Docfag here. Well I'm woke the F up. I had my doubts about adrenochrome but I located this paper from the 50's. It is from the International Review of Neurobiology, a reputable journal. Volume 4, 1962.
THE EFFECT OF ADRENOCHROME AND ADRENOLUTIN ON THE BEHAVIOR OF ANIMALS AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MAN By A. Hoffer Psychiatric Services Branch, Department of Public Health, and D epartment of Psychiatry, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
In the course of our work on schizophrenia, Dr. Humphry Osmond and I also became interested in epinephrine derivatives which were indoles, as is LSD, rather than sympathomimetic amines like epinephrine or mescaline. In 1952, we presented our epinephrine metabolite hypothesis (adrenochrome) to the Dementia Praecox Committee, Scottish Rite Masons, New York; and in 1954, our first formal report on adrenochrome appeared (Hoffer et al., 1954). The purest preparations of adrenochrome available between 1954 and 1957 were bright red or black powders which were very unstable even when stored under optimal conditions at low temperature and devoid of oxygen. Adrenochrome in aqueous solution deteriorated in minutes and formed insoluble brown-black melanins. Heacock et al. (1958) removed traces of silver ion from the preparations of adrenochrome and formed stable crystals which could be stored at room temperature. Later Heacock and Mahon (1958) synthesized stable adrenolutin and other reduction compounds of adrenochrome (Heacock and Scott, 1959; Heacock and Laidlaw, 1958). A comprehensive chemical review of adrenochrome was made by Heacock (1959a). These chemical studies have greatly facilitated the study of the psychological properties of adrenochrome and its derivatives.
IX. Effect of Adrenochrome and Adrenolutin on Humans Hoffer et al. (1954) observed that adrenochrome produced psychological changes in man. Since then, several additional studies have been recorded but not in great detail. Only the methods used and summaries of results have been given, due to the difficulty in having journals accept long clinical reports. In this review, results of experiments with adrenochrome and adrenolutin will be outlined in greater detail.