Only just noticed these posts.
Krokodil....ugh yuck. Nasty, nasty shit that.
Although as it happens, I'm working on some. Sort of. Just not the way the russkis do it (codeine&SOCl2>alpha-chlorocodide, red phos/I2 reduction to an ungodly mix of dihydrodesoxymorphine-D in small quantities, tetrahydrodesoxymorphine-D, ring-opened products from the cleavage of the epoxy bridge and a whole load of other byproducts, some nice some extremely nasty.
The problem isn't the drug, desomorphine, but the reduction method. Whilst its alright, but not fantastic, for making methamphetamine from pseudoephedrine, use on a sensitive drug like morphine or similar morphinan opioids like codeine results in a mix of shite basically with some active product. The russian addicts have to spend all their time getting codeine, extracting it and making krokodil. And worse, they don't do a proper workup, just a quick extraction into nonpolar and then evaporation afaik.
Disgusting technique, disgusting product, low yield and unclean. And then they shoot that, I don't know if they BOTHER to filter the stuff, I've read often they just draw up a syringe full and shoot the stuff. Apparently a guaranteed abscess if the least bit doesn't go directly into the vein, and the lifespan of a krokodil addict is between 6 months and a year.
Fuck THAT for a lark!
The way to do it, is to get either morphine or codeine, preferably morphine, and do the chlorination, using thionyl chloride, strip excess SOCl2 or neutralize with alcohol or water. Then take the alpha-chloromorphide up into ethanol and add a precious metal catalyst, various different ones give different results. If a highly active catalyst such as platinum black, platinum oxide, or plat cat is used then the main product is tetrahydrodesoxymorphine-D with some percentage of dihydrodesoxymorphine-D (desomorphine) and a percentage of a dimer of desomorphine. Faster the reduction and the more active the catalyst, the more dimer is formed.
Colloidal palladium apparently gives excellent yields of desomorphine-D, some tetrahydrodesomorphine and very little if any dimer. Yields of desomorphine-D are apparently in the region of 80-85 to 95-98% or so, with the rest being tetrahydrodesomorphine.
Then the solution of alpha-chloromorphide in EtOH with catalyst is refluxed at atmospheric pressure, for a few hours, and then the catalyst is filtered off and recycled (they can be reused many, many many times, and once catalytic activity is eventually diminished or lost, then its recycled again for precious metal content, since one shouldn't ever throw out the likes of palladium, platinum, iridium, rhodium etc.