The future publication of PIHKAL and TIHKAL in Spanish will mean the introduction in our language of an

enormous amount of knowledge from the mind of the brilliant Shulgin. Below is the first translation into Spanish of
the description of the "nexus" or 2c-b synthesis process, made by a professional in the field, i.e., a biochemist
(Alfonso Barba, who in addition to being a biochemist is also a professional translator and co-founder of the
Shulgin Project in Spanish), and which Shulgin offers in his book PIHKAL. In addition to the synthesis procedure,
in the section dedicated to each of the drugs, our genius adds comments and trip-reports from the experiences of
himself, his wife and his closed group of friends, thanks to which those who do not understand chemistry need
not be disappointed, since they can also benefit from the technical part of PIHKAL and TIHKAL.
We remind you that we have already published a page about the reservation deadline and the detailed
instructions to purchase PIHKAL and TIHKAL in Spanish (read here), to solve all the doubts that you have been
asking us. Here you can see our promotional video, and here Escohotado's collaboration and here Jonathan
Ott's collaboration for the Shulgin's books. On this page you can read an excerpt of Ann Shulgin's dedication to
all Spanish-speaking readers. In this other one you can read the review that Librer^a Muscaria made of Pioneers
of coca and cocaine, the book that we will give away to all those who reserve the books.

formula 2cb
See PIHKAL chapter 24: 2c-b
We recommend the reader to read the notes at the end of this page. Thank you very much.
SYNTHESIS: A solution of 100 g of 2,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde in 220 g of nitromethane was treated with 10 g
of anhydrous ammonium acetate and heated on a steam bath for 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally. The bright red
reaction mixture was separated from the excess nitromethane in vacuo, and the residue crystallized
spontaneously. This crude nitrostyrene was purified by pulverizing it in IPA. It was then filtered and dried^ in air,
and 85 g of 2,5-dimethoxy- b-nitrostyrene was obtained, in the form of a yellow-orange product, with a purity
suitable for the next step. Further purification can be achieved by recrystallization in boiling IPA.
In a 2 L round bottom flask, equipped with a magnetic stirrer and placed in an inert atmosphere, 750 ml of
anhydrous THF, containing 30 g of LAH, was added.
Then 60 g of 2,5-dimethoxy-b-nitrostyrene were added in THF solution. The final solution presented a dirty
yellow-brown color, and was kept at reflux temperature for 24 hours. After cooling, the excess hydride is
destroyed by adding IPA dropwise. Then 30 ml of 15% NaOH was added to convert the inorganic solids into a
filterable mass. The reaction mixture was filtered and the filter cake was washed, first with THF and then with
MeOH. The mother liquors and washes were combined and separated from the solvent under vac^o, and the
residue was suspended in 1.5 ml H2O. It was then acidified with HCl, washed with 3^100 ml of CH2Cl2, strongly
alkalinized with 25% NaOH, and extracted again with 4^100 ml of CH2Cl2. The combined extracts were
separated from the solvent under vac^o, yielding 26 g of an oily residue, which distil^ed at 120130 ^C, at 0.5
mm/Hg, yielding 21 g of a white oil, 2,5- dimethoxyphenylethylamine (2C-H), which traps carbon di^oxide from
the air very readily.
To a solution, under vigorous stirring, of 24.8 g of 2 ,5-dimethoxyphenylethylamine in 40 ml of glacial acetic acid,
was added 22 g of elemental bromine dissolved in 40 ml of acetic acid. After about two minutes, solids began to
form and the simultaneous release of considerable heat. The reaction mixture was allowed to reach room
temperature again, filtered, and the solids were washed, sparingly, with cold acetic acid. This was the
hydrobromide salt. There are many complicated forms of salts, both polymorphic and in hydrates, which can
make the isolation and characterization of 2C-B dangerous. The safest route is to form the insoluble
hydrochloride salt via the free base. The entire mass of the salt h^med with ^actic acid was dissolved in warm
H2O, alkalinized to at least pH 11 with 25% NaOH, and extracted with 3^100 ml of CH2Cl2. Removal of the
solvent gave 33.7 g of residue, which distilled at 115-130 ^C, at 0.4 mm/Hg. The white oil, 27.6 g, was dissolved
in 50 ml of H2O containing 7.0 g of ac^tic acid. This clear solution was shaken vigorously and treated with 20 ml
of concentrated HCl. Immediate formation of the anhydrous salt of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenylethylamine (2C-
B) then occurred. This mass of crystals was separated by filtration (they can be made much looser by adding
another 60 ml of H2O), washed with a little H2O, and then with several 50 ml portions of Et2O. After complete
air-drying, 31.05 g of fine white needles were obtained, with a p.f. of 237-239 ^C with decomposition. When too
much H2O is present when the final concentrated HCl is added, a hydrated form of 2C-B is obtained. The
hydrobromide salt melts at 214.5-215 ^C. It was observed^ that the acetate salt had a p.f. 208-209 ^C.

DOSAGE: 12-24 mg
DURATION: 4-8 hours
QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 16 mg) ^A day at the Stanford Museum. Things were visually brilliant, and
yet^ I felt^ that I was quite unnoticed. Rod^n's sculptures were very personal and not at all subtle. I
contemplated^ things by Escher in the ceiling design, when I decided to sit in a vesti^bule and just pretend to
rest. Walking back, the shapes seen in the bark of the eucalyptus trees, and the torment and fear (^of others? ^of
themselves?) on the faces of those who walked toward us were as spectacular as anything I had seen in the art
galleries. We had a huge appetite, and that night we went to an all-you-can-eat buffet. An intense experience in
every sense^.
(with 20 mg) ^The effect of the substance became obvious first of all by the change of the colors towards pink
and golden tones. The pigments in the room became more intense. The shapes became more rounded, more
organic. A feeling of lightness and streams of warmth began to run through my body. Bright lights began to
pulsate and flash behind my closed eyelids. We begin to perceive waves of energy flowing through all of us in
unison. Visualize all of us as a web of electric energy beings, nodes in a vibrant, glowing web of light. Later the
interior landscape changed to scenes of greater amplitude. Surrealistic views, in the purest Dal^ style, were
stamped with the eyes of Horus, brocades of geometric design began to move and change through radiant
patterns of light. It was a paradise for the artist, who represented practically the entire pantheon of art history^.
(with 20 mg) ^The room was cool, and for the first hour I felt cold and had chills. That was the only slightly
unpleasant moment. That same day we had been laying glass panes, and the visions I had were dominated by
prismatic light patterns. It was almost as if I became light. I saw kaleidoscopic shapes ^similar to visions with
^acid, but less intense^, and org^nical shapes like Georgia O^Keefe's flowers, blooming and undulating. My body
was a torrent of orgasms, practically just breathing. Sexual relations were phenomenal, passionate, euphoric,
l^rich, animalistic, loving, tender, sublime. The music was voluptuous, almost three-dimensional. At times, the
sound seemed distorted to me, as if I were underwater. This was especially so^ on the lower quality recordings,
but I had a choice between concentrating on the beauty of the music or the deficiency of the sound quality, and I
chose to concentrate mostly on the beauty^.
(with 24 mg) ^I am totally inside my body. I am aware of every muscle and nerve in my body. The night is
extraordinary, and there is a full moon. Incredibly erotic, quiet and exquisite, almost unbearable. I cannot begin to
unveil the images that are imposed during the act of an orgasm. Trying to understand the physical/spiritual fusion
in nature^.

ANNEXES AND COMMENTARY: Four testimonies were chosen at random from literally hundreds that came into
the archives. The vast majority^a were positive, and ranged from the colorful to the ecstatic. But not everyone is
like that^. There are people who choose not to go into the corporeal, but prefer the extracorporeal experience.
^these express discomfort with 2C-B, and seem to be more inclined to the altered state form of ketamine, which
dissociates body and mind.
There are testimonies of several overdoses that demonstrate the intr^nsecure safety of this compound.
Demonstrate^ is used here^ in the classical British sense; i.e., to challenge. The saying ^To know if something is
good you have to try it^, does not refer to a verification of quality, but to an investigation of the quality itself.
(French simplifies all this by using two different verbs for the verb ^demostrar^ in English [to prove]). One of the
overdoses was intentional, the other was accidental.
(with 64 mg) ^I only had mild visual and emotional effects with the 20 milligram dose, so I took the remaining 44
milligrams. I was driven toward something I had not chosen. Everything that was alive was utterly fearsome. I
could look at a picture of a bush, and it was just that, a picture, and presented no threat to me. Then my watchful
eye turned to the right and caught a bush growing outside the window, and I was petrified. A way of life that I
could not understand and therefore could not control. And I felt^ that my own way of life was not much more
controllable^. These are the comments of a physician who assured me that he experienced no neurological
problems during this spectacular and terrifying experience.
(with 100 mg) ^I had weighed it correctly. Simply take^ the wrong vial. And my death was going to be the
consequence of a totally stupid mistake. I wanted to walk out, but there was a pool there, and I dared not fall in. A
person may think he is prepared for his own death, but when the time comes he is completely alone and totally
unprepared. ^Why^ now? ^Why^ me? Two hours later, I knew I would live after all, and the experience became
wonderful. But the moment of facing death is a unique experience. In my case, someday we will meet again, and
I fear I will feel no more comfortable with her than I did at the time.^ These comments are from a psychologist
who will no doubt use psychiatrists again in the future, by way of immersion into the unknown.
Many of the testimonials that have come to us over the years have commented on the combination of MDMA and
2C-B. The most successful testimonials have followed a program in which the two substances are not taken at
the same time, or even too close together. It appears that the ideal time for 2C-B ingestion is at the end of, or just
before, the return to the initial state in an MDMA experience. It is as if mental and emotional discoveries can be
mobilized, and something can be done with them. This combination has several enthusiastic advocates in the
psychotherapy world, and should serve as a basis for serious research when these substances are legalized and
accepted by the medical community.
A generalized spectrum of 2C-B action can be sketched from the many accounts that have been written
describing its effects. (1) The dose-response curve is steep. In the 12 to 24 milligram range, each two milligram
increase can cause a marked increase or change in response. At first, one should try it sparingly, and increase
the dose in small increments in subsequent doses. An expression commonly used to identify the dose that
produces a barely perceptible effect is ^museum dose^. It is a dose slightly above the threshold dose, which
allows activities in public (such as contemplating paintings in a museum or contemplating the landscape as a
passenger in a car), without attracting attention. At higher doses, one may experience considerable discomfort at
being the object of people's attention. (2) The experience with 2C-B is one of the shortest of all the most
important psychedelic substances.
Regardless of what level you are at, wait. In an hour or so, you'll be back on familiar ground. (3) If anything is
ever found to be an effective aphrodisiac, it will probably follow^ the structural patterns of 2C-B.
There are two known ^Tweetios^ that are related to 2C-B. (See recipe 23 for the origin of this term). The 2-EtO-
hom^logo of 2C-B is 4-bromo-2- ethoxy-5-methoxyphenylethylamine, or 2CB-2ETO. The debrominated
benzaldehyde (2-ethoxy-5- methoxybenzaldehyde) had a melting point of 47.5-48.5 ^C; the intermediate
debrominated nitrostyrene compound, a melting point of 76-77 ^C, and the resulting final hydrochloride a melting
point of 185-186^C. The hydrobromide salt had a melting point of 168.5-169.5 ^C. It appears that the maximum
effect can be obtained at a dose of about 15 milligrams, and that increases above this dose, up to 30 or 50
milligrams, simply prolongs the activity (from about 3 hours to perhaps 6). At no dose was it experienced^ an
intensity that in no way resembled that of 2C-B itself.
The 2,5-DiEtO- hom^logo of 2C-B is 4-bromo-2,5-diethoxyphenylethylamine, or 2CB-2,5- DIETO. The impure,
unbrominated benzaldehyde (2,5-diethoxybenzaldehyde) had a melting point of about 57 ^C; the intermediate
compound of impure, unbrominated nitrostyrene had a melting point of about 60 ^C, and the resulting final
hydrochloride had a melting point of 230-231 ^C. The hydrobromide salt had a melting point of 192-193 ^C. At
doses of 55 milligrams, only lack of restful sleep and extra sleep was experienced. The active dose is not yet
known.
I have been told of some studies related to a 2C-B an^logo with positional changes. It is 2-bromo-4,5-
dimethoxyphenylethylamine (or 6-BR- DMPEA). This would be the elemental joke product of DMPEA, and has
been studied as the hydrobromide salt. Apparently, intravenous injection of 60 milligrams produced a rapid high,
with intense visual effects described, mostly yellow and black. Orally there may be some activity in the 400 to 500
milligram range, but testimonials describe sleep disruption primarily. This would suggest a stimulating
component. The N-methylated homologue of this compound with positional change was even less active.