A problem I've encountered in my FASI extraction attempts...

I cook the plant material in water with vinegar, strain, reduce, base and dry. This produces a sticky goo.
Then I want to pull it with IPA to do FASI precipitation on. But the goo, while perfectly water-soluble, is not IPA-soluble. So it's hard to use a magnetic stirrer, as the stir bar gets stuck in the goo.

Should I just soak the goo in IPA, without mechanical help? Will the IPA penetrate the goo enough to extract the DMT? It does turn amber / brown, but if the goo is not soluble, my intuition tells me most of the goodies stay trapped in it?

Hi,

Stuff from (presumed) freebase alkaloid residue that is NOT soluble in IPA is most likely stuff you do not want,

You have encountered no problem, you are just experiencing a means of better purifying your product.

If it does not dissolve in IPA, then discard. It isl likely some random contams that you wouldn't otherwise want.

Hope that helps,
Infun

The sticky material I'm referring to is not an impure product, it's basified and dried ACRB tea. If I discard that, I'll discard everything, and the yield of my extraction will be zero.

It's possible that some DMT has migrated into the IPA already, but it's hard to imagine the sticky goo hasn't trapped most of it. If IPA doesn't dissolve it, it doesn't penetrate it, right?

Edit: I've decanted the IPA solution off and am hitting it with FASI. A lot of clouding, so it looks like a lot of alks migrated into it indeed. Still, not sure how much alks is trapped in the goo.

You worry too much.

Stuff may or may not be trapped in the goo. You know you did a mistake. That is a learning opportunity. Not an opportunity to worry about yields.

Yes, you sound greedy.

Get over it. You won't be a lesser human if freebase is trapped in the goo.

Learn, retry.

PS I was wrong telling you to discard - my apologies. if you want to persevere, save the goo and mini-A/B it.

I didn't know I had made a mistake. Would you like to point me to what my mistake was? Because I have not the slightest idea...


I didn't know if the percentage of DMT trapped was relatively small or something like 95%. Not wanting to pour 95% of the goodies down the sink does not equal greed.

Thanks, I'll do a mini A/B, by which I'm assuming you mean dissolving the goo in water, pulling with an NP-solvent and backsalting the pulls, then basifying again.