Quote from: Quantum Dude on January 02, 2010, 11:16:51 AM

Hmm  you must mean picric acid, picrates are indeed insolubles but gotta remember that picric acid is a powerful explosive.

Picric acid itself is insensitive to shock and does not DDT

Monograph Number:  7492
Title:  Picric Acid
CAS Registry Number:  88-89-1
CAS Name:  2,4,6-Trinitrophenol
Additional Names:  picronitric acid;  carbazotic acid;  nitroxanthic acid
Molecular Formula:  C6H3N3O7
Molecular Weight:  229.10. 
Percent Composition:  C 31.46%, H 1.32%, N 18.34%, O 48.89%
Literature References:  Prepd by sulfonating phenol then treating with nitric acid:  Olsen, Goldstein, Ind. Eng. Chem. 16, 66 (1924); by treating benzene with nitric acid and mercuric nitrate:  Teeters, Mueller, US 2455322 (1948 to Allied Chem.); by nitration of 2-tert-butyl-4,6-dinitropenol:  Ley, Müller, Ber. 89, 1402 (1956).  Crystal structure:  E. N. Duesler et al., Cryst. Struct. Commun. 7, 449 (1978).
Properties:  Pale yellow, odorless, intensely bitter crystals.  d 1.763.  mp 122-123°.  Explodes above 300°.  One gram dissolves in 78 ml water, 15 ml boiling water, 12 ml alc, 10 ml benzene, 35 ml chloroform, 65 ml ether.  Keep in a cool place and remote from fire. Explodes when rapidly heated or by percussion!  Note:  For safety in transportation, 10-20% water is usually added.
Melting point:  mp 122-123°
Density:  d 1.763
CAUTION:  Potential symptoms of overexposure are irritation of eyes, skin; sensitization dermatitis; yellow stained hair, skin; weakness, myalgia, anuria, polyuria; bitter taste, GI disturbances; hepatitis; hematuria, albuminuria, nephritis.  See NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards (DHHS/NIOSH 97-140, 1997) p 258; Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products, R. E. Gosselin et al., Eds. (Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, 5th ed., 1984) Section II, p 197.
Use:  Explosives, matches; in leather industry; electric batteries; etching copper; manuf colored glass; textile mordant; also as reagent.

I worry abit about oxalate salts because like you said the citric acid over did it and the possibility of excess oxalic acid entering the body forming calcium oxalate just does not seem like a risk worth taking. The Citrates on the other hand are very interesting as they have been shown to increase the activity of some substrates substantialy over the Hydrochloride salt.

and it's pretty good i moght add i got a hell of a tolerance to mdma so if i take 150 mg and roll my ass off like everybody else doe it's pretty good you know that.
this is a lucrative little trade secret.

Oxalic acid is cardiotoxic if I remember right....or nephrotoxic...arrgh...I might be confusing it with phenol. Pretty sure its nephrotoxic. But I can't remember off the top of my head if it is cardiotoxic also. It may be.

IIRC there have been deaths in people eating boiled rhubarb leaves as a green vegetable. I would avoid the use of oxalates for animal use, or in humans. Ethylene glycol metabolises to oxalic acid, and if I remember correctly, that, is how, and where it exerts its toxic effects. Similar to how the toxic effect of methanol manifests when it is metabolised, and is not an inherent property of the methanol itself.

Calcium oxalate presents a different toxicological issue to oxalic acid, or other soluable oxalates. It forms needle-like 'raphides', which are basically tiny, double-ended needles of calcium oxalate, with severely mechanically irritating properties.

As for picric acid..this is for characterisation of products ONLY!!! picrates are NOT for ingestion, picric acid is toxic. Shock sensitive when its dry, although seemingly not when wet. Should be stored under water. The reason you often see picrates formed of XYZ compound in the literature is for mechanical chemical studies, determining melting points, for purification, etc. Not for administration to a subject.

And DI-nitrophenol, is extremely toxic. Its an uncoupler of oxidative phosphorylation, buggering up the proton gradient within mitochondria (and with that...I have to go do some research for someone on mitochondrial disease....looks like I'm going to have to make my grey matter pull a whole lot of overtime right about now)

Not sure if tri-nitrophenol (picric acid) does the same thing, it may well be specific to aromatic dinitro compounds. DNP however, has been known to cause cataracts. So the similarity and known toxicity should be sufficient to exclude picrates from potential salt forms of drugs for ingestion.