I recently learned that an aquaintance of mine is also the clandestine chem hack type. While most of my knowlege is simply book knowledge, it turns out that this aquaintance has attempted an extract from D. Illinoises. I was fortunate enough to be able to see exactly what it was that he had extracted as well as his lab notes. Here is what I found.
His procedure (in short terms)
1 oz of dried root bark was extracted using SFE (butane).
The bark was then submerged in 150ml pH 3 (dilute HCl) water and heated on a steambath for 30 minutes.
Aqueous layer was filtered through cotton balls and collected.
Steambath repeated again for 20 minutes and collected again through cotton.
Both aqueous layers were combined with the oil from the SFE and shaken thuroughly.
100ml Naptha was added and the mixture was shaken for 2 minutes.
The solution settled quickly and the naptha was decanted along with a very thin layer of emulsion.
The remaining solution was slowly basified to pH12 using a solution of NaOH and water.
After basification, 100ml of naptha was added and the lot was shaken for 5 minutes.
The emulsion was allowed to settle to about 1/16 of an inch and the top layer was decanted.
This time the emulsion was collected as well.
This process was repeated 2 more times.
The three collections of naptha with each respective layer of emulsion were backwashed with a saturated solution of salt water.
The aqueous layer was discarded after the emulsion had settled.
The naptha was evaporated on a glass plate with a hairdryer to yeild a small puddle of orange oil. The puddle when scraped together was nearly the size of a half dollar. Weight was not recorded.
This oil, when viewed under a scope, appeared to be a clear to slightly yellow oil with orange specs. I was not able to determine wether the specs were tryly crystals or rather just organic matter as the scope i was using was rather dirty and not of the highest quality.
The product produced a noticable effect but was not near that which others describe. It came on quickly after 4 to 5 pulls but never ammounted to anything more than a slight rush. No visual distortions were present, no pupil dilation was noted, heart rate did increase for a short period but this may have been placebo. It was smoked in a bulb with a torch and glass tube. The smoke (as well as the oil) smelled much like plastic.
My questions are these;
Given said procedure, what should be adjusted in order to yeild cleaner, more concentrated product?
Is this the expected product for an extraction of this type?
Is this the expected yeild from the given ammount of plant matter?