Hey all,

I'm doing my second AB-extraction with ACRB. The first time, I ended up with red-brown spice in my naphtha (the second or third extraction with naphtha, I use a water-bath to warm the mixture which makes more spice solvable in the naphtha).
Because this red-brown spice could be DMT-oxide, I dissolved it in vinegar (orange solution), added Zink powder and stirred well. The solution turned from orange to light yellow, which meant that the red-brown colour of the spice was due to DMT-oxide ....

For the second extraction, I tried to convert DMT-oxide before basification, by putting enough Zink powder to the acidic solution and mixing and heating this for a while (don't know whether this works, but I gave it a try.)
Now, I have my first extraction with naphtha and most of the spice is red-brown ... (some parts are really white), this suggests that there's DMT-oxide in it

This raises some questions:
1. When did this oxide came to existence (was it present in the powdered bark, is it produced during warm naphtha extraction, or is it in fact N-methyltriptamine (NMT))?
2. If it is DMT-oxide, how can it dissolve in Naphtha (it is considered a polar molecule)? But apparently it is DMT-oxide, since I could reduce it with Zink during my earlier extractions ...

I really love to read your comments on this.

I dont think it´s DMT N-Oxide. There is no evidence N-Oxide is present in Acacia confusa, and oxidation happens much more slowly than that, according to my tests.

The fact you had some change in color is not necessarily an indication of n-oxide presence, there could be other plant compounds/impurities which might be affected by zinc, including impurities in the vinegar itself.

Whenever you do such thing, I highly suggest you keep a control group, doing a side by side test except not using the zinc, to see what changes are actually happening.

I´d think you had dmt, nmt and possibly some plant oils/impurities. If you wanted cleaner spice probably a simple recrystallization and/or a re-A/B would take care of it.

I'll give this a try. It would be great if the brown colour is some plant impurities.
Though, I can't really understand how this colour during an earlier extraction cycle could be removed with the help of zink powder ...

Thank you for your help!