Nice Plant! Have you tried it to see if it has any effects? Is it most active when smoked, or taken orally? I think it might not work so well smoked, though I could easily be wrong.
Marijuanilla is less confusingly known as leonurus sibiricus, and contains several alkaloids. Some of the alkaloids are leonurinine, leonuridine, stachydrine, leuronurine, prehispanolone, cycloleonurinine, leoheterin, and preleoheterin. Leonurine is one of the psychoactive chemicals found in leonurus sibiricus, as well as leonotis leonurus, popularly known as wild dagga and lions tail.
Leonurine is 4-Hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxybenzoic acid 4-guanidinobutyl ester and is an amine. Since amines form salts with acids, it is likely that an acid-base extraction could be preformed with the plant material in order to get leonurine and derivatives.
Making an acidic, water based infusion with leonurus sibricus would get the basic alkaloids into solution. This solution would be strained of its plant material and turned slightly basic. To get a more pure product of the alkaloids, de-fat the acidic solution during the acid-base extraction. This can be accomplished by adding a solvent such as dichloromethane, naphtha, or another nonpolar solvent. Once it is basic, and optionally de-fatted a solvent that dissolves the alkaloids. Although unsure, it seems ethyl acetate, or a chlorinated hydrocarbon would work well for leonurine.
Another option, that would produce a less pure extract of the present alkaloids then an acid-base extraction, is to extract the alkaloids from the plant material with a solvent such as water, acetone, ethanol or some other polar solvent. Wikipedia claims that leonurine is easily extracted with water.
Some properties worth noting maybe that since leonurine is an ester, it can likely be broken down by strong acids and bases at increased temperatures or long periods of exposure. Since leonurine has a hydroxyl group it may be able to form salts with bases in the right conditions, which would prevent an extraction using a nonpolar solvent. So care must be taken when using a strong base during the acid-base extraction.
Here are some links you may want to check out.
http://www.newstar-chem.com/english/display.asp?id=208http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid-base_extractionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonurinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonurus_sibiricus
Topic: Marijuanilla harvested. how to extract? what to extract? (Read 404 times)
