User talk:Jiewlord/Phenylacetone/Mac239 Peer Review

Respond to the Peer Review
Thank you Mac239 for your review of the revisions that I intend to add to the phenylacetone article on Wikipedia. My response to your peer review is listed below.

Lead

A summary of phenylacetone synthesis has been included in the lead, however, I did not mention the popular culture in the lead as that does not summarises the lead. I also did not mention the functional groups in phenylacetone as it is redundant.

I included a mention of the different functional groups associated with phenylacetone and a mention of the proper IUPAC name. Because of this change, I decided to split the lead into two paragraphs: one to describe the structure, the other to discuss the uses of phenylacetone in clandestine chemistry and metabolism. I re-worded the sentence so that "clandestine chemistry" will not be used. It now says "Due to illicit drug labs using phenylacetone to make amphetamines, phenylacetone was declared a schedule II controlled substance in the United States in 1980." I have added a hyperlink to the Wikipedia article for clandestine chemistry, so that readers can refer to that if need be.

Synthesis

I have included a synthesis scheme for the Friedel-Crafts reaction of chloroacetone with benzene to synthesize phenylacetone. It is hard to say which method would be more favourable in an industrial application. In lieu of this, I mentioned that synthesis of phenylacetone from phenylacetic acid and sodium acetate is the most common method compared to the others. The issue of the extra + sign in the original image has been addressed and a new reaction scheme was drawn to replace the old image.

Amphetamine metabolism

Phenylacetone is non-toxic in humans. I mentioned this fact in the revised article. I included a more in depth explanation of the metabolic pathway of amphetamine in humans, including the enzyme that is used. I included a second paragraph that explains the para-hydroxylation reaction of phenylacetone to 4-hydroxyphenylacetone.

In popular culture

So far, Breaking Bad is the only TV series that I was able to find that fully discusses the use of phenylacetone to synthesize methamphetamine. I found a synopsis of the episode of Breaking bad, where Walter White mentioned the use of phenylacetone in the synthesis of methamphetamine. I included this as a link to a Wikipedia article about that particular episode, which includes a synopsis. I will move the image to the bottom of the In popular culture section.

Content

This part of your peer review has been noted in the revisions I have mentioned above.

Sources

THe source from 1940 is the most recent article that discusses the preparation of phenylacetone from phenylacetic acid and acetic acid. I included a source for amphetamine metabolism to hippuric acid and its excretion.

Style

The uses of passive voice has been noted and I will revise the sentences that you've highlighted in the revised article.

Jiewlord (talk) 07:18, 15 April 2023 (UTC)