Lysergic amide

One can monitor the extraction by catching a little bit of the solvent coming out the bottom of the pipes in a watch glass, and shining a black light upon it in a darkened room. The lysergic amides in the crop fluoresce a bluish color. When this color no longer appears in the extract, the extraction is complete. 

Now as was mentioned previously, the lysergic amides occur in pairs in nature. This extraction procedure was designed to isolate the active members of the pairs and leave behind the inactive iso alkaloid. Hunting for this iso material should double one s yield of product whether one is extracting ergot or seeds. 

When the lysergic amides have been extracted in pure form from the crop, work should begin without delay to convert it to LSD. Diligence in this matter is very important because possession of the extracted amides is strong evidence of intent to manufacture LSD. 

There are several possible methods to follow in the conversion of the lysergic amides to LSD. The first two presented in this book are pretty good, and highly recommended. The third one is OK. The fourth one may kill you with phosgene gas, but seems to work well. The Method X procedures don t have direct citations to their use in making LSD, but should be the best of all methods. In all cases, the overriding factor which must take precedence is ease of availability of the required chemicals. A bottle of trifluoroacetic anhydride in hand beats homemade anhydrous hydrazine in the bush. 

There is a competing side reaction, and that reaction is hydrolysis of the amide LSD to lysergic acid. In the Smith and Timmis works cited, they found that very little hydrolysis was done to complex lysergic amides like ergotamine or ergometrine within one hour of boiling with one molar KOH, but they got the steric inversion they wanted. 

Ten grams of lysergic amides extracted from the crops are dissolved in 200 ml of methanol containing 11 grams KOH. The methanol is... 

To do the hydrolysis, 15 grams of lysergic amides from the crops is put into a 500 ml flask along with a solution made up of 150 ml ethyl alcohol, 150 ml water, and 100 grams KOH. Next, 15 ml of hydrazine hydrate is added. This hydrazine should be the monohydrate, which is 64% hydrazine. If a weaker variety has been scrounged up, this can be made to work by adding more, and using less water. 

Natural sources of the lysergic amides, including harvesting procedures for ergot-infested rye and Spartina marsh-grass... 

Fig. 4.5 Biosynthesis of ergoline alkaloids II. Paspalic acid as the key intermediate between clavine type and lysergic amide type ergoline alkaloids (oxidation of elymodavine by elymodavine 17-monooxygenase and isomerization of the resulting paspalic acid to activated lysergic acid)...

In addition to the production by fermentation of the natural alkaloids, the biosynthesis of these compounds was also investigated. As soon as the strain F 550, a producer of simple lysergic amides, was available studies aimed at explaining the biosynthesis of the lysergic acid moiety were initiated. A few years earlier, in 1956, mevalonic acid had been discovered and it became clear... 

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