Methamphetamine chemistry

That impression gets of a lot of routine reinforcement from news sources. Chemistry is associated with pollution of the atmosphere by ozone and the noxious oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, oil spills, toxic pesticides and herbicides, smelly oil refineries, undesired food additives, chemical accidents, substances of abuse such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, and chemical weapons. Chemistry gets a lot of bad ink. 

Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Assay for Determination of Amphetamine, Methamphetamine, and Methylenedioxy Derivatives in Meconium. Analytical Chemistry 76 2124-2132... 

Alan Baxter lost his bronze medal in the winter Olympics in 2000 because he used an American Vick inhaler and not a British one.1,2 Note the position of the CH3 attached to the central carbon atom (Figure 2.18). The British Vick inhaler contains a mixture of menthol, camphor and methyl salicylate the American Vick inhaler also contains L-methamphetamine. This is used as a decongestant and has no performance-improving properties, whereas its optically active isomer D-methamphetamine (commonly known as speed ) is a prohibited drug and is a performance improver. However, the Olympic Committee does not distinguish between these two isomers in its detective work and chemical analysis. It therefore reported that his urine contained methamphetamine and did not report that it was the ineffective l form. The committee took the medal away from him. If they only had known their chemistry and all about optically active isomers. 

Skilled and successful underground chemists have usually taken a college level Organic Chemistry course, with lab, for at least one semester. In this lab, they get practice in distillation, extraction, and other skills involved in making methamphetamine. At the very least, they will go to a college bookstore and purchase the lab manual for the Organic Chemistry class. That book goes into some detail on how to distill, reflux, etc. 

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. 

Laboratories in many places, notably throughout the United States, are engaged in clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine. The chemistry is well understood, and widely published, notably on the web, though not easy to achieve. Much of this synthetic chemistry is difficult and dangerous outside a proper laboratory. Fires and explosions, as well as chemical burns to individuals, are reportedly common in D.I.Y. meth-labs. Some of the chemicals involved, like phosphine (PHj), are very toxic. Don t try these at home, folks. It is very dangerous, as well as being illegal. 

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