Alexander Shulgin
Encyclopedia
Alexander "Sasha" Theodore Shulgin (born June 17, 1925) is an American pharmacologist, chemist
, artist
, and drug
developer.
Shulgin is credited with the popularization of MDMA
, commonly known as ecstasy, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially for psychopharmaceutical
use and the treatment of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder
. In subsequent years, Shulgin discovered, synthesized, and bioassay
ed over 230 psychoactive compounds. In 1991 and 1997, he and his wife Ann Shulgin
authored the books PiHKAL
and TiHKAL
on the topic of psychoactive drugs. Shulgin discovered many noteworthy phenethylamines including the 2C* family of which 2C-T-2
, 2C-T-7
, 2C-E
, 2C-I
, and 2C-B
are most well known. Additionally, Shulgin performed seminal work into the descriptive synthesis of compounds based on the organic compound tryptamine
.
, California
to Russian
parents, Theodore Stevens Shulgin (1893–1978) and Henrietta D. Shulgin (1888–1960). Both Theodore and Henrietta were public school teachers in Alameda County.
Shulgin began studying organic chemistry
as a Harvard University
scholarship student. In 1943, at the age of 19, he dropped out of school, and joined the U.S. Navy, where he eventually became interested in pharmacology
. After serving in the Navy (veteran of World War II), he returned to Berkeley, California, and in 1954 earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry
from the University of California, Berkeley
. Through the late 1950s, Shulgin completed post-doctoral work in the fields of psychiatry
and pharmacology at University of California, San Francisco
. After working at Bio-Rad Laboratories
as a research director for a brief period, he began work at Dow Chemical Company
as a senior research chemist.
It was at this time that he had a series of psychedelic
experiences that helped to shape his further goals and research, beginning with an experience with mescaline
.
He would later write that everything he saw and thought "had been brought about by a fraction of a gram of a white solid, but that in no way whatsoever could it be argued that these memories had been contained within the white solid ... I understood that our entire universe is contained in the mind and the spirit. We may choose not to find access to it, we may even deny its existence, but it is indeed there inside us, and there are chemicals that can catalyze its availability."
Shulgin's professional activities continued to lean in the direction of psychopharmacology
, furthered by his personal experiences with psychedelics. But during this period he was unable to do much independent research. His opportunity for further research came with his development of Zectran, the first biodegradable pesticide, a highly profitable product. Dow Chemical Company, in return for Zectran's valuable patent, gave Shulgin great freedom. During this time, he created and patented drugs when Dow asked, and published findings on other drugs in journals such as Nature
and the Journal of Organic Chemistry
. Eventually, Dow Chemical requested that he no longer use their name on his publications.
In 1965, Shulgin left Dow to pursue his own interests, and became a private consultant, also frequently teaching classes in the local universities and at the San Francisco General Hospital
. Through his friend Bob Sager, head of the U.S. DEA's Western Laboratories, Shulgin formed a relationship with the DEA and began holding pharmacology seminars for the agents, supplying the DEA with samples of various compounds, and occasionally serving as an expert witness in court. He also authored a definitive law enforcement reference book on controlled substances and received several awards from the DEA.
In recent years, Shulgin has worked on a series of N-allylated tryptamine
s including 5-MeO-DALT
and 5-MeO-MALT. On April 8, 2008, at the age of 82, he underwent surgery to replace a defective aortic valve
. On November 16, 2010, Dr. Shulgin suffered a stroke. He is expected to fully recover. In December of 2010 he suffered another stroke, followed by skin-grafting surgery to save his left foot from an amputation.
license for an analytical
laboratory, which allowed him to possess and synthesize any otherwise illicit drug. Shulgin set up a chemical synthesis
laboratory in a small building behind his house, which gave him a great deal of career autonomy. Shulgin used this freedom to synthesize and test the effects of psychoactive drug
s.
In 1967, Shulgin was introduced to MDMA (ecstasy) by a graduate student in the medicinal chemistry group he advised at San Francisco State University. MDMA had been synthesized in 1912 by Merck
and patented in 1912 as a intermediate of another synthesis in order to block competitors, but was never explored in its own right. Shulgin went on to develop a new synthesis method, and in 1976, introduced the chemical to Leo Zeff
, a psychologist
from Oakland
, California
. Zeff used the substance in his practice in small doses as an aid to talk therapy. Zeff introduced the substance to hundreds of psychologists around the nation, including Ann Shulgin
, whom Alexander Shulgin met in 1979, and married in 1981.
After judicious self-experiments, Shulgin enlisted a small group of friends with whom he regularly tested his creations, starting in 1960. They developed a systematic way of ranking the effects of the various drugs, known as the Shulgin Rating Scale
, with a vocabulary to describe the visual, auditory and physical sensations. He personally tested hundreds of drugs, mainly analogues of various phenethylamine
s (family containing MDMA and mescaline
), and tryptamine
s (family containing DMT
and psilocybin
). There are a seemingly infinite number of slight chemical variations, all of which produce variations in effect—some pleasant and some unpleasant, depending on the person, substance, and situation—all of which are meticulously recorded in Shulgin's lab notebooks. Shulgin published many of these objective and subjective reports in his books and papers.
In 1994, two years after the publication of PiHKAL
, the DEA raided his lab. The agency requested that Shulgin turn over his license for violating the license's terms, and he was fined $25,000 for possession of anonymous samples sent to him for quality testing. In the 15 years preceding the publication of PiHKAL, two announced and scheduled reviews failed to find any irregularities. Richard Meyer, spokesman for DEA's San Francisco Field Division, has stated that, "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."
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, and drug
Psychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
developer.
Shulgin is credited with the popularization of MDMA
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine
MDMA is an entactogenic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of drugs. In popular culture, MDMA has become widely known as "ecstasy" , usually referring to its street pill form, although this term may also include the presence of possible adulterants...
, commonly known as ecstasy, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially for psychopharmaceutical
Psychopharmacology
Psychopharmacology is the scientific study of the actions of drugs and their effects on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior...
use and the treatment of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...
. In subsequent years, Shulgin discovered, synthesized, and bioassay
Bioassay
Bioassay , or biological standardization is a type of scientific experiment. Bioassays are typically conducted to measure the effects of a substance on a living organism and are essential in the development of new drugs and in monitoring environmental pollutants...
ed over 230 psychoactive compounds. In 1991 and 1997, he and his wife Ann Shulgin
Ann Shulgin
Ann Shulgin is an American author and the wife of chemist Alexander Shulgin.Ann Shulgin grew up in the village Opicina outside the Italian city Trieste where her father was American Consul for six years before World War II. She has worked as a lay therapist with psychedelic substances such as MDMA...
authored the books PiHKAL
PiHKAL
PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story is a book by Dr. Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin which was published in 1991. The subject of the work is psychoactive phenethylamine chemical derivatives, notably those that act as psychedelics and/or empathogen-entactogens...
and TiHKAL
TiHKAL
TiHKAL: The Continuation is a 1997 book written by Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin about a family of psychoactive drugs known as tryptamines. A sequel to PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story, TiHKAL is an acronym that stands for Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved.-Content:TiHKAL, much like its...
on the topic of psychoactive drugs. Shulgin discovered many noteworthy phenethylamines including the 2C* family of which 2C-T-2
2C-T-2
2C-T-2, or 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthiophenethylamine is a psychedelic and entactogenic phenethylamine of the 2C family. It was first synthesized in 1981 by Alexander Shulgin. The drug has structural and pharmacodynamic properties similar to the drug 2C-T-7 .-Dosage:In Alexander Shulgin's book...
, 2C-T-7
2C-T-7
2C-T-7 is a psychedelic phenethylamine of the 2C family. In his book PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story, Alexander Shulgin lists the dosage range as 10 to 30 mg. 2C-T-7 is generally taken orally, and produces psychedelic and entactogenic effects that last 8 to 15 hours...
, 2C-E
2C-E
2C-E is a psychedelic and phenethylamine of the 2C family. It was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin. 2C-E is typically found as a white crystalline powder....
, 2C-I
2C-I
2C-I or 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenethylamine is a psychedelic phenethylamine of the 2C family. It was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin. It was described in Shulgin’s book PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story. The drug is used recreationally for its psychedelic and entactogenic effects...
, and 2C-B
2C-B
2C-B or 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine is a psychedelic drug of the 2C family. It was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin in 1974. In Shulgin's book PiHKAL, the dosage range is listed as 16–24 mg. 2C-B is sold as a white powder sometimes pressed in tablets or gel caps and is referred...
are most well known. Additionally, Shulgin performed seminal work into the descriptive synthesis of compounds based on the organic compound tryptamine
Tryptamine
Tryptamine is a monoamine alkaloid found in plants, fungi, and animals. It is based around the indole ring structure, and is chemically related to the amino acid tryptophan, from which its name is derived...
.
Life and career
Shulgin was born in BerkeleyBerkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
parents, Theodore Stevens Shulgin (1893–1978) and Henrietta D. Shulgin (1888–1960). Both Theodore and Henrietta were public school teachers in Alameda County.
Shulgin began studying organic chemistry
Organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
as a Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
scholarship student. In 1943, at the age of 19, he dropped out of school, and joined the U.S. Navy, where he eventually became interested in pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
. After serving in the Navy (veteran of World War II), he returned to Berkeley, California, and in 1954 earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. Through the late 1950s, Shulgin completed post-doctoral work in the fields of psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
and pharmacology at University of California, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world...
. After working at Bio-Rad Laboratories
Bio-Rad
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. , was founded in 1952 in Berkeley, California. The company was initially engaged in the development and production of specialty chemicals used in biochemical, pharmaceutical, and other life science research applications...
as a research director for a brief period, he began work at Dow Chemical Company
Dow Chemical Company
The Dow Chemical Company is a multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. As of 2007, it is the second largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization .Dow...
as a senior research chemist.
It was at this time that he had a series of psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
experiences that helped to shape his further goals and research, beginning with an experience with mescaline
Mescaline
Mescaline or 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class used mainly as an entheogen....
.
He would later write that everything he saw and thought "had been brought about by a fraction of a gram of a white solid, but that in no way whatsoever could it be argued that these memories had been contained within the white solid ... I understood that our entire universe is contained in the mind and the spirit. We may choose not to find access to it, we may even deny its existence, but it is indeed there inside us, and there are chemicals that can catalyze its availability."
Shulgin's professional activities continued to lean in the direction of psychopharmacology
Psychopharmacology
Psychopharmacology is the scientific study of the actions of drugs and their effects on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior...
, furthered by his personal experiences with psychedelics. But during this period he was unable to do much independent research. His opportunity for further research came with his development of Zectran, the first biodegradable pesticide, a highly profitable product. Dow Chemical Company, in return for Zectran's valuable patent, gave Shulgin great freedom. During this time, he created and patented drugs when Dow asked, and published findings on other drugs in journals such as Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
and the Journal of Organic Chemistry
Journal of Organic Chemistry
The Journal of Organic Chemistry is a peer-reviewed scientific journal for original contributions of fundamental research in organic and bioorganic chemistry. It is published by the American Chemical Society. Its 2010 impact factor is 4.002....
. Eventually, Dow Chemical requested that he no longer use their name on his publications.
In 1965, Shulgin left Dow to pursue his own interests, and became a private consultant, also frequently teaching classes in the local universities and at the San Francisco General Hospital
San Francisco General Hospital
San Francisco General Hospital is the main public hospital in San Francisco, California, and the only Level I Trauma Center serving San Francisco and northern San Mateo County...
. Through his friend Bob Sager, head of the U.S. DEA's Western Laboratories, Shulgin formed a relationship with the DEA and began holding pharmacology seminars for the agents, supplying the DEA with samples of various compounds, and occasionally serving as an expert witness in court. He also authored a definitive law enforcement reference book on controlled substances and received several awards from the DEA.
In recent years, Shulgin has worked on a series of N-allylated tryptamine
Tryptamine
Tryptamine is a monoamine alkaloid found in plants, fungi, and animals. It is based around the indole ring structure, and is chemically related to the amino acid tryptophan, from which its name is derived...
s including 5-MeO-DALT
5-MeO-DALT
5-MeO-DALT or N,N-diallyl-5-methoxytryptamine is a psychedelic tryptamine first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin.-Chemistry:The full name of the chemical is N-allyl-N-[2-ethyl]prop-2-en-1-amine...
and 5-MeO-MALT. On April 8, 2008, at the age of 82, he underwent surgery to replace a defective aortic valve
Aortic valve
The aortic valve is one of the valves of the heart. It is normally tricuspid , although in 1% of the population it is found to be congenitally bicuspid . It lies between the left ventricle and the aorta....
. On November 16, 2010, Dr. Shulgin suffered a stroke. He is expected to fully recover. In December of 2010 he suffered another stroke, followed by skin-grafting surgery to save his left foot from an amputation.
Independent research
In order to carry out consulting work with the DEA, Shulgin obtained a DEA Schedule IControlled Substances Act
The Controlled Substances Act was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain...
license for an analytical
Analytical chemistry
Analytical chemistry is the study of the separation, identification, and quantification of the chemical components of natural and artificial materials. Qualitative analysis gives an indication of the identity of the chemical species in the sample and quantitative analysis determines the amount of...
laboratory, which allowed him to possess and synthesize any otherwise illicit drug. Shulgin set up a chemical synthesis
Chemical synthesis
In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...
laboratory in a small building behind his house, which gave him a great deal of career autonomy. Shulgin used this freedom to synthesize and test the effects of psychoactive drug
Psychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
s.
In 1967, Shulgin was introduced to MDMA (ecstasy) by a graduate student in the medicinal chemistry group he advised at San Francisco State University. MDMA had been synthesized in 1912 by Merck
Merck KGaA
Merck KGaA is a German chemical and pharmaceutical company. Merck, also known as “German Merck” and “Merck Darmstadt”, was founded in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1668, making it the world's oldest operating chemical and pharmaceutical company. The company was privately owned until going public in 1995...
and patented in 1912 as a intermediate of another synthesis in order to block competitors, but was never explored in its own right. Shulgin went on to develop a new synthesis method, and in 1976, introduced the chemical to Leo Zeff
Leo Zeff
Dr. Leo Zeff was an American psychologist and psychotherapist in Oakland, California who pioneered the use of ecstasy and other psychoactive drugs in psychotherapy in the 1970s....
, a psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
from Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Zeff used the substance in his practice in small doses as an aid to talk therapy. Zeff introduced the substance to hundreds of psychologists around the nation, including Ann Shulgin
Ann Shulgin
Ann Shulgin is an American author and the wife of chemist Alexander Shulgin.Ann Shulgin grew up in the village Opicina outside the Italian city Trieste where her father was American Consul for six years before World War II. She has worked as a lay therapist with psychedelic substances such as MDMA...
, whom Alexander Shulgin met in 1979, and married in 1981.
After judicious self-experiments, Shulgin enlisted a small group of friends with whom he regularly tested his creations, starting in 1960. They developed a systematic way of ranking the effects of the various drugs, known as the Shulgin Rating Scale
Shulgin Rating Scale
The Shulgin Rating Scale is a simple scale for reporting the subjective effect of psychoactive substances at a given dosage, and at a given time...
, with a vocabulary to describe the visual, auditory and physical sensations. He personally tested hundreds of drugs, mainly analogues of various phenethylamine
Phenethylamine
Phenylethylamine or phenethylamine is a natural monoamine alkaloid, trace amine, and also the name of a class of chemicals with many members well known for psychoactive drug and stimulant effects. Studies suggest that phenylethylamine functions as a neuromodulator or neurotransmitter in the...
s (family containing MDMA and mescaline
Mescaline
Mescaline or 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class used mainly as an entheogen....
), and tryptamine
Tryptamine
Tryptamine is a monoamine alkaloid found in plants, fungi, and animals. It is based around the indole ring structure, and is chemically related to the amino acid tryptophan, from which its name is derived...
s (family containing DMT
Dimethyltryptamine
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound of the tryptamine family. DMT is found in several plants, and also in trace amounts in humans and other mammals, where it is originally derived from the essential amino acid tryptophan, and ultimately produced by the enzyme INMT...
and psilocybin
Psilocybin
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...
). There are a seemingly infinite number of slight chemical variations, all of which produce variations in effect—some pleasant and some unpleasant, depending on the person, substance, and situation—all of which are meticulously recorded in Shulgin's lab notebooks. Shulgin published many of these objective and subjective reports in his books and papers.
In 1994, two years after the publication of PiHKAL
PiHKAL
PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story is a book by Dr. Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin which was published in 1991. The subject of the work is psychoactive phenethylamine chemical derivatives, notably those that act as psychedelics and/or empathogen-entactogens...
, the DEA raided his lab. The agency requested that Shulgin turn over his license for violating the license's terms, and he was fined $25,000 for possession of anonymous samples sent to him for quality testing. In the 15 years preceding the publication of PiHKAL, two announced and scheduled reviews failed to find any irregularities. Richard Meyer, spokesman for DEA's San Francisco Field Division, has stated that, "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."
Other notable publications
- 1960-1979 lab notebooks of Dr. Shulgin
- 1963. "Psychotomimetic agents related to mescaline". Experientia 19: 127. 19
- 1963. "Composition of the myristicin fraction from oil of nutmeg". Nature 197: 379. 20
- 1963. "Concerning the pharmacology of nutmeg". Mind 1: 299-302. 23
- 1964. "3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxy amphetamine, a new psychotomimetic agent". Nature 201: 1120-1121. 29
- 1964. "Psychotomimetic amphetamines: methoxy 3,4-dialkoxyamphetamines". Experientia 20: 366. 30
- 1964. with H. O. Kerlinger. "Isolation of methoxyeugenol and trans-isoelemicin from oil of nutmeg". Naturwissenschaften 15: 360-361. 31
- 1965. "Synthesis of the trimethoxyphenylpropenes". Can. J. Chem. 43: 3437-3440. 43
- 1966. "Possible implication of myristicin as a psychotropic substance". Nature 210: 380-384. 45
- 1966. "The six trimethoxyphenylisopropylamines (trimethoxyamphetamines)". J. Med. Chem. 9: 445-446. 46
- 1966. with T. Sargent, and C. Naranjo. "Role of 3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamin in schizophrenia". Nature 212: 1606-1607. 48
- 1967. with T. Sargent, and C. Naranjo. "The chemistry and psychopharmacology of nutmeg and of several related phenylisopropylamines". In D. H. Efron [ed.]: Ethnopharmacologic search for psychoactive drugs. U. S. Dept. of H. E. W., Public Health Service Publication No. 1645. Pp. 202–214. Discussion: ibid. pp. 223–229. 49
- 1967. with T. Sargent. "Psychotropic phenylisopropylamines derived from apiole and dillapioleDillapioleDillapiole is an organic chemical compound and essential oil commonly extracted from dill weed, though can be found in a variety of other plants.This compound is closely related to apiole having a methoxy group positioned differently on the benzene ring ....
". Nature 215: 1494-1495. 50 - 1967. with Sargent, T. W., D. M. Israelstam, S. A. Landaw, and N. N. Finley. "A note concerning the fate of the 4-methoxyl group in 3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine (DMPEA)". Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 29: 126-130. 52
- 1967. with Naranjo, C. and T. Sargent. "Evaluation of 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) as an adjunct to psychotherapy". Med. Pharmacol. Exp. 17: 359-364. 53
- 1968. "The ethyl homologs of 2,4,5-trimethoxyphenylisopropylamine". J. Med. Chem. 11: 186-187. 54
- 1969. with T. Sargent and C. Naranjo. "Structure activity relationships of one-ring psychotomimetics". Nature 221: 537-541. 57
- 1969. "Recent developments in cannabis chemistry". J. Psyched. Drugs 2: 15-29. 58
- 1969. "Psychotomimetic agents related to the catecholamines". J. Psyched. Drugs 2(2): 12-26. 59
- 1970. "Chemistry and structure-activity relationships of the psychotomimetics". In D. H. Efron [ed.]. "Psychotomimetic Drugs". Raven Press, New York. Pp. 21–41. 60
- 1970. "The mode of action of psychotomimetic drugs; some qualitative properties of the psychotomimetics". Neur. Res. Prog. Bull. 8: 72-78. 61
- 1970. "4-alkyl-dialkoxy-alpha-methyl-phenethylamines and their pharmacologically-acceptable salts". U. S. Patent 3,547,999, issued Dec. 15, 1970. 63
- 1971. with T. Sargent and C. Naranjo. "4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenylisopropylamine, a new centrally active amphetamine analog". Pharmacology 5: 103-107. 64
- 1971. "Chemistry and sources". In S. S. Epstein [ed]. "Drugs of abuse: their genetic and other chronic nonpsychiatric hazards". The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. Pp 3–26. 65
- 1971. "Preliminary studies of the synthesis of nitrogen analogs of Delta1-THC". Acta Pharm. Suec. 8: 680-681. 66
- 1972. "Hallucinogens, CNS stimulants, and cannabis. In S. J. Mulé and H. Brill [eds.]: Chemical and biological aspects of drug dependence". CRC Press, Cleveland, Ohio. Pp. 163–175. 67
- 1973. "Stereospecific requirements for hallucinogenesis". J. Pharm. Pharmac. 25: 271-272. 68
- 1973. "Mescaline: the chemistry and pharmacology of its analogs". Lloydia 36: 46-58. 69
- 1973. "The narcotic pepper - the chemistry and pharmacology of Piper methysticum and related species". Bull. Narc. 25: 59-1974. "Le poivre stupéfiant - chemie et pharmacologie du Piper methysticum et des espéces apparentées". Bull. Stupéfiants 25: 61-77. 70
- 1973. with T. Sargent and C. Naranjo. "Animal pharmacology and human psychopharmacology of 3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyphenylisopropylamine (MMDA)". Pharmacology 10: 12-18. 71
- 1974. with Kalbhen, D. A., T. Sargent, G. Braun, H. Stauffer, N. Kusubov, and M. L. Nohr. "Human pharmacodynamics of the psychodysleptic 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenylisopropylamine labelled with [82]Br". IRCS (Int. Res. Comm. Sys.) 2: 1091. 73
- 1975. with Sargent, T., D. A. Kalbhen, H. Stauffer, and N. Kusubov. "A potential new brain-scanning agent: 4-[77]Br-2,5-dimethoxyphenylisopropylamine (4-Br-DPIA)". J. Nucl. Med. 16: 243-245. 74
- 1975. with M. F. Carter. "Centrally active phenethylamines". Psychopharm. Commun. 1: 93-98. 75
- 1975. with Sargent, T., D. A. Kalbhen, G. Braun, H. Stauffer, and N. Kusubov. "In vivo human pharmacodynamics of the psychodysleptic 4-Br-2,5-dimethoxyphenylisopropylamine labelled with [82]Br or [77]Br". Neuropharmacology 14: 165-174. 76
- 1975. "The chemical catalysis of altered states of consciousness. Altered states of consciousness, current views and research problems". The drug abuse council, Washington, D. C. Pp. 123–134. 77
- 1975. "Drug use and anti-drug legislation". The PharmChem Newsletter 4 (#8). 79
- 1975. with D. C. Dyer. "Psychotomimetic phenylisopropylamines. 5. 4-alkyl-2,5-dimethoxyphenylisopropylamines". J. Med. Chem. 18: 1201-1204. 80
- 1975. with C. Helisten. "Differentiation of PCP, TCP, and a contaminating precursor PCC, by thin layer chromatography". Microgram 8: 171-172. 81
- 1975. with Helisten, C. "The detection of 1-piperidinodydlohexanecarbonitrile contamination in illicit preparations of 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine and 1-(1-(2-thienyl)cyclohexyl)piperidine". J. Chrom. 117: 232-235. 82
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- 1976. "Profiles of psychedelic drugs. 2. TMA-2". J. Psychedelic Drugs 8: 169. 86
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External links
- The Shulgin Legacy Project; a new initiative of the Alexander Shulgin Research Institute
- Matrixmasters Podcasts featuring the Shulgins
- Erowid Character Vaults : Alexander Shulgin
- His 'Ask Dr. Shulgin' Blog
- Altered Statesman
- Video: Natural origins of psychedelic drugs – Alexander Sasha Shulgin: A Chemical Performance
- Vice Magazine: The Last interview with Alexander Shulgin