SWIP had a small amount of the dreaded yellow oil left as a result of a failed experiement, so he tried to put it to good use. It was noted at the outset that the oil contained many tiny, white particles suspended in it.
Test One:
2-3 drops of the the oil were placed in approximately 5ml dH2O. The oil floated on top. Approx. 1 ml strong NaOH solution was added. The oil lost it's yellow color, and at once white particles began to precipitate, then hung in suspension in the NaOH/dH2O solution.
Test 2:
A few drops of the oil were mixed with several drops of ammonium hydroxide solution. A white precipitate formed and became suspended in the ammonia water, but the yellow oil remained floating on top.
Test 3:
1 drop yellow oil was combined with 1-2 ml of xylene. The yellow oil fell to the bottom, but did not combine. The tiny suspended particles did combine, entering into solution with the xylene. Addition of approximately 1ml ammonium hydroxide had no effect on the oil, but caused the precipitation of a white substance from the xylene. SWIP believes the precipitate to be pfed freebase.
Conclusion: If you wanted to recover the pfed from the xylene after basing with NaOH you would have a hard time, because the gak keeps it in solution. Ammonium hydroxide, on the other hand, appears to base the Pfed but not the gak. Other bases would probably work similarly.
SWIP has noticed in his gakinator experients that as soon as he used HaOH the game was over. At times he wondered if he couldn't pull the pfed more quickly if he combined the ammonia with a few mls of NaOH. He found that once the NaOH was in he could add all the ammonia he wanted, but the pfed wasn't coming out.
Geez:
"The process seems susceptible of scaling up and this offers a benefit over Prepuce's short path distillation method, which I think will be more difficult to scale up"
You may be right, but the more SWIP uses the method the better he likes it. Once the setup is put together, (and SWIP doesn't take it apart), you just dump in the freebase, put in the ice, and heat. Set it and forget it!
In fact SWIP doesn't recommend forgetting it, but he was been guilty of doing just that for nearly an hour. When he came back the beaker was stuffed full of delicate, shimmering crystals. No harm had been done, it just sat there recylcing itself until he returned.
SWIP believes that it would be difficult to outdo the purity that is easily achievable with this technique, and the only difficulty he would anticipate in scaling it up is the fact that he would need a larger beaker and test tube. The gakinator extraction procedure isn't mature yet, however.
PP