Editing PiHKAL (section)

{{Short description|1991 book by Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2007}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox book
| name          = PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story
| image         = Pihkal.jpg
| caption       = Cover of ''PiHKAL'', 1st ed.
| author        = [[Alexander Shulgin|Alexander]] and [[Ann Shulgin]]
| cover_artist  =
| country       = United States
| subject       = [[Pharmacology]], [[Autobiography]], [[Psychoactive drug]]s
| publisher     = [[Transform Press]]
| release_date  = 1991
| media_type    = Paperback
| pages         =
| isbn          = 0-9630096-0-5
| oclc          = 269100404
| followed_by   = [[TiHKAL]]
}}

'''''PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story''''' is a [[book]] by [[Alexander Shulgin]] and [[Ann Shulgin]] published in 1991.<ref name="Johnson2018">{{cite book | last=Johnson | first=C. | title=Magic Medicine: A Trip Through the Intoxicating History and Modern-Day Use of Psychedelic Plants and Substances | publisher=Fair Winds Press | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-63159-428-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N-NfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 | access-date=30 January 2025 | pages=22–24}}</ref><ref name="PiHKAL1991">{{cite book | author1 = [[Alexander T. Shulgin]] | author2 = [[Ann Shulgin]] | title = PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story | date = 1991 | publisher = [[Transform Press]] | edition = 1st | location = Berkeley, CA | isbn = 978-0-9630096-0-9 | oclc = 25627628 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=O8AdHBGybpcC }}</ref> The subject of the work is [[Psychoactive drug|psychoactive]] [[phenethylamine]] [[Derivative (chemistry)|chemical derivatives]], notably those that act as [[psychedelic drug|psychedelics]] and/or [[empathogen-entactogen]]s. The main title, PiHKAL, is an [[acronym]] that stands for "Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved".

The book is arranged into two parts, the first part being a fictionalized autobiography of the couple and the second part describing 179 different psychedelic compounds (most of which Shulgin discovered himself), including detailed synthesis instructions, [[bioassay]]s, dosages, and other commentary.

The second part was made freely available by Shulgin on [[Erowid]] while the first part is available only in the printed text. While the reactions described are beyond the ability of people with a basic chemistry education, some tend to emphasize techniques that do not require difficult-to-obtain chemicals. Notable among these are the use of [[Aluminium amalgam|mercury-aluminium amalgam]] (an unusual but easy to obtain [[reagent]]) as a [[reducing agent]] and detailed suggestions on legal plant sources of important drug precursors such as [[safrole]].