vine
RE: Need help with an A/B Desmanthus extract.
I obtained a pound of desmanthus ROOTS from Herbal Shaman and semi-powdered them in a coffee grinder. I did several batches over several days, 3 totaling 1/2 pound. Each batch was soaked in vinegar (and diluted 28% hydrocloric for last batch) for several days, with daily mixing. The ph was pretty low, especially when I used the 28%.
On the day before I was to finish extracting each batch I gently heated it and mixed frequently for several hours. This greatly darkened the liquid, to a straw color w/ vinegar, and burgundy w/ 28%.
The day after it was filtered w/ coffee filter and about 20% hardware store naptha was added. The naptha was checked beforehand and found to leave only the faintest residue behind. Reagent grade potassium hydroxide was added slowly, while stirring with magnetic stirrer. As the pH went basic, the solution turned charcoal black. I made it pretty basic, then stirred it hard for a hour or so. The naptha was turned into a foam which settled out slowly. There was a thin goop layer in between naptha a water. It was very fine and seemed to be solids mixed with water and naptha bubbles. I was unable to do anything with it. The naptha was sucked out and set to dry in a dish.
All three batches were evaporated in the same dish. I gently heated it initially, then when naptha level was low I let airdry or hurried it up with a hairdryer. After 3 batches had gone through, I was left with an extremely thin layer of orangish oily gunk. I scraped up as much as I could and smeared it into a aluminum crucible. It was heated and the vapor inhaled.
All I got was the peppery numbing of hydroxide.
Sooooo, what's up? The only factor I didn't control was pH as I'm having trouble acquiring some paper. I'll have some eventually but I didn't want to wait... I do know it was below 5 and above 8. I'm also not exactly sure what the thin layer of gunk is. It doesn't seem to be an emulsion from what I read. Also, I tried vaporizing a quantity, and got nothing. Not even hydroxide numbing.
Any help would be much appreciated!
If you would like addition details please ask.
--Vine
lux
RE: Need help with an A/B Desmanthus extract.
Vine, Applause on going for it regardless of results (...you must have been stoked there for a min when seeing that the process had at least produced the elusive "orange waxy gunk" of such renown). I'll be watching this forum closely for an instructive (and informed by direct, successful) redirection.
If anyone hits your email privately along a constructive line,
plz CC me.
P.S. Was the method you attempted an attempt to follow a specific recipe? If so which/where (URL?)?
Keep on Bro!
Zeke
RE: Need help with an A/B Desmanthus extract.
I make no claim to be a chemist, but i did take a year of O-Chem in college, and many alkaloids are not very soluble in petroleum distillate type solvents such as naptha or petroleum ether. I distinctly remember one lab where the final product was to washed with petroleum ether and I used diethyl by mistake and watched my product dissolve and get sucked down the drain. I think you need diethyl ether, methylene chloride or some similar type of solvent. I've tried extracting desmanthus with improvised home equipment and chemicals with no luck, for now I'm sticking with DMT brews until I can afford to outfit my own home laboratory. (We all love to puke anyway, right?)
lux
RE: Need help with an A/B Desmanthus extract.
Ahhhh a breath of, experientially, fresh air! Thanks for your, welcomed, communication of personal experience. Having maid the choice to be "... sticking with DMT brews until..." would you please share a description of your experiences (puking aside perhaps) of "where" the brew takes you, what ayahuasca analogue ("recipe") are you using, dosages, etc., etc.?
Standing by.
vine
RE: Need help with an A/B Desmanthus extract.
You bet I was stoked. And mighty pissed when I got zippo. Ahwell, I have some more things to check out. I'm visiting the local chem. supply tomorrow. I've been needing to load up. Besides, my .1mg balance has arrived. No more guessing.
I imagine you can find it in Amsterdam, but extracting is really a helluva lot cheaper. When I do something, I research the hell out of it. My method comes from at least 3 sep. recipes with hints and tips from many more. Zeke, all my sources say pet. ether (naptha) is a winner.
"simple question: where does one find petroleum ether? I want to prepare some MG seeds for ingestion..."
Go to the hardware store and get Naptha, works fine. Can be found with the paint thinners. Be sure to let it evaporate fully from your powdered material, and then use an alcohol to extract the alkaloids that you want.
Also read http://www.lycaeum.org/forums/alchemy/Messages/509.html
Now, I used plain naptha, but it's basically the same thing. I will hopefully be trying DCM in the near future. BTW. I did try doing a non-polar extract before basifying. I only did it once as I got nothing in the non-polar.
Even evaporated to make sure...
Q
RE: Need help with an A/B Desmanthus extract.
Hey Vine, Could you let me know where you got your mg scale from and how
much it was.
Thnx.
All the best
Q.
vine
RE: Need help with an A/B Desmanthus extract.
Q, I spent around a month in the search, as I didn't have a large budget
and .1mg scales aren't exactly cheap. However I managed to find a Mettler
H10 in excellent shape for $350. There are similar deals to be found out
there, as I passed a couple up that were similar. My main tool was
http://www.labx.com and I highly recommend it. Place a want ad (free) for
the eq you're looking for.
I received many offers. The guy I bought the balance from apparently sells lots of 'em and if you wish to get in contact w/ him just email me. Update on my quest for the orange gunk: I now have over $1000 in eq and chemicals and have 1 lb of DI rootbark and 2 lb of mimosa rootbark on the way. Unfortunately I may not be in a position to work on the project for some time, perhaps a month or more. This is not for sure, but you may have to wait a bit 'til I can provide results.
I have three possible causes of my initial negative result.
--Vine
lux
RE: Need help with an A/B Desmanthus extract.
Vineman, Did youscore the Ph meter from the same source at the scale? I went looking through that site (whew!, what a gearhead's dream!) and didn't see a Ph meter for less than $800. (!!!).
Secondly, what was your DCM source? Did you buy it pure or are you planning, per the method layed down earlier, to refine it yourself?
Thanks.
P.S. wait a whole month?! (arrrrrrrrrgh!):-o
vine
RE: Need help with an A/B Desmanthus extract.
I bought it new, $100. Labx is an auction, and eq available is constantly changing. I doubt you'll find what you're looking for w/ just one visit. Or the cheapest price. I have found that instead of visiting the site every week, it's much easier to make them come to you. Want ads are free, and gave me excellent results!
There is a chem supply down south that I snagged the DCM from. There are also many mail order joints who would sell. I can't do a extraction due to my need for some secrecy at my current location.
Life is up in the air right now. I can't predict what I'll be doing a week or two from now. Plus my raw materials havn't arrived yet. I will keep you posted.
--Vine