This reaction makes roughly 3 moles of methylamine dissolved in methanol.
Nitromethane model airplane fuel to methylamine, one needs a 2 or 3 necked flask, a good condenser, and a sep funnel.
The flask should be at least 2000 ml in capacity. Into the flask put about 150g of heavy duty aluminum foil cut up into one inch squares. Next, measure out enough
model fuel so that one has roughly 160 ml of nitromethane. If it is 10% nitromethane, that would mean
using roughly 1600 ml of fuel. 20% nitromethane fuel would require the use of half that amount, and stronger fuels would require that even less be used, but they would have to be diluted with methanol to be used. To the fuel mixture, now add 55 ml of water. This is very important to getting the reaction to
turn out correctly, as some water is needed to get the activated aluminum to work. Stir or shake the fuel
mixture to get the water evenly dissolved in. Now add j ust enough of the model fuel mixture to the Ilask to just barely cover up the aluminum foil. Finally add 1/2 gram of mercuric chloride to the flask and swirl to get it spread around.
The aluminum foil will begin to amalgamate pretty soon, so quickly attach the condenser to one neck
of the flask and the sep funnel or dropping funnel to the other. If there is a third neck on the flask. stopper
it. Swirl the flask every couple of minutes to mix the ingredients, and begin a flow of cold water through the condenser. It should be as cold as possible.The contents of the flask will begin to get hot as the reaction kicks in. One should be noting significant heating within 15 minutes. It is likely to boil on its own due to the heat of reaction. If a significant
heating of the solution isn't noticed within 20 minutes. immerse the flask in boiling hot water to kick start.
As the initial reaction kicks in is that some methylamine gas is escaping out the top of the condenser. You neither want to breathe in this stuff, nor lose it to the air. Simply attach some tubing to the top of the condenser and lead it into some dilute hydrochloric acid solution. There the bubbles of methylamine gas will be caught as methylamine hydrochloride. You can later evaporate that solution down and obtain some extra methylamine.
When the initial rush of the reaction has subsided, take some of the remaining model fuel-water mixtur, pour it into the sep funnel attached to the flask. Drip in this solution at such a rate that the boiling of the solution stays managable. Continue adding this solution until all of the original solution you have measured out has been added. This will take at least half an hour. During the course of the reaction, continue to swirl the flask every couple of minutes to keep the aluminum from getting stuck on the
Bottom of the flask and covered with goo. In about an hour, the reaction will begin to slow. When it has stopped boiling, take a pipette and
Withdraw about 10ml of the reaction mixture. Squirt it into a beaker half filled with water. Next, take some hardware store 30% hydrochloric acid, and dilute it with two volumes of water. Mix well, then
Using a pipette, measure out again about 10 ml of the acid solution and with stirring slowly add the acid
to the methylamine reaction mixture until a pH of about 7 is reached. A pH meter is very handy for tracking this reaction. Note how much acid was needed to react with the methylamine. If 10%
nitromethane fuel was used, the amount of acid required should be 5 to 7 ml. If 20% nitromethane was
used, the amount of acid required would be double that. If the amount of acid required is significantly
less. then the reaction isn't complete, and the mixture should be boiled for another hour or so. I f this still
doesn't bring the reaction to completion add about 200 ml of 50% sodium hydroxide to the reaction
mixture, and let it boil some more. This last resort shouldn't be done routinely because it makes your
product less suitable for direct use in the next stage of the reaction, which is cooking meth or X from the
methylamine just made. One might well have to distill a mixture to which sodium hydroxide has been
added.
This reaction has just made roughly
3 moles of methylamine dissolved in methanol. That is about the right amount to use to convert one mole of the phenylactone to meth or X.
One mole of phenylacetone is roughly 135 ml
And one mole of m-d phenylacetone is around 160 ml. We now proceed to the next stage, which is using this methylamine to make the product.
Nitromethane model airplane fuel to methylamine, one needs a 2 or 3 necked flask, a good condenser, and a sep funnel.
The flask should be at least 2000 ml in capacity. Into the flask put about 150g of heavy duty aluminum foil cut up into one inch squares. Next, measure out enough
model fuel so that one has roughly 160 ml of nitromethane. If it is 10% nitromethane, that would mean
using roughly 1600 ml of fuel. 20% nitromethane fuel would require the use of half that amount, and stronger fuels would require that even less be used, but they would have to be diluted with methanol to be used. To the fuel mixture, now add 55 ml of water. This is very important to getting the reaction to
turn out correctly, as some water is needed to get the activated aluminum to work. Stir or shake the fuel
mixture to get the water evenly dissolved in. Now add j ust enough of the model fuel mixture to the Ilask to just barely cover up the aluminum foil. Finally add 1/2 gram of mercuric chloride to the flask and swirl to get it spread around.
The aluminum foil will begin to amalgamate pretty soon, so quickly attach the condenser to one neck
of the flask and the sep funnel or dropping funnel to the other. If there is a third neck on the flask. stopper
it. Swirl the flask every couple of minutes to mix the ingredients, and begin a flow of cold water through the condenser. It should be as cold as possible.The contents of the flask will begin to get hot as the reaction kicks in. One should be noting significant heating within 15 minutes. It is likely to boil on its own due to the heat of reaction. If a significant
heating of the solution isn't noticed within 20 minutes. immerse the flask in boiling hot water to kick start.
As the initial reaction kicks in is that some methylamine gas is escaping out the top of the condenser. You neither want to breathe in this stuff, nor lose it to the air. Simply attach some tubing to the top of the condenser and lead it into some dilute hydrochloric acid solution. There the bubbles of methylamine gas will be caught as methylamine hydrochloride. You can later evaporate that solution down and obtain some extra methylamine.
When the initial rush of the reaction has subsided, take some of the remaining model fuel-water mixtur, pour it into the sep funnel attached to the flask. Drip in this solution at such a rate that the boiling of the solution stays managable. Continue adding this solution until all of the original solution you have measured out has been added. This will take at least half an hour. During the course of the reaction, continue to swirl the flask every couple of minutes to keep the aluminum from getting stuck on the
Bottom of the flask and covered with goo. In about an hour, the reaction will begin to slow. When it has stopped boiling, take a pipette and
Withdraw about 10ml of the reaction mixture. Squirt it into a beaker half filled with water. Next, take some hardware store 30% hydrochloric acid, and dilute it with two volumes of water. Mix well, then
Using a pipette, measure out again about 10 ml of the acid solution and with stirring slowly add the acid
to the methylamine reaction mixture until a pH of about 7 is reached. A pH meter is very handy for tracking this reaction. Note how much acid was needed to react with the methylamine. If 10%
nitromethane fuel was used, the amount of acid required should be 5 to 7 ml. If 20% nitromethane was
used, the amount of acid required would be double that. If the amount of acid required is significantly
less. then the reaction isn't complete, and the mixture should be boiled for another hour or so. I f this still
doesn't bring the reaction to completion add about 200 ml of 50% sodium hydroxide to the reaction
mixture, and let it boil some more. This last resort shouldn't be done routinely because it makes your
product less suitable for direct use in the next stage of the reaction, which is cooking meth or X from the
methylamine just made. One might well have to distill a mixture to which sodium hydroxide has been
added.
This reaction has just made roughly
3 moles of methylamine dissolved in methanol. That is about the right amount to use to convert one mole of the phenylactone to meth or X.
One mole of phenylacetone is roughly 135 ml
And one mole of m-d phenylacetone is around 160 ml. We now proceed to the next stage, which is using this methylamine to make the product.