The world’s preeminent tryptamine crystallographers have synthesized and crystallographically characterized yet another novel compound: 5-MeO-DALT fumarate is a water-soluble fumarate salt of 5-MeO-DALT (colloquially known as “Foxtrot”). The fumarate salt research builds on CaaMTech’s previous work crystallizing and structurally characterizing 5-MeO-DALT freebase by enhancing stability, crystallinity, and the compound’s water solubility. CaaMTech researchers reported the work in the journal Acta Cryst. E in a paper titled, “‘Foxtrot’ fumarate: a water-soluble salt of N,N-diallyl-5-methoxytryptamine.”
5-MeO-DALT is an orally psychoactive synthetic analogue of 5-MeO-DMT. The synthesis and oral activity of 5-MeO-DALT was first reported by Alexander Shulgin in 2004 and thereafter, quickly appeared for sale from online research chemical retailers. Despite its use in the years following (including in a small-scale self-administered cluster headache trial), little fundamental scientific research was conducted on 5-MeO-DALT until CaaMTech completed the first known crystallization of 5-MeO-DALT freebase in 2020.
In addition to synthesizing novel crystalline forms of 5-MeO-DALT, CaaMTech researchers have determined their purity using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and their crystal structures with X-ray crystallography: the gold standard for crystallographic characterization. This rigorous scientific treatment is essential to produce analytically pure, well-characterized compounds. Pure, well-characterized compounds are the necessary building blocks for drugs that advance to the clinic for human trials and gain approval as safe and effective consumer products.
Consumer product or otherwise, analytically pure, well-characterized compounds are also necessary for accurate dosing. Journalist, aspiring chemist, and notable documentarian Hamilton Morris recently highlighted the need for accurate dosing in his recent appearance on the Good Chemistry podcast with Nick Jikomes:
“I am extremely neurotic about dose. Dose is my whole thing. Dose is the name of the game for me,” explained Morris. “Dose is really important to me. Not just for me but for everyone else as well.” Morris continued, explaining his preference for synthetic “pharmahuasca” over more traditional plant forms, “I’m a young, robust guy and I can maybe take these experiences. But what if I wanted to give Ayahuasca to my father [famed documentarian Errol Morris, aged 73]? What if I wanted to give it to someone a little more vulnerable who’s a little bit older? Would you want to give them a plant concoction where you have no idea what dose they’re consuming?”