Turning vanilla flavoring into dopamine!

Warning: Do not attempt anything shown in this video. This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. In today's video, I'll be turning vanilla flavoring into dopamine! I start with vanillin and put it through a bunch of reactions until it eventually becomes dopamine hydrobromide. There is a Henry reaction, a zinc reduction, extractions, precipitations, and plenty of things going wrong along the way. I do end up confirming the final product with a melting-point test, but the yield is absolutely pathetic. Enjoy! :) Chapters: 00:00 Dopamine synthesis plan from vanillin 02:28 Vanillin starting-material preparation 04:59 Henry reaction and nitrostyrene synthesis 07:31 Henry reaction mechanism 10:00 Nitrostyrene intermediate isolation 12:33 Zinc reduction setup 15:01 Zinc reduction completion and hydrogen test 17:27 Phenethylamine extraction and pH control 20:01 Dopamine-precursor concentration 22:24 Precursor precipitation and purification 25:00 Dopamine deprotection and hydrobromide formation 27:33 Melting-point characterization 30:01 Final dopamine hydrobromide and yield Sources: Info on dopamine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine Support & Community: Patreon:   / posts   Discord server:   / discord