So I'm fairly noobish to chemistry, having only done high school chemistry .. :)
So I'm just brainstorming, thinking how would you be able to extract myristicin from nutmeg? I'm thinking solvents .. ;-) But not sure how to separate it to be pure / isolated from other compounds ..
And how complicated / 'attention needing' is the reaction to convert it to MMDA?

An acid-base extraction and a recrystallization would probably be enough. As someone else said (a little more elegantly), if you have to ask, it's impossible. If you can explain each step, its as easy as riding a bike. Research the hell out of the reaction, and once you understand what is happening, you will be able to tell if you can do it.

Kings chemistry guide has a bit of info on this subject.

I used a expresso coffee maker to get the fat etc of of some nutmeg once..

Just looking for synthesis of MMDA, doesn't really seem amazingly complicated, can anyone verify if this would work?




http://www.mdma.net/mmda.html


(from Oil of Nutmeg) The careful distillation of Oil of Nutmeg (or the Oil of Mace) allowed the isolation of a number of compounds in varying degrees of purity. The fraction that boiled in the 110-115 °C range at about 1.0 mm/Hg was myristicin (3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyallylbenzene). It constituted some 7% of the original oil of commerce and, in its original isolated form, was obtained with a purity of 87%. The major contaminant was elemicin (3,4,5-trimethoxyallylbenzene). A solution of 100 g myristicin in 100 g absolute EtOH was treated with 200 g solid KOH and heated on a steam bath overnight. Removal of the volatiles under vacuum, flooding the residue with H2O, and extraction with 3x100 mL CH2Cl2 gave, after removal of the solvent from the combined extracts, a residue of crude isomyristicin (a mixture of the cis- and trans-isomers). This product was distilled, and the fraction boiling at 125-130 °C at 1 mm/Hg gave 63 g of isomyristicin as a pale yellow oil that spontaneously crystallized. The mp was 41.5-42.5 °C. Part of the losses associated with the purification of these solids was due to formation of the cis-isomer of isomyristicin, which was an oil.

A solution of 50 g isomyristicin in 300 mL dry acetone containing 24 g pyridine was vigorously stirred and cooled to 0 °C with an ice bath. To this there was added 54 g tetranitromethane which had been pre-cooled to 0 °C. Stirring was continued for exactly 2 min, and then the reaction was quenched by the addition of a cold solution of 16.8 g KOH in 300 mL H2O. Stirring was continued until the temperature had again been lowered to near 0 °C. The product was removed by filtration. Extraction of the filtrate with CH2Cl2 and removal of the solvent provided additional nitrostryrene, for a combined yield of 50.7 g with a mp of 103 °C due to the presence of a small amount of free myristicinaldehyde. A recrystallization from MeOH produced 1-(3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-nitropropene with a mp of 109-110 °C. This material was completely adequate for the above-described reduction to MMDA. The conversion of this nitropropene to myristicinaldehyde is an alternative to the lengthy synthesis given above), and can be used in the preparation of LOPHOPHINE.

A mixture of 50 g 1-(3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-nitropropene and 26 g racemic a-methylbenzylamine was heated on the steam bath. The mixture gradually formed a clear solution with the steady evolution of nitroethane. When the reaction became quiet, there was added a mixture of 20 mL concentrated HCl in 100 mL H2O. The reaction mixture dissolved completely, and as the temperature continued to rise there was the abrupt solidification as the formed myristicinaldehyde crystallized out. This product was removed by filtration and, when combined with a second crop obtained by the hexane extraction of the filtrate, gave 36.9 g of myristicinaldehyde. The mp of 128-129 °C was raised to 133-134 °C by recrystallization from hexane.

Parsley leaves are cheaper. ;)

Just looking for synthesis of MMDA, doesn't really seem amazingly complicated, can anyone verify if this would work?




http://www.mdma.net/mmda.html


(from Oil of Nutmeg) The careful distillation of Oil of Nutmeg (or the Oil of Mace) allowed the isolation of a number of compounds in varying degrees of purity. The fraction that boiled in the 110-115 °C range at about 1.0 mm/Hg was myristicin (3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyallylbenzene). It constituted some 7% of the original oil of commerce and, in its original isolated form, was obtained with a purity of 87%. The major contaminant was elemicin (3,4,5-trimethoxyallylbenzene). A solution of 100 g myristicin in 100 g absolute EtOH was treated with 200 g solid KOH and heated on a steam bath overnight. Removal of the volatiles under vacuum, flooding the residue with H2O, and extraction with 3x100 mL CH2Cl2 gave, after removal of the solvent from the combined extracts, a residue of crude isomyristicin (a mixture of the cis- and trans-isomers). This product was distilled, and the fraction boiling at 125-130 °C at 1 mm/Hg gave 63 g of isomyristicin as a pale yellow oil that spontaneously crystallized. The mp was 41.5-42.5 °C. Part of the losses associated with the purification of these solids was due to formation of the cis-isomer of isomyristicin, which was an oil.

A solution of 50 g isomyristicin in 300 mL dry acetone containing 24 g pyridine was vigorously stirred and cooled to 0 °C with an ice bath. To this there was added 54 g tetranitromethane which had been pre-cooled to 0 °C. Stirring was continued for exactly 2 min, and then the reaction was quenched by the addition of a cold solution of 16.8 g KOH in 300 mL H2O. Stirring was continued until the temperature had again been lowered to near 0 °C. The product was removed by filtration. Extraction of the filtrate with CH2Cl2 and removal of the solvent provided additional nitrostryrene, for a combined yield of 50.7 g with a mp of 103 °C due to the presence of a small amount of free myristicinaldehyde. A recrystallization from MeOH produced 1-(3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-nitropropene with a mp of 109-110 °C. This material was completely adequate for the above-described reduction to MMDA. The conversion of this nitropropene to myristicinaldehyde is an alternative to the lengthy synthesis given above), and can be used in the preparation of LOPHOPHINE.

A mixture of 50 g 1-(3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-nitropropene and 26 g racemic a-methylbenzylamine was heated on the steam bath. The mixture gradually formed a clear solution with the steady evolution of nitroethane. When the reaction became quiet, there was added a mixture of 20 mL concentrated HCl in 100 mL H2O. The reaction mixture dissolved completely, and as the temperature continued to rise there was the abrupt solidification as the formed myristicinaldehyde crystallized out. This product was removed by filtration and, when combined with a second crop obtained by the hexane extraction of the filtrate, gave 36.9 g of myristicinaldehyde. The mp of 128-129 °C was raised to 133-134 °C by recrystallization from hexane.
No, but Shulgin can.

If you're extracting from nutmeg you'll also get other things like isomyristicin, eugenol, isoeugenol, and several other oils with identical solubility and different boiling points. Unless you convert the eugenol to something almost as useful like MDMA then you'd get a mixture of the two. I wouldn't bother taking the nutmeg route to MMDA.

Find 'Kings chemistry Guide' its got some info about getting Myristicin from Nutmeg.

And a Coffee expresso machine might work for a simple extraction, but including the fat too.