APPLYING THE SCIENCE 8.4 Methamphetamine and Nicotine

Schematic of derivatization reactions, (a) Proposed pathway of methamphetamine hydrochloride derivatization. After thermal decomposition, the salt was converted to the free base, which was successfully derivatized with propyl chloroformate. A hydrogen atom in the methamphetamine molecule has been replaced by a propyl ester moiety, (b) Nicotine (tertiary amine) does not have any replaceable hydrogen atoms hence, no products were observed. Reproduced with permission from the reference dted, copyright2004 American Chemical Society. 

Until the last 10-20 years, domestic clandestine methamphetamine laboratories employed P2P, a common and versatile solvent with many legitimate uses. It and related compounds have also potent smells that can betray the location of a clandestine facility. The most common P2P synthesis is based on the Leuckart reaction, in which nucleophilic nitrogen attacks a carbonyl carbon, forming an intermediate that is reduced to methamphetamine or amphetamine 

Source Ochoa, M. L., and P. B. Harrington. Detection of Methamphetamine in the Presence of Nicotine Using in-Situ Chemical Derivitization and Ion Mobility Spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry, 76 2004,985-991. 

In response to the widespread clandestine synthesis of methamphetamine by this method, the DBA added P2P to Schedule II of the controlled substances list as part of the Chemical Diversion and Trafficking Act (CDTA) of 1988. The legislation was aimed at impeding clandestine laboratories by cutting off the necessary precursors for methamphetamine as well as other drugs. The act also placed controls on some of the equipment needed for making drugs. For a few years, the number of methamphetamine laboratories that were seized decreased, but the decrease was short lived. Clandestine operations 

The refluxed red-phosphorus method may produc hosphine gas (PH3), which can be deadly to the cooks or to first responders  

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