AdolescentsMedicinal Chemistry & Drug DevelopmentInterpersonal Functioning & Social ConnectednessLSDMDMAMescalinePsilocybin

Dark Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine

This review (2018) examines the synthesis of MDMA as well as its pharmacology, metabolism, adverse effects, and potential use in medicine.

Authors

  • Lee Edmunds Dunlap

Published

ACS Chemical Neuroscience
meta Study

Abstract

Better known as “ecstasy”, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a small molecule that has played a prominent role in defining the ethos of today’s teenagers and young adults, much like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) did in the 1960s. Though MDMA possesses structural similarities to compounds like amphetamine and mescaline, it produces subjective effects that are unlike any of the classical psychostimulants or hallucinogens and is one of the few compounds capable of reliably producing prosocial behavioral states. As a result, MDMA has captured the attention of recreational users, the media, artists, psychiatrists, and neuropharmacologists alike. Here, we detail the synthesis of MDMA as well as its pharmacology, metabolism, adverse effects, and potential use in medicine. Finally, we discuss its history and why it is perhaps the most important compound for the future of psychedelic science-having the potential to either facilitate new psychedelic research initiatives, or to usher in a second Dark Age for the field.

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Research Summary of 'Dark Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine'

Introduction

Dunlap and colleagues introduce 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; “ecstasy”, “molly”) as a small, lipophilic phenethylamine with a single stereocentre that readily crosses the blood–brain barrier. Although chemically related to amphetamines and some phenethylamine hallucinogens, MDMA produces a distinct interoceptive and prosocial state that led to its classification as an entactogen (or, sometimes, an empathogen). The introduction summarises key subjective effects in humans (context-dependent feelings of closeness, reduced social inhibition, positive mood and increased alertness after 75–150 mg), notes relatively weak hallucinogenic effects, and highlights sex differences (stronger perceptual effects in females).

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Study Details

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