harry potter - Did Voldemort ever try to create a Philosopher's stone?

Lord Voldemort is many times shown to be obsessed with the thought of never dying and many of his actions are based upon his fear of death. Rowling has stated this fear is pathological and that his Boggart would be his own corpse.

It is stated, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, that Nicholas Flamel is the only known creator of the Philosopher's Stone. This suggests that creating a PS is not easily done, but that it could be.

Given these two, a few questions come to mind:

1. Did Voldemort ever attempt to create a Philosopher's Stone?


2. Did he ever attempt to seek out Nicholas Flamel, or his stone, prior to the first book?


3. If no to the above questions, why didn't he?

I would prefer answers based in canon, but extrapolations and conclusions drawn from a variety of sources is of course more than welcome.

Answer

The Philosopher's Stone's main property is to make oneself immortal (or to prolong one's death). The condition on this immortality is that one continues to drink the elixir that comes from the stone, and if you stop, you lose your immortality (see Harry Potter 1, near the end "The Stone will be destroyed, but the Flamels have more than enough elixir to get their affairs in order and live comfortably until the end" (Not direct quote)).

Voldemort, as Tom Riddle, first learned about Horcruxes from Professor Slughorn in his schooling years, and would have seen this as a more acceptable route to 'immortality', as it saw him not relying on an elixir that could be taken away from him, but as a method where he chose things precious or important to himself, and imbued them with a part of himself.

The benefit of Horcrux over the Philosopher's Stone is that a Horcrux is a more permanent form of immortality. It is important to note that the elixir of the PS does not make one invulnerable, rather simply prolongs one's life, whereas a Horcrux makes one truly immortal, so long as all Horcruxes remain intact. This would have been of advantage to Voldemort, as he was aware of The Order of the Phoenix and their plans to destroy him, which would have been easier with the Elixir vs PS.

While this probably isn't what you want, I am not aware of any canon of Voldemort seeking the PS, and strongly doubt he would have, as it is a reliance on another that he, in his belief, was too important (or rather, the PS was not worthy).

Did he seek Nicholas Flamel? Unsure again, although as you say, he did seek the stone in Book 1.