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Kitchen Chemistry - Extraction and Synthesis of Drugs
Kitchen Chemistry - Extraction and Synthesis of Drugs
Kitchen Chemistry - Extraction and Synthesis of Drugs
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remember it's been claimed that those who live happy lives and develop their
potential have the inertia of the universe to help them.
i want to briefly touch upon the entheogens as they exist in the less
technological area of existance. it is conjectured that the kykeon of the eleusian
mysteries contained none other than ergine (la-111), it's source being claviceps
purpurea (ergot).
albert hofmann guessed that a water-based extraction from ergot infested barley
would have isolated the la-111 and left behind those substances responsible for
the horrific phenomenenon known as ergotism. ergine has been present in other
cultures and has been present in other plant sources.
morning glory seeds and baby hawaiian woodrose seeds contain la-111; baby hawaiian
woodrose seeds contain .3%. la-111 is the active principle of the ololiuhqui
("rounded things") of the aztecs. among the entheogens that man has used ritually
is cannabis sativa (cannabis indica is actually a sub-species of this according to
ott), n,n-dimethyltryptamine in various plants, beta-carbolines, 3,4,5-
trimethoxyphenethylamine (mescaline), muscimol/ibotenic acid, psilocin, and many
others.
my first rather grandiose claim of having this revised by actual chemists never
saw the light, due to time constraints; the university can be a very hectic place,
especially to an undergraduate. this is, however, a public work; feel free to
revise and add to it if you will. if it is revised, please make a note of it and
change the version number.
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contents:
what is the basic theory behind this?
alkaloids
ph
polarity
reflux/soxhlet
extraction/washing
what are some more technical things?
merck index
what are some tools that i will need?
what are some conversions that i can use?
how do i determine the alkaloid content of my plant material in milligrams?
what are some clever home versions of lab equipment?
reflux apparatus
soxhlet apparatus
what are some good algorithms?
dmt
mescaline
thc
psilocin
lsas
harmaline
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the former is something that you probably will never have to remember and the
latter is important for obvious reasons. the important thing to know is whether or
not the substance that you wish to extract is an alkaloid or not. the reason is
that if it is an alkaloid, it will share some universal properties with other
alkaloids that make it possible to create methods that apply to any plant source,
depending more upon the matrix that the alkaloid is contained in than anything
else.
the only exception to this following of universal rules is mescaline, which will
be expounded upon when it comes time to discuss it's extraction. almost every
psychoactive agent known at this time is an alkaloid. as the etymology of the word
implies, alkaloids exist in a natural form that is above ph 7. an alkaloid exists
in this basic state and is not soluble (dissolvable) in water that has not been
acidified. it is soluble in an alcohol. when the ph is changed to acidic, the
alkaloids will dissolve in water in a salt form.
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ph
the hydrogen ion concentration is known as the ph. there may be other
explanations, but we shall not concern ourselves with it here. the scale is from 1
- 14, where the strongest acid is 1, neutral is 7, and the strongest base is 14.
as mentioned before, the alkaloid will dissolve in water when the ph is acidic.
what happens is that the combination of an acid and a base forms a water-soluble
salt. when the solution is basified, the alkaloids are no longer in salt form, and
are then soluble in a non-polar solvent.
remember: acid + base = water soluble salt iff (if and only if) ph < 7
acid + base = non-polar molecule (freebase) iff ph > 7
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polarity
the polarity of a molecule is, for non-chemists, whether or not it will dissolve
in water. if it is polar, then it will dissolve in water and if it is non-polar,
then it will not. actually, polarity refers to a situation on the atomic level
where net electrical charges are unbalanced.
the polarity of the solute and the polarity of the solvent must be the same. a
solution consists of a solvent and a solute.
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reflux/soxhlet:
to reflux is to use a reaction solvent to keep a material dissolved and at a
constant temperature by boiling a solvent, condensing it, and returning it to the
vessel. soxhleting involves this same process except for the fact that the
material is separated from the solvent. it's much like percolating coffee.
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extraction/washing:
washing involves the separation of impurities from a pure source and extraction
involves the separation of purities (forgive my play on words - it's a memory
device) from an impure source. look at the algorithm for lsa's; the first part is
a washing and the second part is an extraction.
for an extraction, you need two liquids that are insoluble in each other. that
means that they will form two visible layers. an example is home-made salad oil;
the oil floats on top of the water. the most technical thing that we will need is
ph paper - chemists use a sep funnel; we will use a turkey baster.
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crystals, mp 44.6-46.8*. pka 8.68 (ethanol-water). freely sol in dil acetic and
dil mineral acids.
picrate, mp 169.5-170*
methiodide, mp 216-217*
caution: may produce serious psychologic disturbances.
3259 is the compound number. c 76.55%... is elemental analysis data; the percent
of each element in the compound. references to journal articles comes after this,
followed by a structural formula. lastly is melting point and solubility data.
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the reason is thus: per cent means "divided by 100" (all in all) and milli means
"one-thousanth" (3 decimal places). divided by 100, you move 2 decimal places to
the left, multiplied by 1000, you move 3 to the right.
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the tub is placed on the hotplate, the rope is curled in the tub with the large
pot resting on top of it - preventing the pot from directly touching the tub. the
small pot containing the powdered material and solvent is placed in the stew pot;
the stew pot has it's lid upside down. a piece of the plastic bag is cut and
placed over the lid of the large pot so that it extends halfway down the side. two
large innertube rubber bands secure the plastic sheets. these are positioned
several inches down the side of the pot, allowing slack in the plastic sheeting.
any air that is trapped under the plastic is forced out by loosening the rubber
bands and flattening the bag with the hand. as much ice as possible is placed on
top of the plastic covered lid. the tub is filled half way with water which is
brought to a boil. this heats the apparatus to about 212 f, but not above.
remember to always cool the apparatus completely when refluxing and soxhleting
before disassembling by pouring ice into the tub!
soxhlet apparatus:
as above, but a vegetable-draining colander is placed above the stainless-steel
pot. the colander is fitted with a 12 inch coffee filter. the solvent and biomass
is poured into the colander/pot.
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a more rational approach: if the material is dry one should grind the plant
material as finely as possible with a blender or coffee grinder. one can then soak
the biomass in a non-polar solvent for a few days, discard the solvent, and
dehydrate (dry) the biomass. then this can be soaked in one of the aforementioned
alcohols for a week and filtered. the solvent is saved and more solvent is added
to the biomass and after a day, filter and repeat. finally, do this one more time
and after an hour, filter, discard the biomass, and combine the solvents in a
pyrex dish and evaporate. you may need to redissolve in hot water, basify to 9 or
10, add a non-polar solvent, and extract the solvent layer weekly for 3 weeks.
if the material is not dry grind the plant material, put in a slow cooker with a
solution of 2/3 water and 1/3 lemon juice, cook on low for 12 hours, and filter.
evaporate the solution until it is of a quantity that is managable to work with
(lid off). put the solution in a jar and add a non-polar solvent (about 1/4 the
amount of the solution). shake the jar often - open the lid so that the pressure
does not build up. siphon off the non-polar layer in 3 days and discard. the lye
must be prepared seperatly - put some lye in a jar, add water, and wait for it to
stop bubbling. basify to 9 or 10 with the lye solution. add a non-polar solvent
(about 1/5 to 1/4 the amount of solution) and let the jar sit for a week. shake
often (remembering to vent the jar) and at the end of a week, siphon off the
solvent layer (top) and save it in a jar. repeat this 3 more times in 3 more
weeks. at the end of this time, combine the solvents together and evaporate in a
pyrex baking dish.
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mescaline
take a fresh cactus cutting and put it through a centrifuge juicer. after this,
add lemon or lime juice to the pulp and run it through a second time. strain
through a paper towel (or cheesecloth) and a coffee filter. put solution in a
large jar and add a non-polar solvent. add enough lemon juice to acidify the
solution to ph 5. add (about 1/4 the amount of solution) a non-polar solvent,
agitate the jar, and after 3 days siphon off the top layer. discard what you
siphon off and basify the solution with a pre-prepared lye solution (see dmt) to
ph 9 or 10. add a non-polar solvent (about 1/5 the amount of solution) and extract
the non-polar solvent layers 4 times (once a week). combine extractions and
evaporate in a pyrex baking dish. as i mentioned previously, mescaline has an
exception to the general rule of alkaloid solubility; that exception is diethyl
ether. if you can obtain it, use it to wash the biomass. this is, from what i have
heard, truly magical.
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thc
the easiest method that i have knowledge of is to shred your plant material and
soak in acetone for a week, a day, and an hour. then combine and evaporate after
filtration. soak what is left in loose marijuana. the extract may need to be
heated if it is too "gummy".
a more complicated version is from the book cannabis alchemy by d. gold. the
reflux/soxhlet apparatus mentioned in a previous section is used. reflux for 3 or
4 hours. the book does not specify the amount of time for soxhleting.
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psilocin
grind dried carpophores in a coffee grinder or fresh mushrooms in a blender. apply
the dmt algorithm.
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references:
psychedelic shamnism; jim dekorne isbn#1-55950-110-3
cannabis alchemey; d. gold isbn#0-914171-40-2
pharmacotheon; jonathan ott isbn#0-9614234-3-9
the organic chem lab survival manual; james w. zubrick isbn#0-471-57504-6
the entheogen review; issue #4
this document from: sputnik drug information zone