Where can I obtain free information on how to manufacture Creatine
(the weight building supplement)?
Thank you.

---

Request for Question Clarification by grimace-ga on 24 Jun 2002 10:31 PDT

Hi papillon,

Do you want to manufacture a small quantity for personal use, or are
you going into business?

papillon-ga,

Being a big fan of (now retired) baseball player Mark McGwire of the
St. Louis Cardinals who was a proponent of creatine, I find this a
fascinating topic.

You can find explicit directions on producing creatine and creatine
supplements via the full-text of Patent filings at the United States
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO):

   USPTO
   http://www.uspto.gov/

Specifically, you should access the publicly available searchable
databases:

   Patent Full-Text and Full-Page Image Databases
   http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

There are a number of choices, but I used the Quick Search option
which is directly accessible here:

   USPTO QuickSearch
   http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/search-bool.html

In the box labeled "Term 1:" enter the word "creatine" (no quotes) 
Change the pulldown menu labeled "in Field 1" to "Title"
Click on the "Search" button

You should retrieve about 39 separate patents. The one that I found
which most explicitly gives step by step directions on producing
creatine is patent number 6,326,513, "Process for producing creatine
or creatine-monohydrate." If you click on that patent you can read the
full text with directions. For example:

". . . To a 20% (w/w) unprocessed aqueous solution of 833.1 g (about
1.5 mol) of sodium N-methylglycinate, a concentrated hydrochloric acid
was added under stirring and cooling in an ice-salt liquor or an
ice-water bath to adjust pH to 9.5. The temperature was kept below
15.degree. C. in this process. Under the condition that the internal
temperature was kept at 35.degree. C., 291.9 g (1.1 mol) of
S-methylisothiourea sulfate was slowly added into the solution under
stirring within about 60 minutes. Then the solution was stirred for
another 10 minutes at the internal temperature below 35.degree. C.
Thereafter, stirring was stopped, and the internal temperature was
kept at 32.degree. C. . . ."

Under the section labeled "BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION" we get some
additional information indicating that there are different ways to
produce creatine:

"Conventionally, the preparation of creatine involves extraction from
biological raw materials such as muscle scraps. However, such a method
is not cost effective and the use of such a source is not very
sanitary. Currently, creatine is mainly prepared by chemical
synthesis, i.e. through reaction of cyanamide with N-methylglycine
(sarcosine). However, N-methylglycine is a very expensive raw
material, moreover, a satisfactory yield can not be achieved. Chinese
Patent application CN 1140707A filed by the SKW Trestberg Corporation
Ltd. discloses a process for preparing creatine or
creatine-monohydrate, which is aimed to achieve a commercially
acceptable yield and a higher purity. In this process, cyanamide is
reacted with sodium N-methylglycinate or potassium N-methylglycinate
in water or in a mixture of water and an organic solvent at a
temperature of 20.degree. C. to 150.degree. C. and pH of 7 to 14.
However, the cost by using this method is very high, furthermore,
harmful impurities such as cyanide and/or ammonia may be present in
the product. Briefly speaking, known method for preparation of
creatine is not satisfactory."

Many of the other patents turned up with this same search will likely
give you other directions on the production and preparation of
creatine.

Some notes: 

Sometimes the databases for the USPTO can be slow or inaccessible. I
have found that if an error page comes up that hitting the RELOAD or
REFRESH key on my browser typically retrieves the item.

Also, a Quicktime browser plugin is used to display the images of the
pages.  To view the page images, after retrieving a patent, just click
on the button near the top of the screen labeled "Images." It takes
extra steps to print these page images. The images of the pages of the
specific patent I'm directing you to doesn't appear to add anything to
the textual directions. However, as you browse through some of the
other relevant patents, you may find some images that are worth
saving. I have found that using ALT-Print Screen (Windows 2000) will
copy the screen to the clipboard wherein it can be pasted into an
application such as MS Paint, then manipulated and printed.

Another option: I have purchased copies of the patents online. The
last time I did so it was $3.00 to retrieve online in a PDF (Adobe
Acrobat) format.

Finally, since these are patented procedures, should you wish to
manufacture creatine for profit using the exact information in these
patent filings you should seek legal counsel regarding licensing your
production from the patent holder.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by papillon-ga on 24 Jun 2002 17:05 PDT

I am wanting to go into business by eventually setting up a plant in
China then distributing it there.

Thank you!

---

Clarification of Answer by fugitive-ga on 24 Jun 2002 17:46 PDT

By the mechanisms Google Answers have in place, when a questioner asks
for clarification we have to respond before the question is closed
out.

First, glad to be of service. I didn't even mention that the patent
holders for patent 6,326,513 appear to be Chinese nationals based in
China!

Did you need any clarification or did you just hit the wrong button
(something I just did recently so I'm not about to be miffed by any
means). I read your clarification request as a "thanks."

If all is well, feel free to rate the quality of my response.If you DO
need clarification, don't hesitate to ask for it.

fugitive-ga

The answer was very detailed and helpful.  I felt that the expert made
extra efforts to assist me.