With 20 to 30mg, euphoria, empathy, and psychedelic effects become apparent and can last as long as 12hours.[15] A dose exceeding 40mg is generally considered strong. In rare cases or extreme doses, the duration of effects might exceed 24hours. Users report that αMT in freebaseform is smoked, with doses between and 2 and 5mg.[2][unreliable source?][5]
αMT is capable of causing life-threatening side effects including hyperthermia, hypertension, and tachycardia.[9][17] Fatalities have been reported in association with high doses or concomitant use of other drugs.[18] Fatalities verified with toxicology and autopsy include those of a 22-year-old man in Miami-Dade county and a British teenager, both of whom died after consuming 1g of αMT.[19][9]
The synthesis of αMT can be accomplished through several different routes, the two most widely known being the nitroaldol condensation between indole-3-carboxaldehyde and nitroethane under ammonium acetate catalysis which produces 1-(3-indolyl)-2-nitropropene-1, the product can subsequently be reduced using a reducing agent like lithium aluminum hydride[38] The alternative synthesis is the condensation between indole-3-acetone and hydroxylamine.[citation needed], followed by reduction of the obtained ketoxime with lithium aluminum hydride.[5]
αMT never received a formal generic name.[49] In the scientific literature, it has been referred to as α-methyltryptamine or alpha-methyltryptamine (abbreviated as α-MT, αMT, or AMT).[13][14] αMT has also been referred to by developmental code names including IT-290 (Sandoz),[50]NSC-97069,[12]PAL-17,[1]Ro 3-0926,[51][52] and U-14,164E (Upjohn).[53][54][12][9] In the Soviet Union, the drug was merely referred to by its brand name Indopan or Indopane.[55][9] Other synonyms of αMT include 3-(2-aminopropyl)indole and 3-IT.[12] (+)-αMT has been referred to by the code name IT-403.[12][9]
Legality
Australia
The 5-methoxy analogue, 5-MeO-αMT is schedule 9 in Australia and αMT would be controlled as an analogue of this.[56]
Austria
αMT is placed under Austrian law (NPSG) Group 6.[57]
As of October 2015 αMT is a controlled substance in China.[59]
Denmark
In Denmark (2010), the Danish Minister for the Interior and Health placed αMT to their lists of controlled substances (List B).[57]
Finland
AMT, alfa-methyltryptamine, is a controlled drug in Finland.[60]
Germany
αMT is listed under the Narcotics Act in schedule 1 (narcotics not eligible for trade and medical prescriptions) in Germany.[57]
Hungary
αMT was controlled on the Schedule C list in Hungary in 2013.[57]
Lithuania
In Lithuania (2012), αMT is controlled as a tryptamine derivative put under control in the 1st list of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances which use is prohibited for medical purposes.[57]
Slovakia
αMT was placed in 2013 on the List of Hazardous Substances in Annex, § 2 in Slovakia.[57]
Slovenia
αMT appeared on the Decree on Classification of Illicit Drugs in Slovenia (2013).[57]
αMT was made illegal in the United Kingdom as of 7 January 2015, along with 5-MeO-DALT.[63]
This was following the events of 10 June 2014 when the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommended that αMT be scheduled as a class A drug by updating the blanket ban clause on tryptamines.[64]
United States
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) placed αMT temporarily in schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) on April 4, 2003, pursuant to the temporary scheduling provisions of the CSA (68 FR16427). On September 29, 2004, αMT was permanently controlled as a schedule I substance under the CSA (69FR 58050).[65]
^MAOI potency was comparable at 7μM/kg, equivalent to 1.5mg/kg of Harmaline and 1.2mg/kg of αMT. At 70μM/kg αMT was a much less effective MAOI than harmaline.[28]
^ abcdefghijklmnBoland DM, Andollo W, Hime GW, Hearn WL (July–August 2005). "Fatality due to acute alpha-methyltryptamine intoxication". Journal of Analytical Toxicology. 29 (5): 394–397. doi:10.1093/jat/29.5.394. PMID16105268. α-Methyltryptamine (AMT) is a synthetic drug of the tryptamine family. It is an indole analogue of amphetamine initially investigated as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union marketed AMT as an antidepressant under the name of Indopan. During the same period, Sandoz (as IT-290 and IT-403) and the Upjohn Company (as [U-14,164E]) studied AMT and its commercial use as a stimulant, but found it to be of little medicinal value. Although clinical use of AMT is obsolete today, recreational use has gained popularity because of the intense hallucinogenic properties lasting up to 16 h. To illustrate recreational use of AMT in the 1960s, Alexander Shulgin, in his book TiHKAL, references the author Ken Kesey and his experiences with AMT and other hallucinogenic drugs (1).
^ abcdefghElliott SP, Brandt SD, Freeman S, Archer RP (March 2013). "AMT (3-(2-aminopropyl)indole) and 5-IT (5-(2-aminopropyl)indole): an analytical challenge and implications for forensic analysis". Drug Testing and Analysis. 5 (3): 196–202. doi:10.1002/dta.1420. PMID23042766. α-Methyltryptamine (2, 3-(2-aminopropyl)indole, AMT, α-MT, 3-IT, IT-290, IT-403, U-14, 162-E, Ro 3-0926, NSC 97069, Indopan; Figure 1), on the other hand, is a positional isomer of 5-IT that also shows long-lasting psychoactive effects in humans[1] although further studies are needed to determine the differences or similarities between both psychopharmacological profiles. Following its first synthesis in 1947,[5] the interest in AMT, and other α-alkylated tryptamines, began to develop in the late 1950s when it was discovered that some of these analogues also displayed monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibiting properties.[6,7] [...]
^ abcdefgAraújo AM, Carvalho F, Bastos Md, Guedes de Pinho P, Carvalho M (August 2015). "The hallucinogenic world of tryptamines: an updated review". Archives of Toxicology. 89 (8): 1151–1173. doi:10.1007/s00204-015-1513-x. PMID25877327.
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^Snyder HR, Katz L (December 1947). "The alkylation of aliphatic nitro compounds with gramine; a new synthesis of derivatives of tryptamine". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 69 (12): 3140–3142. doi:10.1021/ja01204a061. PMID18919717.
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^US Patent 3296072, Szmuszkovicz J, "Method of Treating Mental Depression", published 1967-01-03, assigned to Upjohn Co.
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