Identification of common impurities present in the synthetic routes leading to 4-methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA). Part II: Reductive amination and nitropropene route

In this paper the by-products arising during the synthesis of 4-methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA) by LiAlH(4) reduction of 1-(4-methylthiophenyl)-2-nitropropene (nitropropene route) and reductive amination of 4-methylthiophenyl-2-propanone in the presence of NaCNBH(4) are investigated. The identification of 4-methylthio derivatives of N-(β-phenylisopropyl)benzaldimine, 4-methylthio derivative of N-(β-phenylisopropyl)benzyl methyl ketimine, 1-(4-methylthiophenyl)-N-(4-methylthiobenzyl)-2-propanamine, (RS) and (SS/RR)-N,N-di-[β-(4-methylthiophenyl)isopropyl]amine, 4-methylthiobenzyl ether and methylthiobenzoic acid methyl ester as most prominent impurities in crude 4-MTA synthesised by reductive amination of 4-methylthiophenyl-2-propanone, is reported. Methylthio derivatives of 2-methyl-3-phenylaziridine, 2-benzylaziridine, and 4-methylthio derivative of BMK oxime as route-specific markers of nitropropene route leading to 4-MTA, were also characterized. The identity of these compounds was confirmed by their independent synthesis.     

An unlikely bulwark of Sovietness: cross-border travel and Soviet patriotism in Western Ukraine, 1956–1985

Focusing on the development of travel between the borderlands of Ukraine and Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe, this article explores what it meant to be Soviet outside the Russian core of the USSR between the mid-1950s and the mid-1980s. The cautious opening of the Soviet border was part of a larger attempt to find fresh sources of popular support and enthusiasm for the regime's “communist” project. Before the Prague Spring of 1968 in particular, official policies and narratives of travel thus praised local inhabitants who crossed the Soviet border for supposedly overcoming age-old hatreds to build a brighter future in Eastern Europe. By the 1970s, however, smuggling and cultural consumption discredited the idea of “internationalist friendship.” This encouraged residents of Ukraine to speak and write about the continuing importance of the Soviet border. The very idea of Sovietness was defined in national terms, as narratives of travel emphasized that Soviet citizens were inherently different from ethno-national groups in the people's democracies. Eastern Europe thus emerged as an “other” that highlighted the Soviet character of territories incorporated into the USSR after 1939, helping to obscure western Ukraine's troubled past and leading to the emergence of new social hierarchies in the region.     

How To Address Strategic Insecurity In A Turbulent Age

The ideal geopolitical response to the crisis of global power is a trilateral connection between the United States, China and Russia.     

Identification and synthesis of some contaminants present in 4-methoxyamphetamine (PMA) prepared by the Leuckart method

The clandestine synthesis of ring and side chain modified phenylisopropylamines continues to be a major source of these drugs of abuse. One method used for the synthesis of the amphetamine and related compounds involves the treatment of the appropriate ketone with formamide or ammonium formate followed by acid hydrolysis of intermediate N-formyl derivative. In this paper the synthesis of 4-methoxyamphetamine (PMA, 1) by the Leuckart method is investigated. The identification by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) of methoxy derivative of N-(beta-phenylisopropyl)benzaldimine 9, methoxy derivative of N-(beta-phenylisopropyl)benzyl methyl ketimine 5, 1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-N-(4-methoxybenzyl)-2-propanamine 10, (RR/SS) and (RS) 1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-N-[2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-methylethyl]-2-propanamine 6a-6c, (RR/SS) and (RS)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-N-methyl-N-[2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-methylethyl]-2-propanamine 7a-7c, (RR/SS) and (RS)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-N-formyl-N-[2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-methylethyl]-2-propanamine 8a-8c in crude PMA, are reported. The identity of these compounds was confirmed by independent synthesis of reference compounds. The NMR, MS, IR data, stereochemistry and some chromatographic properties of synthesized compounds are discussed. Finally, the results of the GC-MS analysis of illicitly prepared tablets, containing PMA 1 and 4-methoxymethamphetamine (PMMA, 2), are outlined. The presence of 4-methoxydimethylamphetamine 11, 4-methoxyethylamphetamine 12, and 4-hydroxymethamphetamine 13 are reported in these tablets. The identity of 2, 11, and 12 was confirmed by their independent synthesis.