I'm doing a caapi extraction, and I've freebased the solution and the alkaloids are settling. It says I have to wash it several times with distilled water (I assume to remove the traces of lye). The problem is that when I add water the alkaloids dissolve into it, and I have to basify it again.

freebased alkaloids shouldn't ever dissolve in water that isn't acidified.

maybe before basing to precip, let it sit overnight in the fridge to settle?

also you can start basing with sodium carbonate instead of lye, if you want.

Will I need to do washes if i use sodium carbonate?

Freebase alkaloids will dissolve in distillled water since the ph of distilled water is acidic (usually anywhere between 4-6).

I'm guessing the proper word would be de-ionized if you want water with pH 7.0.

So what can I do to 'wash' out the sodium carbonate?

It's a minor concern compared to lye, but purification is easy and preferable.


As mentioned before, use water with neutral pH, like deionized water. Progressive washes will remove the traces of base, and you can always reserve the liquid after the washes to recover any alkaloid traces that might have been moved there. But it really depends on how cleanly you do the washes.

Ok. Is it possible to create deionized water or use an alternative? I don't have access to deionized water or ph strips.