pchem

Ok, let me preface this by saying I do not intend to actually carry out any synthesis of any substance. I’m a biochemistry student and I’m extremely interested in the “dark” chemistry. I’ve only taken chem 1 & chem 2 so I wouldn’t even have the knowledge or experience to actually synthesize anything. In addition, being a college student, I definitely couldn’t afford the materials to do this. I’m genuinely interested in the science behind this and I can’t find a clear answer online. This information will also serve as part of my extra credit assignment! So any information would be great Ok now onto the question: So, with my limited knowledge of organic/synthetic chemistry, I’m curious if you could actually use a substance such as Adderall to make meth. I understand that Adderall is one methyl group away from being meth. One would think it would be easy to just slap on a methyl group. Apparently NOT. Here’s what I’ve come up with: 1.) Assuming that I’m using Adderall and not pure amphetamine, I decided to isolate the amphetamine from the other non-active ingredients, such as lactose, in the pill. I figured out that if you were to crush up the pill, you could dissolve it in an ethanol solution and you could filter the pure amphetamine out using a basic filter. 2.) Now that I have pure amphetamine, I need to figure out how to add a methyl group. Obviously, I’m not aware of the appropriate form of methylation for this specific purpose. I know that Dimethyl Sulfate is used for methylation but I have no idea how you would use that in practice or how it would interact with the chemical. Please help!