A Piece of Psychedelic History
N,N-DIISOPROPYLTRYPTAMINE (DIPT) AND 5-METHOXY-N,N-DIISOPROPYLTRYPTAMINE (5-MEO-DIPT). TWO ORALLY ACTIVE TRYPTAMINE ANALOGS WITH CNS ACTIVITY
At the bottom of this article is the original paper titled (abbrv.) DIPT and 5-MEO-DIPT. Two Orally Active Tryptamine Analogs with CNS Activity. Published in Communications in Psychopharmacology by ALEXANDER SHULGIN 4, 1980.
I cannot recall the exact circumstances of why this was conjured into my life, I may have been talking with my then girlfriend about about orally active tryptamine products, or had brought it up in a public sphere thinking it was one particular molecule i thought was 5-Meo-DMT, and corrected by my colleague that it was in fact DIPT, and maybe it was at that point i brought it up to my girlfriend, and she had somehow known exactly what I was talking about?
All I know for certain is that I texted my old old lady:
"I found the original a research by Shulgin in the Purdue archive describing DIPT for the first time!
To which she simply replied, "That’s so cool!"
Well... Heres why it is so cool.
Shulgin and JD - Intersecting Orbits
It started when I began communicating with the archivist at Purdue and we exchanged the emails attached at the end of this post. The last one being months apart from my second correspondence with her, is what inspired me to bring the transcription here simply to detail the historical trace that spawned the creation of this here blog. I have always felt very connected to Shulgin. Not just because his death day and my birthday overlap (June 2nd) but because of the smallest world we live upon, which made itself known to me when reading his book for the first time, it taught me so much about Love, and it taught me so much about the feminine consciousness, as the late and great Anne Shulgin actually wrote most of it, and sub-titled it so aptly, A Chemical Love Story, describing her falling in love with Shulgin, and her entrance into psychedelic reality.
But before even that, it was the introduction to the book that firstly spoke to the aspiring chemist in me. Dr David Nichols a medicinal chemist who wrote the intro to PIHKAL; A Chemical Love Story, that I had actually brought up to my then chemistry teacher at NMU as I was trying to explain myself and the origin for my enquiries during lecture... and well, Ill let the exchange speak for itself, here is the conversation I had wit my teacher.
The Small-World Revelation
March 21st 2022
JD > And of course I have been reading alexander shulgins and his wifes bookssporadically. And there was the ayachausa neuroscientist the other day at the club who was really inspiring. But I really identify with whoever even wrote the introduction to Shulgins book, some medicinal chemist, David Nichols? He says that these drugs show us something within ourselves that is already within us but we don’t have conscious ability to access, the compounds just guide us there. But I would love to explore what ever else information these unique compounds can impart us with so im definitely looking more at these ‘improved’ or natural analogous molecules…
Dr. Cinelli > Small world story: Dave Nichols and I are old friends! I went to Purdue for my Ph.D. and Dr. Nichols was on my Ph.D. advisory committee. I have known him for probably 16(ish) years now, took several of his classes, and many of his former students are friends (or collaborators) of mine. He is retired now, but he is a wonderful mentor and a very, very nice man, and he knew both Sasha and Ann Shulgin well. Most of what the Nichols lab (two floors up from my graduate lab!) did was understanding the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and their analogues. I believe he coined the term "entactogen", as in, a substance that enhances sensations of affection, connection, touch (think MDMA and its ilk). Obviously, I can't speak for him, but I believe Dr. N viewed a lot of his work as a double-edged sword, as in, it revealed a lot about the brain and yielded potential therapies, but it also caused a lot of harm, as people were illicitly experimenting with "research chemicals" that were unsafe (hence my general wariness around reacreational experimentation).
So you see, David taught at Purdue, my teacher went to Purdue, David taught my teacher at Purdue! My teacher is teaching me! Im asking about David… ole ouroboros in the house.
David Nichols MasterClass on Psychedelics
Needless to say, both Nichols and Shulgin are absolutely incredible chemists and intensely inspiring, and of course my initial interest was compounded on the discovery of the interconnectedness of my teachers, to my idols. After learning of this small world connection, I petitioned vigorously the Medicinal Plant Chemistry club President and outstanding close friend, Jacob C., to reach out to Nichols and invite him to the club to give a lecture on damn well whatever he felt called to do. After much communication and subsequent advertising to students, we acquired a 1 on ~20 discourse in Nichols subject matter expertise, Entactogens, and peripherally related material, including and not limited to:
- his education upbringing and childhood experiments
- famous syntheses including his production of LSD for Rick Strassman
- Pharmacological analysis of a litany of Shulgins novel products
- Synthesizes for Roland Griffiths and Charles Grob at Johns Hopkins and UCLA respectively, leading their research in psilocybin therapy.
- His work on tryptamine derivatives, fluorinated psychedelics, 5-HT2A receptor function elucidation
- Phenethylamines (mescaline derivatives) (e.g. the 2C family 2c-B 2c-I etc).
Attached here you may find view the complete live recorded lecture Nichols brought to our Medicinal Plant Chemist students, and now extended community
Through his rigorous open minded application of science and chemistry to psychedelics, his legacy truly laid the groundwork for the modern renaissance of psychedelic research as he damn-near single handedly pioneered as an ethical psychedelic advocate in the scientific institution, legitimizing the use of psychedelics in clinical research for medicine and the study of consciousness for years to come. Much of which research our western world is only just now (2024) beginning to see the fruits from due to the psychedelic dark ages (prohibition) that Nichols, Shulgin, Strassman and many others were operating under.
The Historical Piece
So with all this in mind, I'm just sharing a very cool piece of history, a part of history of which there is a LOT more therapeutic, medicinal, enlightening, and dare I say, civilization saving knowledge to appreciated, realized and actualized.
And also, as stated at the beginning, here is the transcript between me and the Purdue archivist, leading to the discover of the below historical manuscript, as it is a rabbit-hole of even more psychedelic wisdom for you to explore at our leisure
New Request
Request for Shulgin, Alexander T. and Michael F. Carter. "N,N-Diisopropyltryptamine (DIPT) and 5-Methoxy-N,N-Diisopropyltryptamine (5-MEO-DIPT). Two Orally Active Tryptamine Analogs with CNS Activity." Communications in Psychopharmacology 4, 1980
Hi Nicholas,
Thank you for reaching out to Purdue University's Archives and Special Collections. Attached to this email is a scan of the document that you requested. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or additional scan requests.
Best,
Camryn
Graduate Assistant
Purdue University Archives and Special Collections
Followed shortly by the Archivist:
Hi Nicholas,
Stephanie here, who oversees the Psychoactive Substances Research Collection.
If you would like assistance in navigating any other resources available in the Psychoactive Substances Research Collection, I am happy to help. If you are able to provide any information about your research project or background, that is always so very much appreciated (for statistical and annual reporting purposes).
Hope that article will be illuminating !
My best regards,
Stephanie
Stephanie Schmitz
Betsy Gordon Archivist for Psychoactive Substances Research
Purdue University Archives and Special Collections
(765) 494-2904 | sschmit@purdue.edu
http://collections.lib.purdue.edu/psychoactive/
+ - ~ Support the Psychoactive Substances Research Collection ~ - +
My reply:
Hi Stephanie! I am a medicinal plant chemist, I work for a private analytical lab. I also love literature and shulgin and science and psychadelics and all things medicinal and plant and chemistry. I think it’s very cool to see the original copy. It’s a like a testament, a piece of history. I appreciate the novelty. I may or may not be requesting more in the future. What is your favorite part about psychoactive substance research? I’m curious as to what you know! You must have see a lot of arcane stuff in archives… Respectfully
5 months after this email, Stephanie replied:
Hi Nicholas,
I am cleaning up my queue of reference questions in our automated system, and have just come across your thoughtful reply from several months ago. Thank you for providing some more context about your inquiry, that is so much appreciated.
The pieces of history here in the Psychoactive Collection are indeed rich - all of them each in their own way. To answer your question - my favorite part of psychoactive substances research? That's a tough one. However, what first comes to mind is the raw and candid honesty that sometimes makes its way to manuscript material as xione processes their life before or after an impactful psychedelic experience. The experience reports in the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center LSD Professional Training Program Study Files are illustrative of this. And they are digitized (among some other collections), in case you care to take a peek:
https://collections.lib.purdue.edu/psychoactive/digital.php
I thank you for your interest in the materials here, and hope you will check on our website from time to time. Materials are continuously being added and we are doing are best to make them easily accessible.
My best regards,
Stephanie Schmitz
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Anyways thats my story folks. If youve made it this far into JDs Pharma library, i truly appreciate and applaud you and your thirst for the knowledge of conscousness.
Have a Grand Existence!
