited on 5-7-2008 by Ritter]
Ritter
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\"The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.\"
Karl Marx
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ScienceSquirrel
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Mood: Dogs are pets but cats are little furry humans with four feet and self determination! 
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Let me see;
They take crude ephedrine extracted from OTC pills.
They oxidise this, do minimal clean up and do not try to characterise the product.
They dissolve the muck in water and inject it!
Why not give themselves an antifreeze enema and have done with it 
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Formatik
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This will really mess you up maaann.
Manganese compounds injected or inhaled can give those neurologic disease. There is a book that goes through various doses of Mn in mammals. The maximum tolerable levels in some animals in the diets (ingested) of animals (cattle,
sheep) were below 1000 mg/kg, and they note for inhalation in humans:
| Quote: | Inhalation exposure to manganese.
Chronic exposure to inhaled manganese (usually but not exclusively MnO2) causes a disabling neurological syndrome called manganism in humans (ATSDR,
2000). The clinical symptoms initially include nonspecific symptoms (e.g., fatigue, headache, muscle cramps, lumago, insomnia, loss of memory,
impotence, slowing of movements) and eventually behavioral and psychotic changes, symptoms resembling Parkinson's disease, and dystonia with severe
gait disturbances (Pal et al., 1999). The extrapyramidal symptoms are often irreversible and the primary site of the neurological damage is the globus
pallidus. |
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Sauron
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I'm shocked and dismayed that clandestine drug cooks anywhere could be so incompetent and negligent as to not properly purify their products. Who
would have thought it?
After all, drug cooks have always been renowned for their high technical standards and rigorous adherence to sound pharmacological practice - haven't
they?
Sic gorgeamus a los subjectatus nunc.
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JohnWW
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Manganese and chromium, in their lower oxidation states, are supposed to be essential trace elements in microgram quantities; biochemical catalysts
which, like Fe in hemoglobin and Co in vitamin B-12 (cyanocobalamin), are bonded in a porphyrin-derivative complex, most likely as Mn(II) and Cr(III).
In the preparation of methcathinone by oxidation with KMnO4, it is not clear what oxidation state the Mn is reduced to, but MnO2, if formed, would be
insoluble and of no use as a trace element, and very difficult to eliminate from the body, because of its reluctance to form metabolizable complexes.
Either insoluble MnO2 is formed in the preparation of methcathinone using KMnO4 and the drug chemists made no real effort to remove it, e.g. by
recrystallization or extraction with an organic solvent, or else Mn(II) or (III) is formed which forms a complex with the methcathinone and cannot
easily be displaced from it.
I wonder if safer oxidants for the purpose would, instead, be H2O2, or organic peroxides like peroxyacetic acid, or ferrate(VI), or peroxycarbonate.
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not_important
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Manganese toxicity is well known, workers in manganese ore processing facilities, welders, and ceramics workers have suffered from it. It has been
studied for decades, with reports going back to early Victorian times. for instance
| Quote: |
Mena I, Marin O, Fuenzalida S, Cotzias GC. Chronic manganese
poisoning: clinical picture and manganese turnover. Neurology
1967; 17(2): 128–136.
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here : http://www.neurology.org/cgi/reprint/17/2/128?ijkey=5942eb89...
It appears that Mn2+ is the main form of transport, although Mn3+ may be have transitory existence under certain conditions.
recent article
http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/full/64/12/2021
Attachment: Review Article - Manganese toxicity upon overexposure.pdf (119kB)
This file has been downloaded 845 times
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Panache
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'.... At the time of neurologic evaluation, all 23 patients had gait disturbance and difficulty walking backward; 11 patients were falling daily, and
1 of these patients used a wheelchair. Twenty-one patients had hypophonic speech in addition to gait disturbance, and one of these patients was mute.
No patient reported decline in cognitive function. '
And i thought i was just clumsy but now i understand what's causing my symptoms.
Hypophonic speech-A hypophonic voice, characterized perceptually as weak and breathy, is associated with voice disorders such as vocal fold atrophy
and unilateral vocal fold paralysis.
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The_Davster
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By entitling this thread with the phrase "...watch that manganese" are you implying that you think members here are responsible for this? If such is
the case this will go to detritus.
However I am giving you the benefit of the doubt, and assuming you just wanted to share an interesting news story, so this is more suited for
miscellaneous, and as such is moved there.
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MagicJigPipe
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I got no such impression when I read the title. I simply thought it was a semi-clever phrase to try and entice the potential reader. Like a
newspaper article on a certain spice that has been discovered to be toxic might say, "Watch That Garlic!". I suppose it just means to watch out for
the garlic. In general.
I don't know how you got the impression that he was saying people here are making methcathinone with Mn in it...
[Edited on 7-6-2008 by MagicJigPipe]
"There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry ... There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any
question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. ... We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it and
that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. And we know that as long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think,
free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress." -J. Robert Oppenheimer
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chemrox
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Sauron
I'm shocked and dismayed that clandestine drug cooks anywhere could be so incompetent and negligent as to not properly purify their products. Who
would have thought it?
After all, drug cooks have always been renowned for their high technical standards and rigorous adherence to sound pharmacological practice - haven't
they? |
hahaha!
When I first starting assessing properties that had been used for clandestine m-A manufacture the method of choice was still from benzylmethyl ketone
(P2P). Since P2P was proscribed at the same level as m-A itself, P2P had to be made. A common method of the time involved an organo lead reagent.
Since the lead impurity was also white crystalline there was no motive to clean it out at least for the cynical bastards willing to take all those
risks for the profit. Lead is weight maaan...So we had apartments contaminated with lead and people walking around with gray teeth and running sores.
Thank you government for protecting us from ourselves again ...
"When you let the dumbasses vote you end up with populism followed by autocracy and getting back is a bitch." Plato (sort of)
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Ritter
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| Quote: | Originally posted by The_Davster
By entitling this thread with the phrase "...watch that manganese" are you implying that you think members here are responsible for this? If such is
the case this will go to detritus.
However I am giving you the benefit of the doubt, and assuming you just wanted to share an interesting news story, so this is more suited for
miscellaneous, and as such is moved there. |
I meant to imply nothing. You are reading too much between the words of my tag line. This was meant to be a warning about the possible dangers
inherent in consuming illicitlt manufactured drugs where purity is not the primary concern.
Your moving this post to 'Miscellaneous' may result in health damage to otherwise unaware subscribers.
[Edited on 19-7-2008 by Ritter]
Ritter
=============================
\"The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.\"
Karl Marx
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a_bab
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"They" dont purify the product because of several reasons:
-it would lower the yield. That means less profit
-it would raise the production costs and dangers (even more flammable stuff in the kitchen)
-they don't give a fuck anyway. Selling drugs means you don't care about the consequences. Almost like selling bombs: "I can make'em; the buyer does
whatever he wans with it"
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