O gotcha. Yea methanol would be good, also one can obtain 99% IPA at many stores easily.

IPA should be fine and def easier to obtain in high purity. Sulfuric acid would be fine to use with IPA. A light reflux should be fine.
What are you planning for a work up to isolate the product?
Also I suggest you make sure that your sample has high CBN concentrations before going through all the trouble. A butane extract from trim can be very potent and high THC low CBN it all depends...

SWIM has found that hexane does a wonderful job with THC extractions and produces a clear honey that is just delicious. Isomerization sounds interesting for the novelty, but I don't know about practicality.

Quote:

The collective name given to the terpenes found in Cannabis is cannabinoids. Most of the naturally occurring cannabinoids have now been identified, and three are the most abundant—cannabidiol (CBD), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and cannabinol (CBN). The steps from CBD to THC to CBN represent the biosynthetic pathway in the plant. THC is an optically active resinous material that is very lipid-soluble but water-insoluble; these physical properties make pharmacological investigations difficult, since various non-polar solvents must be used. Although many other materials have been found in this plant, the cannabinoids are unique to it and THC is the only one with appreciable mental affects. THC is believed to be largely, if not solely, responsible for the effects desired by those who use Cannabis socially. Virtually all the effects pro-Biosynthetic Pathway of Cannabinoids induced by smoking or eating some of the whole plant can be attained by using THC alone.

I also want to stress that CBD is not psychoactive. It has an effect but its more on the body but not in a stoned way. CBD will one day be a pharmaceutical drug. Its already in pharmaceutical formulations based on cannabis.

CBD (1 mg/kg) co-administered with Δ9-
THC (0.5 mg/kg) significantly reduced the
anxiety and the psychotomimetic symptoms
induced by the latter drug in healthy volunteers
(6). Since the dose of CBD used in that
study did not change Δ9-THC levels in blood
(15), it was suggested that CBD blocked the
effects of Δ9-THC by some intrinsic pharmacological
properties. Actually, when administered
alone CBD produced its own effects,
including hypnotic (16), anticonvulsive (17),
neuroprotective (1, and hormonal (increased
corticosterone and cortisol levels)
effects (19,20). These effects led to the hypothesis
that CBD could have anxiolytic
and/or antipsychotic effects.

Anxiolytic effect of cannabidiol
The anxiolytic properties of CBD has
been demonstrated by several pre-clinical
studies that employed different paradigms
such as the conditioned emotional response
(21), the Vogel conflict test (22) and the
elevated plus-maze (23,24). In the later study
(24), the effective doses of CBD ranged
from 2.5 to 10 mg/kg, and the drug produced
an inverted U-shaped dose-response curve,
the higher doses being no longer effective in
rats. This could explain the negative results
obtained with high doses of CBD (above
100 mg/kg) in a previous study employing
the Geller-Seifter conflict test (25).
To evaluate a possible anxiolytic effect
of CBD in humans, a double-blind study was
conducted on healthy volunteers submitted
to a simulation of the public speaking test.
CBD (300 mg, po) was compared to ipsapirone
(5 mg), diazepam (10 mg) or placebo.
The results showed that both CBD and the
two other anxiolytic compounds attenuated
the anxiety induced by the test (26). The
anxiolytic-like effect of CBD in healthy volunteers
was also observed in a more recent
double-blind study that investigated its effects
on regional cerebral blood flow by
single-photon emission computed tomography.
Because the procedure, by itself, can be
interpreted as an anxiogenic situation, it permits
the evaluation of anxiolytic drugs. CBD
induced a clear anxiolytic effect and a pattern
of cerebral activity compatible with an
anxiolytic activity (27). Therefore, similar
to the data obtained in animal models, results
from studies on healthy volunteers have
strongly suggested an anxiolytic-like effect
of CBD.

Another important model used to evaluate
antipsychotic-like activity in healthy volunteers
is the administration of sub-anesthetic
doses of ketamine. This glutamatebased
model induces a psychotic reaction
that mimics both positive and negative symptoms
of schizophrenia (45). A double-blind
crossover procedure was performed to study
the effect of CBD in this model (46). Nine
healthy volunteers were assigned randomly
to the placebo or CBD (600 mg) groups in
two experimental sessions separated by a 1-
week interval. After being submitted to psychiatric
assessment scales, the volunteers
received placebo orally or the drug and rested
for 65 min. An infusion pump was then
installed and an intravenous bolus of S-ketamine
(0.26 mg/kg) was administered during
1 min followed by a maintenance dose of
0.25 mg/kg for 30 min. A Clinician-Administered
Dissociative States Scale (CADSS)
was applied at the beginning of the sessions
and 90 min after the bolus injection. The
volunteers were asked to respond the scale
according to the period during which they
felt most symptomatic. CBD attenuated the
effects of ketamine on the total score of the
CADSS and also on each of its factors separately.
This effect was significant for the
depersonalization factor, further reinforcing
the antipsychotic-like properties of CBD

In conclusion, results from pre-clinical
and clinical studies suggest that CBD is an
effective, safe and well-tolerated alternative
treatment for schizophrenic patients. Future
trials of this cannabinoid in other psychotic
conditions such as bipolar disorder (50) and
comparative studies of its antipsychotic effects
with those produced by clozapine in
schizophrenic patients are clearly needed