3,4-Dimethoxyphenethylamine synthesis of Bevantolol. DMPEA has some activity as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor. DMPEA occurs naturally along with mescaline in various species of cacti such as San Pedro and Peruvian Torch. 3,4-Dimethoxyphenethylamine 3,4-Dimethoxyphenethylamine (DMPEA) is a chemical compound of the phenethylamine class. It is an analogue of the major human neurotransmitter dopamine where the 3- and 4-position hydroxy groups have been replaced with methoxy groups. It is also closely related to mescaline which is 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine. One of the earliest syntheses of DMPEA (then referred to as "homoveratrylamine") was that of Pictet and Finkelstein, who made it in a multi-step sequence starting
Mescaline and activates the serotonin 5-HT receptor with a high affinity. How activating the 5-HT receptor leads to psychedelia is still unknown, but it is likely that somehow it involves excitation of neurons in the prefrontal cortex. Mescaline is also known to bind to and activate the serotonin 5-HT receptor. Difluoromescaline and trifluoromescaline are more potent than mescaline, as is its amphetamine homologue trimethoxyamphetamine. In the United States, mescaline was made illegal in 1970 by the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, categorized as a Schedule I hallucinogen. The drug was prohibited internationally by the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.