PiHKAL

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PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story
Pihkal.jpg
Cover of PiHKAL, 1st ed.
Author Alexander and Ann Shulgin
Subject Pharmacology, Autobiography, Psychoactive drugs
Publisher Transform Press
Publication date
1991
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePaperback
ISBN 0-9630096-0-5
OCLC 269100404
Followed by TiHKAL (1997) 

PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story, also known as Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved, is a book by Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin published in 1991. [1] [2] [3] The subject of the work is psychoactive phenethylamine chemical derivatives, notably those that act as psychedelics and/or entactogens. [2] [3] The book has two halves, with the second part containing detailed entries on 179 phenethylamines. [2] [3] PiHKAL was followed by TiHKAL: The Continuation (Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved) (1997). [4] [5]

Contents

Content

The book is arranged into two parts, the first part being a fictionalized autobiography of the couple and the second part describing 179 different psychedelic compounds (most of which Shulgin discovered himself), including detailed synthesis instructions, bioassays, doses, durations, and other commentary. [2] [3]

The second part was made freely available by Shulgin on Erowid while the first part is available only in the printed text. While the reactions described are beyond the ability of people with a basic chemistry education, some tend to emphasize techniques that do not require difficult-to-obtain chemicals. [3] Notable among these are the use of mercury-aluminium amalgam (an unusual but easy to obtain reagent) as a reducing agent and detailed suggestions on legal plant sources of important drug precursors such as safrole. [3]

Response

Through PiHKAL (and later TiHKAL ), Shulgin sought to ensure that his discoveries would escape the limits of professional research labs and find their way to the public, a goal consistent with his stated beliefs that psychedelic drugs can be valuable tools for self-exploration. The MDMA ("ecstasy") synthesis published in PiHKAL remains one of the most common clandestine methods of its manufacture to this day. Many countries have banned the major substances for which this book gives directions for synthesis, such as 2C-B, 2C-T-2, and 2C-T-7. [6]

In 1994, two years after PiHKAL was published, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided Shulgin's laboratory and requested that he surrender his DEA license. Richard Meyer, spokesman for DEA's San Francisco Field Division, has stated in reference to PiHKAL "It is our opinion that those books are pretty much cookbooks on how to make illegal drugs. Agents tell me that in clandestine labs that they have raided, they have found copies of those books", suggesting that the publication of PiHKAL and the termination of Shulgin's license may have been related. [7]

Notable compounds

Some compounds in PiHKAL, like mescaline, DOM, 2C-B, MDA, and MDMA, are widely known and/or used psychedelics and/or entactogens. [3]

Essential amphetamines

The "Essential Amphetamines" are what Shulgin describes as ten amphetamines that differ from natural products such as safrole or myristicin by an amine group (PiHKAL Entry #157 TMA). [3] The list consists of: [3]

Not all of these chemicals are bioassayed in PiHKAL; some are merely mentioned. [3]

Magical half-dozen

The so-called "magical half-dozen" refers to Shulgin's self-rated most important phenethylamine compounds, all of which except mescaline he developed and synthesized himself. [3] They are found within the first book of PiHKAL, and are as follows: [3]

All six are now Schedule I controlled substances in the United States. [8]

Ten classic ladies

Shulgin systematically replaced the 10 unique hydrogen atoms in DOM with methyl groups in order to explore its activity and named these compounds the 10 classic ladies. [9] [3] The resulting compounds were as follows: [9] [3]

As with the essential amphetamines, not all of these compounds have been bioassayed. [3]

Some additional "ladies" have also since been named, including Julia (DOTMA; 3,6-dimethyl-DOM), Jelena (2C-IP), and Selene (2C-P). [9] [10]

Phenethylamines listed

See also

References

  1. ↑ Johnson, C. (2018). Magic Medicine: A Trip Through the Intoxicating History and Modern-Day Use of Psychedelic Plants and Substances. Fair Winds Press. pp. 22–24. ISBN   978-1-63159-428-1 . Retrieved January 30, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Walker, Scott R.; Pullella, Glenn A.; Piggott, Matthew J.; Duggan, Peter J. (July 17, 2023). "Introduction to the chemistry and pharmacology of psychedelic drugs". Australian Journal of Chemistry. 76 (5): 236–257. doi: 10.1071/CH23050 . ISSN   0004-9425 . Retrieved November 1, 2025. Prior to its use being criminalised, mescaline (4) also played a significant role in the development of the synthetic phenethylamines by inspiring the investigations of medicinal chemist Alexander Shulgin. Shulgin synthesised at least 179 phenethylamines, which he then tested either alone on himself or along with his wife and close friends, referred to as the 'research group'.[85 ] This work established some structure–psychoactivity relationships for phenethylamines in humans and resulted in the discovery of a number of substituted phenethylamines that remain important, such as the 'classic hallucinogens' DOM (2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine; 40) and 2C-B (2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenethylamine; 44, Fig. 10), and entactogens MDEA (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine; 38) and MBDB (N-methyl-1-(benzodioxol-5-yl)butan-2-amine; 36, Fig. 9). Alexander (Sasha) and Ann Shulgin's book Phenethylamines I have known and loved (PiHKAL)[85] is a seminal work that contains frank and detailed descriptions of the subjective effects of phenethylamines and remains extremely valuable to current phenethylamine research.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Alexander T. Shulgin; Ann Shulgin (1991). PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story (1st ed.). Berkeley, CA: Transform Press. ISBN   978-0-9630096-0-9. OCLC   25627628.
  4. ↑ Ben Sessa (2015). "Continuing History of Psychedelics in Medical Practices: The Renaissance of Ps chedelic Medical Research". In Ellens, J.H.; D, T.B.R.P. (eds.). The Psychedelic Policy Quagmire: Health, Law, Freedom, and Society. Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 50. ISBN   979-8-216-13356-8 . Retrieved January 30, 2025.
  5. ↑ Alexander T. Shulgin; Ann Shulgin (1997). TiHKAL: The Continuation (1st ed.). Berkeley, CA: Transform Press. ISBN   978-0-9630096-9-2. OCLC   38503252 . Retrieved January 30, 2025.
  6. ↑ Dean BV, Stellpflug SJ, Burnett AM, Engebretsen KM (June 2013). "2C or not 2C: phenethylamine designer drug review". J Med Toxicol. 9 (2): 172–178. doi:10.1007/s13181-013-0295-x. PMC   3657019 . PMID   23494844.
  7. ↑ Bennett, Drake (January 30, 2005). "Dr. Ecstasy". New York Times Magazine.
  8. ↑ "Controlled Substances" (PDF). Drug Enforcement Administration . February 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 17, 2016. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Ger A, Ger D. "Triple Goddess of the Night". British Neuroscience Association Bulletin. 63: 28–30.
  10. ↑ Trachsel D, Lehmann D, Enzensperger C (2013). Phenethylamine: von der Struktur zur Funktion [Phenethylamines: From Structure to Function]. Nachtschatten-Science (in German) (1 ed.). Solothurn: Nachtschatten-Verlag. ISBN   978-3-03788-700-4. OCLC   858805226. Archived from the original on August 21, 2025.
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