In his book PiHKAL (Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved) and other publications, Alexander Shulgin lists desoxy's dose as 40 to 120mg orally and its duration as 6 to 8hours.[1][3][4][5] It is approximately 4-fold more potent than mescaline, which has a listed dose range of 178 to 356mg orally as the hydrochloridesalt.[3][4][1]
In one report, it was said that desoxy produced a "quite fascinating experience", while in another report, it was said that "there was none of the colorful psychedelic world of mescaline" but that this "might be just around the corner", "perhaps with a larger dose", with the assessed dose of 100mg orally being a "comfortable in-between level".[1] Higher doses than 100mg orally were not tested.[1] According to Shulgin, removal of an oxygenatom, as with desoxy, can radically change the nature of the effects compared to mescaline.[1] In another publication, Shulgin stated that desoxy had an "activity that is difficult to classify".[4]
Desoxy acts as a serotonin5-HT2 receptoragonist, including of the serotonin 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B, and 5-HT2C receptors.[6][7] Its activity values (EC50Tooltip half-maximal effective concentration (EmaxTooltip maximal efficacy)) were 513–550nM (83–98%) at the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor, 219nM (100%) at the serotonin 5-HT2B receptor, and 10.5nM (118%) at the serotonin 5-HT2C receptor.[6] The drug has been found to possess 12-fold higher affinity for the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor than mescaline (K0.5 = 67nM and 801nM, respectively).[7] However, it had similar activationalpotency though higher efficacy at the receptor compared to mescaline.[6] On the other hand, desoxy showed much greater activational potency at the serotonin 5-HT2B and 5-HT2C receptors than mescaline.[6]
Desoxy produces the head-twitch response, a behavioral proxy of psychedelic effects, in rodents.[6] It was about 4.4-fold more potent than mescaline in this assay and produced about 1.7-fold greater magnitude of maximal head twitches in comparison.[6]
Daniel Trachsel has expressed great interest in scaline-related compounds of the formula 4-X-3,5-DMPEA without an oxygenatom at the 4 position like desoxy (4-methylmescaline; 4-Me-3,5-DMPEA) and 4-bromomescaline (4-Br-3,5-DMPEA).[5] He has described a variety of theoretical compounds of this class that could be explored, such as desoxyescaline (DE; 4-ethylmescaline; 4-Et-3,5-DMPEA), desoxytrifluoromescaline (DTFM; 4-trifluoromethylmescaline; 4-TFM-3,5-DMPEA), desoxytrifluoroescaline (DTFE; 4-trifluoroethylmescaline; 4-TFE-3,5-TMPEA), desoxyproscaline (DPR; 4-propylmescaline; 4-Pr-3,5-TMPEA), desoxyallylescaline (DAL; 4-allylmescaline; 4-AL-3,5-TMPEA), and desoxymethallylescaline (DMAL; 4-methallylmescaline; 4-MeAL-3,5-TMPEA), among others.[5]
History
Desoxy was first described in the scientific literature by F. Benington and colleagues in 1960.[2][8] Subsequently, it was described in greater detail by Alexander Shulgin in his book PiHKAL (Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved) in 1991 and other publications.[1][2]
Desoxy is not an explicitly controlled substance in the United States as of 2011.[2] However, in 1970, the Controlled Substances Act placed mescaline into Schedule I in the United States. It is similarly controlled in other nations. Depending on whether or not it is intended for human consumption, 4-desoxymescaline could be considered an analogue of mescaline, under the Federal Analogue Act and similar bills in other countries, making it illegal to manufacture, buy, possess, or distribute without a DEA or related license. In addition, DESOXY is a positional isomer of 2C-D, which makes it a Schedule I controlled substance in the United States.
123Trachsel D, Lehmann D, Enzensperger C (2013). Phenethylamine: von der Struktur zur Funktion[Phenethylamines: From Structure to Function]. Nachtschatten-Science (in German) (1ed.). Solothurn: Nachtschatten-Verlag. pp.740–744. ISBN978-3-03788-700-4. OCLC858805226. Archived from the original on 21 August 2025. [Translated:] Compounds 154-155 contain a halogen atom instead of the 4-alkyloxy group found in many known mescaline analogues. 4-BR (154) was tested by Nichols and Dyer for the correlation between lipophilicity and 5-HT agonist activity [103]. The 3C analogue 4-BR-3,5-DMA (155) was described by Shulgin for its activity in humans [19]; at a dose of 4-10 mg, no significant effects were observed (a certain, undefined effect was present for 8-12 h), but there were indications of analgesic effects. However, these could not be confirmed in an animal study [19]. [...] Shulgin investigated the effects of desoxymescaline (DESOXY; 164) in humans [19]. He mentions a dosage of 40-120 mg and a duration of action of 6-8 hours. The psychedelic color display of mescaline (1) does not appear to be present; however, the imagery induced by music with closed eyes was clearly evident. The initial results from DESOXY (164) suggest that further interesting substances of this type are possible. What would other homo-scalines without the oxygen in the 4-position show in vitro and in vivo? The substance desoxyescalin (DE; 166) is, at least sterically speaking, closer to mescaline (1) than DESOXY (164). Many other potentially interesting deoxy compounds are conceivable, such as 167-174, and it would be quite exciting to have the in vitro and in vivo data at hand to learn more about the properties of the 3,4,5-trisubstituted phenylalkylamines. Here, too, 3C analogs would be conceivable, a currently completely unexplored class. What would happen if one of the two MeO groups in DESOXY (164) or in 166-174 were replaced by an EtO, MeS, or EtS substituent? This results in countless theoretical combinations!
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