I am an upcoming chemist, and I've done some experiments at my educational-institution. I have formed aspirin, batteries, soap and all kinds of basic stuff. I have never really extracted anything from a pre-defined source. For some reason, in the system where I live, they make you learn about and report titration numerous times but they don't emphasize extraction at all.

All-righty, so now I'm taking an introductory course to biochemistry and we're supposed to extract lactose from milk using ethanol. With those being the instructions, it mentally linked me to this place.

After having pondered for a bit, 4 questions have arisen; feel free to answer any number of those, from zero to all 4.

1) Is the application of your chemical knowledge, more complicated, when extracting monoamines like DMT,psilocin or other entheogens than just the carbohydrates?

2) Does having some experience handling toxic chemicals come in handy when it comes to DMT extraction or is it a completely different thing?

3) And also, do you people think that "they" [Being IUPAC, the governments or the bankers] don't want amateur-chemists to become too good at extracting molecules from pre-defined sources or am I just paranoid?

4) Is the lack of extraction courses in college chemistry a bad thing? Either because it systematically forms worse chemist-candidates or is it good 'cause people with criminal intent might utilize the knowledge produce more harmful substances like meth or cocaine?

1) Is the application of your chemical knowledge, more complicated, when extracting monoamines like DMT,psilocin or other entheogens than just the carbohydrates? extraction is not complicated. separation science is.

2) Does having some experience handling toxic chemicals come in handy when it comes to DMT extraction or is it a completely different thing? anything dealing with chemicals requires safety. obliviousness is not an excuse when one gets hurt, it's just a nomination for a Darwin award.

3) And also, do you people think that "they" [Being IUPAC, the governments or the bankers] don't want amateur-chemists to become too good at extracting molecules from pre-defined sources or am I just paranoid? paranoia is practical in certain situations. use your best judgement

4) Is the lack of extraction courses in college chemistry a bad thing? Either because it systematically forms worse chemist-candidates or is it good 'cause people with criminal intent might utilize the knowledge produce more harmful substances like meth or cocaine? extraction is just one procedure in any organic chemistry course. a competent chemist should be proficient in all of them, including chromatography.

I am not a chemist, but I have a huge respect for chemists. It is in my opinion one of the most beautiful sciences.

I will leave this here.

2011 - International Year of Chemistry
www.chemistry2011.org




Regarding question number 3, I think that the "they" group is formed by too many types of people and different interests and agendas. I know that even in the "highest spheres" many people can't agree on what should be done and when. Do some of them want to keep certain types of information restricted or less known? Probably... but I doubt it's about extractions.

As benzyme says: A competent chemist should be proficient in many aspects.

Let's try to learn more science and fight to make this world a cleaner and safer one!

SWIM didnt know nearly anything of chemistry, he is amazed he even passed the chemistry lessons in school, he had a horrible teacher! But reading the nexus he learned enough to get a good idea of the whole extraction processes, be able to make safely his own extractions of different kinds, improvise, change teks, experiment, etc..

So yeah, knowing anything of chemistry is always good but if dont know, just stick around for a while and research, you'll learn basically all you need to know about extractions here

I think you're just making things complicated.

1. Read instructions
2. Extract DMT and don't tell people you don't know you can trust 100% what you're doing.
3. Vaporize DMT and enjoy.

And experience is of course always useful.


Keep it simple

Welcome! Dr Acai!

Firt things first: practice those titrations! chemically speaking that is how you know exactly what amount you are dealing with at every step in a reaction! vital for fine chemistry.

Please don't call DMT a monoamine, thats the minor part - more importantly its a tryptamine or an indole.

You don't need much knowledge when extracting DMT except that lye in the eyes is not good, so be safe & wear gloves.
As to the extent of the correlation between chemistry and home extractions? well, everything you learn at university can be applied at home -somehow- but what do you want to do? If you're just after a bunch of crystal freebase, you don't need to know anything about chemistry at all, just follow the teks.