Supplemental Procedures:This section is to provide you with the opportunity to supplement your extraction with optional steps. Though not necessary, they are often encouraged, and it's up to you whether or not you would like to implement them. I personally recommend the standard extraction as it's a great way to learn. Once you are comfortable and confident with the execution, go ahead and start adding in these extra steps. Regardless of final product yield, it can be a rewarding experience. If you truly want to record the differences between procedures, it is recommended that you use the same batch of MHRB, and that every batch is of the same consistency. I.e. Don't do one batch of 50g shredded bark and then 50g of powdered bark. The results of experimentation are only viable if you're changing ONE thing at a time.
Ditch the coffee filters and use Cheese Cloth: The coffee filters often break and can be a pain to retrieve used MHRB, I have since found that cheese cloth works way better for filtration as you can twist it until almost all of the liquid is out. You can find large cheese cloths on Amazon that you can cut to size. I cut them 12inch by 12inch.
Get yourself a professional pipette: This makes things 1000 percent easier. Executing efficient pulls with a glass turkey baster is impossible if you want to obtain all of your yield. A professional pipette allows you to control the intake and outtake of airflow for more precise pulling. Finding a 50mL pipette can be difficult but I was able to procure one on Amazon, buying the bulb separately. I'll never look back.
How to use a professional pipette: Cell Lysing: - The act of freezing and thawing an aqueous solution of water and plant material in an effort to swollen the cells. When doing so, they burst and then free the alkaloids from within them. Most teks state to lightly heat up the aqueous solution first, afterwards freezing and thawing 3 times. There has been some debate about whether or not this is beneficial, but most signs point to yes.
Fast Evap: - After pulling your hot NPS from your flask into your measuring cylinder and then decanting the solvent into your crystallization dish, you can place it back on your hot plate (no magnetic stirrer needed this time) to further reduce your solvent volume. When Naphtha is hot, it evaporates quickly. It's boiling point is 98C (so don't over do it, keep it at 70C-75C. To aid in evaporating your hot solvent, you can add a small fan to be placed next to the crystallization dish with the fan pointing upwards in order to create a vortex to push hot air out and up. Once your solution is down to about 75ml it's safe to turn off the hotplate, as it will continue to evap as it cools to room temperature. After that, start your slow freeze supplemental procedure.
[PLEASE NOTE THAT QUICKLY EVAPORATING SOLVENTS INDOORS CAN BE DANGEROUS, I TOOK THIS PICTURE FOR THE TEK, BUT REST ASSURED THE HOTPLATE, DISH WITH SOLVENT, AND FAN ARE MOVED TO A WINDOW TO BE SAFELY BLOWN OUTSIDE.] Slow Freeze: - Instead of adding your final solvent solution to the freezer right away you can slow the crystallization process down by letting it cool and freeze slowly over time. This will produce large crystals. My method is to allow the solvent to cool to room temperature, covering the dish in cling wrap, then wrapping the dish in a towel to then be placed in the fridge for 4 hours. After that, place the towel wrapped dish in the freezer for 20 hours while slowly adjusting the temperature over time to get to -6F. The towel seems silly, but it prevents the solvent from taking a drastic temperature decrease as opposed to just sticking it in the freezer and rapidly cooling it. Try not to disturb the crystallization dish once it's in the freezer so that the crystals can resolve more efficiently.
Sep Funnel and Sodium Carbonate Wash:1. Instead of transferring your pulls into a cylinder, you can add to a separatory funnel. This will allow you to decant the aqueous layer on the bottom. Adding hot solvent to a sep funnel can be dangerous, but by the time you are done with your 5 pulls, it will be cooled down enough. However, notice that in photo 1, you can see some dark specs on the glass. This is inevitable, and if you continue from here, you may end up with impurities in your crystallization dish. Or, we can get rid of those specks!
2. Take 50mL of distilled water and 10mg of Sodium Carbonate (
You can make Sodium Carbonate by heating baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) in a skillet ) and add it to the sep funnel. Place the stopcock on the sep funnel and swish the contents around. The sodium carbonate and water mixture will grab up the specs of soup and sink to the bottom as it is heavier than the solvent.
3. From here, just decant the bottom aqueous solution before decanting the pure solvent/dmt solution into your crystallization dish.
Credit to
Endlessness for teaching me the ways of the Sodium Carb wash. Very helpful.
Re-X: Recrystallization is the process of removing more impurities from your final product by washing it in a very small volume of hot heptane and then decanting the hot heptane and DMT solution into another vessel to be crystallized again, making sure to leave behind the impurities behind which will usually be a brown colored goo or tiny pieces of goo (unwanted plant fats and oils and other potential impurities).
Here is a step by step pictorial on how to do a recrystallization.
1) With product in a small vessel (I recommend a 100mL beaker as it has a spout to make decanting easier), dissolve the impure solid in a minimum volume of hot heptane. 0.5g of crystals should easily absorb in 5mL of, but I do 20mL and then evaporate off another 10mL. Agitate the heptane and dmt solution by mixing until completely dissolved. Allow to cool slightly.
2) Remove any insoluble impurities by slowly Decanting from one 100mL beaker into another 100mL beaker. You should see the impurities left behind. Wait for the heptane to cool completely to room temperate and repeat this step by decanting into another 100mL beaker. Having 3 beakers helps, but you can simply wash the one you just decanted from. You will see more impurities left behind, with the final beaker consisting of heavily saturated DMT.
3) Place in fridge to cool. Then place in freezer to finish the precipitation process. Remember.
The slower your solution cools, the cleaner and larger your crystals will be.Glossary: Click Orange Terms Below For Links MHRB: Mimosa Hostilis Root Bark - The root bark of a perennial tree or shrub native to the northeastern region of Brazil and found as far north as southern Mexico. The tree's bark is dark brown to gray. It splits lengthwise and the inside is reddish brown. It has become a popular and easily produced cosmetic ingredient in commercial skincare products. The root bark has been recently shown to have a dimethyltryptamine (DMT) content of about 1-1.7%
NaOH Sodium hydroxide - Also known as lye and caustic soda, it is an inorganic compound. It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations Na+ and hydroxide anions OH−. In Chemistry, it can be used to basify acidic solutions.
N-Heptane - A non polar solvent that is widely used in laboratories and can be used to extract alkaloids, as well as fats and oils from plant material or plant seeds. Because of it's lower density, the main purpose of solvent extraction is to isolate certain materials from the sediments and sludge or to separate the useful components from debris.
Decant - To gradually pour liquid from one container into another, especially without disturbing the sediment.
Crystallization - The process by which solid forms, where the atoms or molecules are highly organized via evaporation and
Brownian motion, into a structure known as a crystal. This can be done by precipitating from a solution and freezing. Attributes of the resulting crystal depend largely on factors such as temperature and time taken for fluid evaporation.
FAQ:Q: Why is it called a Lab Tek?Answer: I wanted to differentiate this Tek from other Teks in hopes it will be on the Nexus Wiki one day. Because I'm using semi fancy glassware and equipment, it felt right to call it a Lab Tek as opposed to let's say, a Lazyman's Tek. No offense to that Tek at all. Maybe one day I will post "Toshido's Ultra Professional Lab Tek V13.0."Q: Why all the fancy glassware and equipment?Answer: I thought about extraction a lot before my first attempt, and I wanted to do it as efficiently as possible. However, there are other reasons. The glassware used here is Borosilicate glass and is primarily used because of its durability and resistance to chemical changes and thermal shock. I.e. less worry for mason jars or other vessels to crack or break during extraction. The Hot Plate and Magnetic stirrer w/ Sensor provides a number of benefits. For one, the hot plate in conjunction with the sensor allows you to maintain a perfect temperature throughout the extraction and eliminates the need for using open flames to boil water for heat baths, something I didn't feel comfortable with while working with a flammable solvent in close proximity. Lastly, the magnetic stirrer allows you to eliminate the need for constant mixing of the solution and also the need to shake once the solvent is introduced. Q:If you're so fancy, then why Vinegar? Shouldn't you be using Hydrochloric Acid(HCl)?Answer: We're all learning, I simply haven't done the research to make my own HCl solution, and from what I have learned so far, all I really need to do is get the pH down for the acidic solution. Vinegar does that well. I'm sure one day I will post a newer version of the tek, and it may very well use HCl or Citric Acid.Q: Why the salt stage?Answer: Cybs Max Ion Tek states that "Adding a highly saturated salt solution to the mix gives a high ionic strength to the solution and is more likely to form ‘clumps’ of molecules and help to push the product out in the first 2-3 pulls."
This had led to much debate in this community as I have heard that "the solubility of DMT in alkaline water, compared to organic solvents, already seems low enough. There should be enough ionic strength and not much room for DMT molecules once you add plenty of sodium hydroxide."
So... I'm just going to add the salt phase regardless. It might not be helping, but I do not think it is hurting. Feel free to discuss this in the comments! That's why I'm posting this!Q:I ran your math with the H20 and other ingredients and it doesn't add up. What gives?Answer: Good eye, attention to detail is key. Let me break it down.
TL;DR: MHRB isn't soluble, but Salt and NaOH are.
In step one you add 250mL of water and 50mL of Vinegar. In step 2 you add 50g of MHRB. In step 3 you add 150mL water and 45g salt. The total at this point is 500mL. Why? The 50g of MHRB isn't soluble in water and thus contributes to the volume of the solution w/ 1g=1mL. The 30g of NaOH IS soluble, so it does not contribute (at least noticeably) to the volume of the solution. In step 4 you strain the solution and set aside the damp MHRB, so your solution goes back to 450mL. THEN, in step 5, you add 450mL water and 50g NaOH(which is mostly soluable) bringing your final solution total to 900mL.
Equipment Notes Sensor: Whenever you have to remove the sensor in order to remove the beaker or flask, make sure the heating function is turned OFF. If you have your heat set to 55C and you take the sensor out without turning off the heat, it will think your solution is room temperature and continue to heat your solution. So remember, if the sensor needs removed, turn OFF the heat.
Stirrer RPM: In an effort to prevent splashes and unwanted emulsions, you should always begin your stirrer at 300rpm. For instance, if the Tek calls for 700rpm, set the stirrer to 300rpm and allow it to reach that speed. Once that speed is reached, then you may gradually increase the speed in 100rpm increments until the desired rpm is reached. Steady and slow.
Other Notes Emulsions: Stirring too vigorously for too long or at a high heat can create unwanted emulsion that will be temperamental to alleviate, or impossible to rectify without returning the base solution back to an acid and then back to a base, which wastes time and materials. Let rest until solvent separates, about 10 min. Depending on the size and shape of your magnetic stir bar, and the model of hotplate you have, you may need to adjust RPMs accordingly.
Pulls: It is inevitable that you will get some of the MHRB solution into the 250ml measuring cylinder. Especially on your final pull, which will be your largest pull. When decanting the solvent from the cylinder to your pyrex dish, you will be able to get the majority of it. However, the very last bit can be transferred into the 100mL beaker so that you can use an eye dropper to get the remaining solvent.
As my other TEK did indeed work, it was filled with redundancies and took far too long as a result. My hopes are for it to fade into the abyss. However, I still think it is a great source for anyone who may be learning extraction, so I will link it here.
Old TEK -
Toshido's Lab Tek V1.3This first version draws loosely from the below TEKS.
Cybs Hybrid ATB Salt TekPsilosopher?'s ATB TekCybs Max Ion TekEarthwalker's ACRB Tek
Thanks to....
sauSage,
Artificer,
TheSofaTraveler,
Jacubey,
CosmicLion,
JungleHeart,
endlessness,
KingTryptamine,
downwardsfromzero,
The Traveler,
Hailstorm, and
benzyme for your kindness, patience, and guidance. Your self discipline throughout my constant barrage of questions is something that will most certainly be paid forward indefinitely and immeasurably.
🌳👨🔬🌳 - My A/B Hot Plate TEK - 🌳👨🔬🌳
🍜🍜🍜 - Don't Heat Your Naphtha, Heat Your Soup! - 🍜🍜🍜
✴✴✴ -
White Spice vs Yellow Spice - 🌟🌟🌟
"You are an explorer, and you represent our species, and the greatest good you can do is to bring back a new idea, because our world is endangered by the absence of good ideas. Our world is in crisis because of the absence of consciousness." - Terence McKenna 🙌
"Dang, that's really impressive for a first extraction. Those xtals are nicely resolved." - Benzyme 🙌