I went for a drive to try and find some naptha, 2+ hours later and no dice I settled on some lighter fluid (zippo lighter fluid that apparently contains, "Synthetic Isoparaffinic Hydrocarbon". Now sitting at home I decided to google up the MSDS of a product I nearly bought, and looking through the MSDS I get the feeling that I made a mistake purchasing the lighter fluid and I should have gone with the other product.

So my question is, Should I use this lighter fluid or should I go buy a bottle of this stuff? http://www.damarindustries.co.n...rew%20Fuelite%20MSDS.pdf

I intend to do a standard STB tek and freeze precipitate, it should be noted that although my freezer is capable of precipitating crystals, it is not very powerful.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers

Pure naptha, straight up.

look at the msds you just posted the link.. It is a mixture of plenty of solvents, including toluene, at up to 5%.. Toluene dissolves dmt very well, but even too well, so for example it could screw up your freeze precipitation because even at freeze temperatures a considerable amount could possibly NOT precipitate because they will be dissolved in the toluene... Once SWIM used a naphtha that had traces of xylene (similar to toluene), and indeed thats what happened, it didnt freeze precipitate properly, only a very small amount of crystals could be retrieved, and then he had to evaporate everything.

The other issue is toluene pulls more than just dmt, it also pulls some more impurities, as well as more alkaloids (jungle spice) that are not dmt.. These alkaloids are more red/orange in colour, dont really crystalize, stay oily or at most they get a bit drier, waxy-ish. Not that this is necessarily a problem, there's people that like the effects from it, but just telling you so you know, because sometimes if it doesnt crystalize its annoying to deal with an oil to weigh it and so on, and if you are expecting nice white crystals it might dissapoint you.

Could be that the amount of toluene is so small that it wont interfere much, you can only know trying.. If you do use it, remember to make many small warm pulls instead of fewer bigger pulls, so that the solvent is as saturated as possible when you stick it in the freezer. And reuse the solvent and/or after freeze precipitating and retrieving the alkaloids evap the solvent to see if there is anything still left inside.

I dont know about zippo fluid either, im weary of using things sold as fuel because they are not meant to be ingested, so they could have all sorts of toxic/nasty stuff inside (like anti-rust additives and what not). But I know some people do use these fuels, maybe someone else here can advice you from personal experience.

sorry I couldnt really tell you which one to use.. While you dont decide, I would say keep looking for something that is more pure naphtha/aliphatic hydrocarbons.. Good luck!

Dunno man, if I was you, I would hit every single local hardware store and find pure naphtha. At least 1 store should have them in the paint/solvent isle. It's a pretty common product. I've seen it here in Lowes, Home Deport, Ace and other stores....

Advice I had seen in some of the teks, if uncertain, to put some on a piece of glass or blank cd, let it evaporate, and see if any residue is left behind. If it all evaporates, there should be no danger, just may lose some Spice, as endlessness suggests.

glass, not a blank cd.
nonpolars will degrade polycarbonates

i'd test the lighter fluid, the other one has toluene. you may have problems getting crystals to crash out using that

thanks for the clarification, benzyme!

hi bigburger,

when i was in nz last year, im pretty sure mitre 10 had naptha?
but all the gas stations sell a campstove fuel in a clear plastic bottle that is n-hexane. this would almost be preferable to naptha, no???
has anyone else used straight hexane??

SWIM also wondered about using hexane.

Heptane and hexane supposedly work in similar manners. Heptane can be found as bestine, possibly in pure form, though SWIM's not positive on that account.

many thank yous, amor_fati

The link I posted above is indeed the MSDS for the campstove fuel which contains n-hexane, albeit in small amounts (around 192g/L of n-Hexane for a 1L bottle).

I used ronsonol lighter fluid for my last extraction and that did provide decent spice from freeze extraction.

I have hit nearly every hardware store in my area but I will have another look today when I go purchase some more glass jars. (I found out when mixing the water and NaOH that they leak from the lid :o).

Just a side question, is naptha sometimes used in the production of Crystal Meth? If it is that could be a reason as to why it is so scarce, My country has launced a "War on Meth" and placed massive restrictions on chemicals needed to create the drug, for example; a prescription is required to purchase pseudoephidrine containing medicine.

Thanks for your help!

It might be labeled as shellite. Drug producers are usually after large quantities of acetone or toluene, not naptha.

the campstove fuel with 192g/l hexane is the stuff i used for my experiments with various acacia when i was in nz. (i wasn't terribly successful, didnt find the right species) it evapps quickly leaving no residue. it is also inexpensive. from the msds, it has a bit of toulene, too. cant say im a fan of that, but oh well.

i had contacted a chemical supplier in chch for d-limonene which they can get, and this would be my preferred route, but i never followed thru.

maybe u could do 2 small batches using lighter fluid and hexane to compare.
cheers

there are sooooo many different acacia down there just growing in the ditches. if u find the right one then please share!!