There are basically two steps a) extraction of the alkaloids from the plant
material b) conversion of the alkaloid salts to
freebase. Additional
processes to purify the material will also be suggested. These instructions
apply generally to all plant
sources, but the author recommends mimosa
hostilis root bark or desmanthus rootbark as the best sources.Not bark,not
roots,
but root bark.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
acid- .1N HCl, or muriatic acid (11% HCl) from hardware store,diluted to pH 1
with water {add acid to small amount of
water,keep adding acid till pH is 1}
base- NaOH, or Lye (such as Red Devil brand) nonpolar solvent- petroleum ether
or
dichloromethane, or "naptha", available OTC in several similar forms
(Coleman fuel,Zippo lighter fluid) pH meter or papers (a
meter is HIGHLY
recommended,as the solutions are very strongly colored,making papers difficult
to read). (Can't find pH
papers? Try homebrew shops, "Science"stores {look
in the yellow pages-there are like 3 in my area that sell high school
science fair type things},pool and spa stores,hydroponic stores) separatory
funnel-buy,beg,borrow or steal one,it'll make things
WAY easier and more
efficient.If you must substitute,there are 2 options: a) a jar and a turkey
baster (or pipet and bulb,or
large syringe) b) a ziplock bag a few extra
jars-with lids,very clean
EXTRACTION FROM PLANT MATERIAL
Pulverize material thoroughly.A coffee grinder is perfect for this. Place in
jar,cover with acid.This acid is pretty strong. It could
seriously damage
your eyes.Gloves and glasses are recommended,as is caution. Shake jar several
times a day,for one week.
Filter out the acid. A vacuum setup with pump or
faucet aspirator is best.A coffee filter may work,but slowly.Straining through
a tea strainer first may help. Reserve acid in a separate jar,return plant
material to original jar. Cover with fresh acid,shake a
few times a day for
1-2 more days. Filter out acid,and combine with first extract.
Optionally,extract a third time with fresh acid
for an additional day or
two. The acid now contains the tryptamines,in their salt form. {OPTIONAL}
Defat.Since the salts in
this acid solution are not soluble in nonpolar
solvents,this allows the opportunity of removing some unwanted compounds.The
separation process will be described in more detail below-if defatting is
done,it is the same basic process:add nonpolar
solvent,shake well,separate
and discard the NONPOLAR layer.
SEPARATION AND ISOLATION
The next step is to form the freebase alkaloid.This is done by adding a
strong base:NaOH.The freebase thus formed is not
soluble in polar
solvents,such as the acid water mix,but is in nonpolar ones. Slowly add NaOH to
the acid solution-it can be
added dry.NaOH is very caustic-use gloves and
eye protection.Add very slowly-1/8 tsp or so at a time.Gently swirl to mix and
dissolve it. If too much is added at once,it may boil and spatter,and you
will probably overshoot the mark.Continue adding until
pH 11-12 is
obtained.This may be difficult to determine with papers.Freebase is often
visible coming out of solution.The
solution will change color as it becomes
more basic-it will probably wind up brownish-green,depending on the starting
material.Allow the solution to cool to room temperature before proceding
(IMPORTANT)
If using a sep funnel,add the basified solution.Or put it into a tallish
jar.Whichever,only fill it about 1/3 full.Now add an equal
volume of
nonpolar solvent.Note that DCM will sink,most others will float.This will become
crucial shortly,so pay attention as
you add it.Stopper the container and
shake it.Especially at first,vent the container occaisionally to relieve any
pressure.Shake
the hell out of it.Let it sit a few minutes,then shake some
more.Repeat several times over the period of a couple hours. What
you see
next will depend on your choice of plant and solvent,but a likely scenario is
that there are 3 layers,the middle of which
is sort of foamy.This is called
an emulsion-when imiscable liquids sort of mix. The emulsion layer can cause
problems-there
might be goodies tied up in it,but they will be harder to
isolate. What we'd like to see is 2 well defined layers with little or no
emulsion.The first and best way to achieve this is simply wait.When you're
done shaking,you may see ONLY emulsion,but it
will soon start to
resolve.Waiting overnight is often required for good resolution.The pH you
basified too has a big influence on
this ,but the best pH will vary with
different ingredients. If you patiently waited,and it still won't resolve,there
are a few
tricks.Add more nonpolar solvent,shake a bit,continue waiting.Or
put a straight wire in and break up the emulsion.You can
chase down any
leftover blobs that are stuck and they will usually migrate to the proper
layers.The container must be
scrupiously clean.If there was,for example,an
oily smudge on the side in the area that should contain the polar layer,then
nonpolar gunk may stick there where you don't want it.As a last resort add
some salty water (not so salty that the salt won't all
dissolve),and agitate
again.This makes the polar layer MORE polar,and may do the trick.
First,though,just be patient and it will
hopefully separate just fine.
We now want to remove the nonpolar solvent,which contains the dissolved
freebase.If you have a sep funnel.it's a piece of
cake,as long as you
remember which layer is which.(Don't forget to remove the stopper before you
start draining).You want
JUST the nonpolar layer at this stage-any emulsion
should stay with the polar layer.
If you are using a jar,then regardless of which layer you want to keep,I'd
advise removing the top layer,rather than trying to
reach through and draw
off the layer beneath it.A syringe,pipet and bulb,or baster may be used.DO NOT
SUCK WITH
YOUR MOUTH!-these solvents are poison! Test any non-glass items
with a little plain solvent first to make sure they wont
melt.
Another option,again provided it is compatible with your solvent,is a large
(new) ziplock bag.Fill,seal,shake,and hang it up so
that one of the non
zipper corners is at the bottom.Have an extra jar ready.Pinch the corner almost
at the bottom,then poke a
hole or snip off a very tiny bit.Using your
fingers as a clamp,drain each layer into a separate container.
Whichever method you use,put aside the separated nonpolar layer.Add fresh
solvent to the remaining polar
layer.Shake,separate,and combine the nonpolar
fractions. I'd recommend keeping ALL the layers (separately) untill you're sure
everything went OK.
Before going further,I'd suggest taking a bit of the collected nonpolar
solvent,say 5-10%,and letting it evaporate on a small
glass dish.This will
give you an indication of how clean your product is.If you're lucky,you'll wind
up with a dish of crystalls,and
you can go ahead and evaporate the
rest.Often you'll get a thin layer of oil once the solvent evaporates.This may
take a day or
3 to start to crystallize.If nothing is happening,or it is
especially gunky,you have 2 options.(And you might consider a defatting
step
next time you try with the same materials). If you are POSITIVE that your
solvent will cleanly evaporate (test some in a
dish to be sure),then your
product,though gunky,is probably OK. Perhaps some water or emulsion layer got
carried over into
the nonpolar layer.It can still be smoked,either like hash
oil,or dissolve it in alcohol or nonpolar solvent,add a little of your
favorite herb,mix well and let the solvent evaporate.
Option 2 is cleaning and purification.To do this,you wash it with whatever
solvent the DMT WONT dissolve in.A thourough
cleaning would involve
(starting with the freebase dissolved in nonploar solvent): Add equal volume of
salt
water,agitate,separate,discard the water layer. Add HCl/water to the
nonpolar layer,agitate,separate,discard nonpolar layer
.You just converted
the freebase to a salt,DMT HCl,which is water soluble.{Optionally,wash with
fresh nonpolar solvent,then
discard it}.Rebasify,and extract back to
nonpolar solvent like you did in the first place. This is not always
necessary,but if you
want to get it really clean you can.
Whatever you wind up with,remember this: this process is fairly specific for
alkaloids in general,not just nnDMT.If you used
phalaris,you'll have mostly
5MeODMT,which is 4-5 times more potent by weight.If your plant containe
bufotenine,then you
extracted that too.Large amounts of nonactive
tryptamines (such as NMT) will make you product weaker.Always assay
cautiously-start with a ridiculously small amount,especially if you don't
have a good scale.
Good luck!