''PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story'' is a

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

Alexander Shulgin Alexander Theodore "Sasha" Shulgin (June 17, 1925 – June 2, 2014) was an American biochemist, broad researcher of synthetic psychoactive compounds, and author of works regarding these, who independently explored the organic chemistry and ph ...

and Ann Shulgin published in 1991. The subject of the work is

psychoactive A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, mind-altering drug, consciousness-altering drug, psychoactive substance, or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that alters psychological functioning by modulating central nervous system acti ...

phenethylamine Phenethylamine (PEA) is an organic compound, natural monoamine alkaloid, and trace amine, which acts as a central nervous system stimulant in humans. In the brain, phenethylamine regulates monoamine neurotransmission by binding to trace ami ...

chemical derivatives, notably those that act as psychedelics and/or empathogen-entactogens. The main title, PiHKAL, is an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

that stands for "Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved". The book is arranged into two parts, the first part being a fictionalized autobiography of the couple and the second part describing 179 different psychedelic compounds (most of which Shulgin discovered himself), including detailed synthesis instructions,

bioassay A bioassay is an analytical method to determine the potency or effect of a substance by its effect on animal testing, living animals or plants (''in vivo''), or on living cells or tissues (''in vitro''). A bioassay can be either quantal or quantit ...

s, dosages, and other commentary. The second part was made freely available by Shulgin on Erowid while the first part is available only in the printed text. While the reactions described are beyond the ability of people with a basic chemistry education, some tend to emphasize techniques that do not require difficult-to-obtain chemicals. Notable among these are the use of mercury-aluminium amalgam (an unusual but easy to obtain

reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

) as a

reducing agent In chemistry, a reducing agent (also known as a reductant, reducer, or electron donor) is a chemical species that "donates" an electron to an (called the , , , or ). Examples of substances that are common reducing agents include hydrogen, carbon ...

and detailed suggestions on legal plant sources of important drug precursors such as safrole.

Impact and popularity

Through ''PIHKAL'' (and later '' TIHKAL''), Shulgin sought to ensure that his discoveries would escape the limits of professional research labs and find their way to the public, a goal consistent with his stated beliefs that

psychedelic drug Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluc ...

s can be valuable tools for self-exploration. The

MDMA 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as ecstasy (tablet form), and molly (crystal form), is an empathogen–entactogenic drug with stimulant and minor Psychedelic drug, psychedelic properties. In studies, it has been used ...

("ecstasy") synthesis published in ''PIHKAL'' remains one of the most common clandestine methods of its manufacture to this day. Many countries have banned the major substances for which this book gives directions for synthesis, such as 2C-B, 2C-T-2, and 2C-T-7. In 1994, two years after ''PIHKAL'' was published, the

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking a ...

(DEA) raided Shulgin's laboratory and requested that he surrender his DEA license. Richard Meyer, spokesman for DEA's San Francisco Field Division, has stated in reference to ''PIHKAL'' "It is our opinion that those books are pretty much cookbooks on how to make illegal drugs. Agents tell me that in clandestine labs that they have raided, they have found copies of those books", suggesting that the publication of ''PIHKAL'' and the termination of Shulgin's license may have been related.

Notable compounds

Essential amphetamines

The "Essential Amphetamines" are what Shulgin describes as ten amphetamines that differ from natural products such as safrole or myristicin by an amine group
''PIHKAL'' Entry #157 TMA
. The list consists of: * PMA (''para''-methoxy-amphetamine) * 2,4-DMA (2,4-dimethoxy-amphetamine) * 3,4-DMA (3,4-dimethoxy-amphetamine) * MDA (3,4-methylenedioxy-amphetamine) * MMDA (3-methoxy-4,5-methylendioxy-amphetamine) * MMDA-3a (2-methoxy-3,4-methylendioxyamphetamine) * MMDA-2 (2-methoxy-4,5-methylendioxyamphetamine) * TMA (3,4,5-trimethoxyamphetamine) * TMA-2 (2,4,5-trimethoxyamphetamine) * DMMDA (2,5-dimethoxy-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine) * DMMDA-2 (2,3-dimethoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyamphetamine) * TeMA (2,3,4,5-tetramethoxyamphetamine) Not all of these chemicals are bioassayed in ''PIHKAL''; some are merely mentioned.

Magical half-dozen

The so-called "magical half-dozen" refers to Shulgin's self-rated most important phenethylamine compounds, all of which except mescaline he developed and synthesized himself. They are found within the first book of ''PIHKAL'', and are as follows: * 2C-B (2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenethylamine) *

2C-E 2C-E is a Psychedelic drug, psychedelic phenethylamines, phenethylamine of the 2C (psychedelics), 2C family. It was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin and documented in his book ''PiHKAL''. Like the other substances in its family, it produces ...

(2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylphenethylamine) * 2C-T-2 (2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthiophenethylamine) * 2C-T-7 (2,5-dimethoxy-4-propylthiophenethylamine) * DOM (2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine), DOM being short for desoxy methyl, referring to the removal of the oxygen atom from the methoxy group on the "4" carbon. *

Mescaline Mescaline, also known as mescalin or mezcalin, and in chemical terms 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine, is a natural product, naturally occurring psychedelic drug, psychedelic alkaloid, protoalkaloid of the substituted phenethylamine class, found ...

(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) All six are now Schedule I controlled substances in the United States.

Phenethylamines listed

References

External links

Erowid Online Books: ''PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story'' by Alexander & Ann Shulgin

''PIHKAL'' • Info: A Visual Index and Map of ''PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story'' by Alexander & Ann Shulgin

"Shulgin in Spanish" Project – Information on the first complete translation of PIHKAL and TIHKAL into Spanish

Transform Press – Publisher of PiHKAL
{{Chemical classes of psychoactive drugs 1991 non-fiction books Alexander Shulgin Psychedelic drug research Psychedelic literature Psychedelic phenethylamines Science books