Abstract
THE establishment of trimethoxyamphetamine (Ib, TMA) 
as being of greater psychotropic potency than either α-ethyl mescaline (Ic) (ref. 1) or mescaline itself (Ia) (ref. 2) has led to the examination of analogues which retain the three carbon chain but vary in other areas of the molecule. The presence of elemicin (3,4,5-trimethoxy allylbenzene) in the aromatic ether fraction of oil of nutmeg3, and the proposal of a possible in vivo mechanism for its conversion to TMA (ref. 4) have afforded an explanation of the psychotropic action5 of nutmeg. The substance myristicin (II) is the major component of this fraction, and if it were to undergo a transformation parallel to that proposed for elemicin, a second amphetamine, 3-methoxy-4 5-methylenedioxy amphetamine (MMDA, IVa), would result.
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References
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SHULGIN, A. 3-Methoxy-4 5-methylenedioxy Amphetamine, a New Psychotomimetic Agent. Nature 201, 1120–1121 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/2011120a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2011120a0
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