SYNTHESIS: A solution of 2.6 g2,5-dimethoxy-4-((n)-propylthio)benzaldehyde (see under
2C-T-7 for itssynthesis) in 20 mL nitroethane and 0.5 g anhydrous ammonium acetatewas heated on the steam bath overnight. The excess solvent/reagentwas removed under vacuum leaving an orange oil as a residue thatcry-stallized spontaneously. This crude product was recrystallizedfrom 20 mL boiling MeOH to give, after cooling, filtering, and airdrying, 2.4 g of1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-(n)-propylthiophenyl)-2-nitropropene as orangecrystals. Its mp was 83-84 °C with prior sintering at 81 °C.
A suspension of 1.5 g LAH in 150 mL of warm anhydrous THF was stirredunder an inert atmosphere and brought up to a gentle reflux. Asolution of 2.3 g1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-(n)-propylthiophenyl)-2-nitropropene in 25 mLanhydrous THF was added dropwise at a rate that maintained the reflux.Heating and stirring were continued for 2 days, and then the reactionmixture was allowed to stir at room temperature for an additional 2days. There was added 1.5 mL H2O (dissolved in 10 mL THF), followedby 1.5 mL 15% NaOH, and finally another 4.5 mL H2O. Stirring wascontinued until all the curdy solids had turned white. The reactionmixture was filtered, and the filter cake washed with slightly wetTHF. The filtrate and the washings were combined, and the solventremoved under vacuum. The residue was about 2 mL of an amber coloredoil that was dissolved in 200 mL CH2Cl2. This solution was washedwith first dilute NaOH, and then with saturated brine. Removal of thesolvent gave a pale amber oil that was dissolved in 10 mL IPA,neutralized with about 14 drops of concentrated HCl, and diluted with200 mL anhydrous Et2O. The clear solution was decanted from a littlegritty material, and then set aside to allow the formation of2,5-dimethoxy-4-(n)-propylthioamphetamine hydrochloride (ALEPH-7) asfine white crystals. After filtration and air drying, there wasobtained 1.8 g of an off-white powder.
DOSAGE: 4 - 7 mg.
DURATION: 15 - 30 h.
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 4 mg) At the second hour I had aparaesthetic twinge or two (all pins and needles), and then felt quiterelaxed, quite willing to let this play itself out. In the evening myears still feel 'popped' and there is a little bit of physicalawareness. There is not much fun with this. The night following, Iwas unable to sleep and only dozed slightly, but I seemed to be OK thenext day.
(with 6 mg) The alert was felt within a half hour, and then nothingmore. Then, over the next two hours, there was the evolution of anextremely neutral state. I danced wildly to a record of KeithJarrett, but somehow didn't care for his style. I fell apartemotionally, with tears and a feeling of total loss of everything.Everything was visible to me only in some strange wide-angle lensviewing. I went for a walk, a waste of time. I tried classicalmusic, but only jazz was acceptable. It was a couple of days before Ilost the residual strangeness feeling. Never again.
(with 7 mg) I did this alone, and in retrospect I wish I had not.Somewhere between the hours 2 and 3, I got to a full
+++, and I wasconcerned that I saw the effects still developing. Where would it gonow? There was no reality loss as with LSD, no shakes or shimmers,but an intense and profound
+++ of something characterized only by theabsence of extremes. And I am frightened because this is stilldeepening. A couple of calls to friends were not successful, but Ifound an ally in the Palo Alto area, and I told him I was coming tovisit. My greater than one hour drive there was okay only because Ihad programmed every move ahead of time. In retrospect, to drive wascompletely stupid, and I certainly will never do it again, under anycircumstances. But, there I was. I knew which lane I would be on, onthe S.F. Bay Bridge, at every moment of my travels. The middle lanethrough the tunnel. The second from the left when descending into SanFrancisco. The white lane-marker stripes were zipping up past mylateral field of vision as I drove, those that were to my right zippedpast my right eye, those to the left past my left eye. Like disturbedfruit flies leaving an over-ripe peach. But, as everything had beenpreprogrammed, there were no surprises. I made it successfully, andmy baby-sitting friend probed, with a blend of curiosity, love, andenvy, my uncaring state. And in the course of the next couple ofhours, this state evolved into a friendly, familiar place. I wasstill fully
+++, but now for the first time I was at peace with it. Afruit salad tasted heavenly. By midnight I was able to doze lightly,and the next day I was sure that there were some residual effects.The second evening's sleep repaired everything. The neutralness wassomething new to me. I don't like not caring. Was this the "Beth"state of the strange twenty minutes seen by SL in the ALEPH-4experience?
(with 7 mg) Strange, pleasant, unexciting, long-lasting. The inducedstate was characterized by: clear unintoxicated central field ofvision, concentration but with the periphery sensed as being filledwith a kind of strangeness, and also something sensed inside, at theback of the head. A feeling of something waiting to erupt, whichnever does. I had a faint touch of amusement, yet no part of theexperience had the depth or richness of other compounds. No tremors.Slight visuals, but only when looked for. Hunger not present, butfood tasted fine when eaten. Mildly pleasant but one would not takeit again unless bored stiff.
EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY: This drug was the first definition of theterm, Beth state.
There is something of the Fournier Transform in any and all drugexperiments. A psychedelic drug experience is a complex combinationof many signals going all at the same time. Something like the soundof an oboe playing the notes of the A-major scale. There are eventsthat occur in sequence, such as the initial A, followed by B, followedby C-sharp and on and on. That is the chronology of the experience,and it can be written down as a series of perceived phenomena. Thenotes of the scale. Black quarter notes, with flags at the tops oftheir staffs, going up the page of music.
But within each of these single events, during the sounding of thenote "A," for example, there is a complex combination of harmonicsbeing produced at the same time, including all components from thefundamental oscillation on up through all harmonics into theinaudible. This mixture defines the played instrument as being anoboe. Each component may be shared by many instruments, but theparticular combination is the unique signature of the oboe.
This analogy applies precisely to the study of psychedelic drugs andtheir actions. Each drug has a chronology of effect, like the notesof the A-major scale. But there are many components of a drug'saction, like the harmonics from the fundamental to the inaudiblewhich, taken in concert, defines the drug. With musical instruments,these components can be shown as sine waves on an oscilloscope. Onecomponent, 22%, was a sine wave at a frequency of 1205 cycles, and aphase angle of +55!. But in psychopharmacology? There is no psychicoscillo-scope. There are no easily defined and measured harmonics orphase angles. Certainly, any eventual definition of a drug willrequire some such dissection into components each of which makes somecontribution to the complex whole. The mental process may some day bedefined by a particular combination of these components. And one ofthem is this Beth state. It is a state of uncaring, of anhe-donia,and of emotionlessness.
Many drugs have a touch of this Beth state, ALEPH-7 more than most.If a sufficient alphabet of effects (I am using the Alephs, Beths,Gimels, and Daleths of the Hebrew as token starters only) were to beaccumulated and defined, the actions of new materials might someday bemore exactly documented. Could depression, euphoria, anddisinhibition for example, all be eventually seen as being made up oftheir component parts, each contributing in some measured way to thesum, to the human experience? The psychologists of the world would beecstatic. And drugs such as ALEPH-7 might be useful in helping todefine one of these parts.
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