Sciencemadness Discussion Board

questions regarding formation and reductive alkylation of an imine

chemtard - 18-4-2016 at 04:43

is the formation of an imine exothermic

is Na0H required to "activate" methylamine in a dissolving metal reductive alkylation? In regards to phenyacetlycarbinol I have read posts saying it is prone to racemization if made basic, but another post by someone else claiming that Na0H needed to be added before they could smell the amine being produced

and also does the solvent play any part in the reaction, eg: would ethanol and methanol generally be interchangable

Chemist_Cup_Noodles - 19-4-2016 at 10:12

Hmmm, this is some "interesting" chemistry you're researching here. Seen any DEA vans hovering about recently? :D Not trying to say you're planning on making meth, it's just that these concepts are some that go behind what some call the "P2P cook". Jokes aside, you might want to link to these posts you are attempting to reference for context. But I would think that adding a quite nucleophilic substance or making the solution basic, both of which sodium hydroxide would accomplish, could make the molecule prone to "reacetimization".
I'm not 100% sure if the solvents are interchangeable or not. Both solvents should be easily attainable, and as long as you are using them as a solvent and not as a reagent then you should be able to reuse and distill what you have for a while.
And I'm not sure about whether or not the formation of an imine is exothermic, but a google search should hopefully clear that up.
For future referencing, check out the UC Davis ChemWiki and some of the other linked research sites listed in the stickied post on this board. (http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=6664)

chemrox - 19-4-2016 at 11:26

The ochem4free links are out of date with a warning page popping up

chemtard - 21-4-2016 at 02:09

actually my interest in researching this starts and ends at a possible source for 1 part of what used to be referred to as an ECA stack used for weight training and body building.

Alas I fear that the chemistry is beyond me. its funny how meth has had such a big impact on my life when I have never used it myself or know anyone that has (that I'm aware of anyway,
I'm not that naive).

Chemist_Cup_Noodles - 21-4-2016 at 05:18

Quote: Originally posted by chemrox  
The ochem4free links are out of date with a warning page popping up


Yeah but I know at least the UC Davis chemwiki

Quote: Originally posted by chemtard  
actually my interest in researching this starts and ends at a possible source for 1 part of what used to be referred to as an ECA stack used for weight training and body building.

Alas I fear that the chemistry is beyond me. its funny how meth has had such a big impact on my life when I have never used it myself or know anyone that has (that I'm aware of anyway,
I'm not that naive).


I'm sorry it wasn't my intent to be accusational that you were planning on making meth lol. But stupid meth does make it hard to get sudafed nowadays. And the even watch when you order just benzyl chloride, like wtf? FYI DEA, it's not just a meth precusor.

Never lose faith in yourself. Chemistry, and especially organic, can certainly be a very hard subject for many to learn but the main thing standing in your way of learning it is yourself. I'm guessing you lift or workout, and if you do I'm sure you know how crucial determination is to that. Getting your ass in the gym, ready to rock and roll. If you don't believe you can do another rep then you won't. Getting better at chemistry will be the same way. My first suggestion is to whip out a notebook. Begin familiarizing yourself with some basics of organic chemistry, taking notes on things you'll want to remember. I'd recommend start taking notes on some of these because they're very important to know and be able to recognize. It is a huge fucking list though, and I'm still not fully familiar with it. Wikipedia is actually quite great as most everything is hyperlinked, so you can immediately learn about something you don't get. Otherwise it is a quick Google away.

Also, just keep reading chemistry related things. Whether it's sciencemadness boards, Wikipedia articles, or library books, just stay familiar with the nomenclature involved and terminology. Actually since you are looking into orgo I'll link you to a page on the ChemWiki that has a huge list of functional groups here. I know this is a huge fucking list, and not all of it may be crucial to what you're looking into right now. But maybe just bookmark the page and look back to it for reference. Good luck in your endeavors!