N,N-Dimethyl-5-methoxytryptamine

Description

Obtained from Desmodium pulchellum Benth ex Baker, and also from Phalaris tuberosa L., this indole alkaloid is best crystallized from Et20-light petroleum when it yields colourless rectangular plates. It is optically inactive and the ultraviolet spectrum has absorption maxima at 224, 277 and 296 mil. It forms a crystalline picrate as orange-yellow needles, m.p. 176-7°C and the methiodide, m.p. 181-2°C.

Chemical properties

off-white to slightly yellow crystalline powder

The Uses of N,N-Dimethyl-5-methoxytryptamine

Hallucinogen; non-selective serotonin receptor agonist

The Uses of N,N-Dimethyl-5-methoxytryptamine

5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine is a tryptamine derivative and a full potent agonist used in the study of mammalian hormones to stimukate cAMP formation by colliculi neurons and mediate serotoninergic receptors. It is a natural hallucinogen component of Ayahuasca, an Amazonian beverage and is currently being made as a designer drug.

Definition

ChEBI: A tryptamine alkaloid that is N,N-dimethyltryptamine substituted by a methoxy group at position 5.

References

Culvenor, Brown, Smith., Austral. J. Chern., 17, 1301 (1964)
Ghosal, Mukherjee., Chern. Ind., 793 (1965)
Ghosal, Mukherjee., J. Org. Chern., 31, 2284 (1966)