Mescaline Mescaline Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) is a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class, known for its hallucinogenic effects comparable to those of LSD and psilocybin. It occurs naturally in the peyote cactus ("Lophophora williamsii"), the San Pedro cactus ("Echinopsis pachanoi"), the Peruvian torch ("Echinopsis peruviana"), and other members of the Cactaceae plant family. It is also found in small amounts in certain members of the Fabaceae (bean) family, including "Acacia berlandieri". However those claims concerning Acacia species have been challenged and have been unsupported in additional analysis. Peyote has been used for at least 5,700 years by Native Americans in
Mescaline at the two meta positions with respect to the alkyl substituent, experiences a final methylation at the 4 carbon by a guaiacol-O-methyltransferase, which also operates by a SAM-dependent mechanism. This final methylation step results in the production of mescaline. Phenylalanine serves as a precursor by first being converted to -tyrosine by L-amino acid hydroxylase. Once converted, it follows the same pathway as described above. Mescaline was first synthesized in 1919 by Ernst Späth from 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoyl chloride. Subsequent to this, numerous approaches utilizing different starting materials have been developed. Notable examples include the following: Tolerance builds with repeated usage, lasting for