Lysergic

Much more soluble in water than ergotoxine, ergotamine, sensibamine or ergoclavine, and is thought to be the hydroxyisopropylamide of lysergic acid.

In a series of papers during the past few years Jacobs and [Lyman C.] Craig have shown that the ergot alkaloids are derivatives of a unique acid base, lysergic acid, in which the latter or an isomer is conjugated with certain amino acids or substances which can be derived from them, such as 2-aminopropanol-1, pyruvic acid, and isobutyrylformic acid. Since lysergic acid is thus the common characteristic constituent of these alkaloids, the determination of its structure became at once a major issue in the ergot alkaloid problem.

In 1938, while experimenting with derivatives of ergot, a Swiss chemist named Hoffman^([sic – meaning [Albert] Hofmann]) first produced the drug, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, by adding a diethylamide group onto lysergic acid.

We have used lysergic acid which is available commercially, and we have found that the conversion of lysergic acid to LSD can be accomplished in a relatively simple manner by procedures that can be followed by experienced chemists. In fact, we believe a crude form of LSD could be produced by a college chemistry student who had access to the equipment in a college chemistry laboratory.

The ergot alkaloids in general are classified into four main structural groups: 1. the simple amide group such as LSD and the methyl carbinolamide; 2. more complex peptide complex viz. ergotamine, where the lysergic acid moiety is linked with cyclic tri-pepide via an amide bond 3. lysergic acids and 4. clavine alkaloids[…].

The Doves' mantras of desolation are even trippier than the first couple Cranes records (though maybe not as lysergic as prime Swans or Ravens), […]

As mentioned earlier, my first impression of the sleeve art was that it bore marked similarity to a poetry collection – nothing very lysergic about that.

On the evidence of this lysergic dish – blobs and pools of strident oddness, especially the mozzarella-topped gelée that tastes like the stuff left at the bottom of olive tins topped with organic foaming facewash – [David] Shrigley's better off sticking to the art.