Comment by gpcr1949
5 years ago
> AFAIK the infamous "shake and bake" technique creates racemic meth
the shake and bake method uses "sudafed"/pseudoephedrine. therefore, it will produce d meth
> This is definitely true for meth, where almost every method yields racemic meth
not quite true, because the main precursor pseudoephedrine already had the correct stereochemistry in place. you would actually have to do effort to racemize that asymmetric carbon. But it is true that if your precursors are racemates or not asymmetric and you are not using some fancy asymmetric catalysis or tedious resoltuion your product will be racemic. An example of a racemic meth synthesis that does not involve P2P is direct amination of allylbenzene.
Thanks so much for your correction/insight here. My chemistry knowledge is pretty weak - and extra rusty - so that was very helpful.