Hey,

Very soon the lovely red little beings that go under the name Amanita muscaria will start growing in my climate. I have access to areas with extremely many of these mushrooms, and in that regards I was thinking...

How could one perform an extraction on them? I don't want to store large quantities of mushrooms, it would be much more convenient to store them in extracted form. I realize that isolating pure to almost pure ibotenic acid and muscimol is an extremely hard task, hence the very high prices of said compounds.

But what about an extract yielding something like a resin or a tincture? Does anyone have any good ideas? I guess perhaps an IPA extraction could work. Or what about a water extraction? I do, however, want to be sure that the extraction method don't convert any muscimol into ibotenic acid.

Any suggestions or experiences are welcome!

Seriously, no one with any thoughts? I really want to make some tinctures when these lovely little friends start popping up!

Hmm... muscimol should come right out with a water extraction. It's slightly soluble in ethanol, but it's more soluble in water or methanol. Ibotenic acid is soluble in methanol, and is apparently mildly soluble in water.

As for avoiding the ibotenic acid... I don't know what conditions cause its formation from muscimol. When heated to about 140-180 degrees Fahrenheit, ibotenic acid turns into muscimol, so you could just heat your extract.

Or, you could try an acid/base separation. Basify an aqueous solution containing muscimol and ibotenic acid with a weak base such as sodium bicarbonate. We don't want to deprotonate the phenol hydroxy group in the muscimol, and I worry that sodium hydroxide would be strong enough to make the muscimol into a salt. But sodium bicarb (or perhaps sodium carbonate) should be strong enough to deprotonate the ibotenic acid and form sodium ibotenate. Then you could evaporate out the water leaving a powder containing muscimol and sodium ibotenate, and pull from the powder with methanol (or lots of ethanol if you can afford to use that much). That should leave sodium ibotenate behind and pull your muscimol. Evaporate the living crap out of the methanol, because it's toxic, and then voila! Muscimol without ibotenic acid.

Using ethanol will go through a lot of solvent, but it has a lower chance of pulling any of the ibotenate into the alcohol -- methanol can sometimes dissolve salts, and while I'm doubtful that methanol could dissolve ibotenate, I'm not certain. Since this is your neurons we're talking about, safety comes first!

If I were you, I'd just heat the mushrooms to convert the ibotenic acid into muscimol. It's just way easier and it doesn't involve chemistry undergraduates inventing procedures to separate ibotenic acid from methanol. Dry the mushrooms in an oven at around 200 F (or about 100 C), extract with water, and evaporate the extract. Don't expect pure muscimol! You will NOT know the concentration of muscimol in that extract, so you better know how much mushroom went into producing a certain amount of extract, and divide your doses up accordingly.

There are severall companies (like KT-botanicals) that sell amanita muscaria extracts. Couldn't you sent them an e-mail and ask them what method they use? I think that companies that feel some responsability for the stuff they sell, would want to be open about procedures they use in relation to the safety of their product.

If they don't reply to your question then at least you know not to buy anything there.

Thank you a lot, both of you! I am thinking in the lines of making a tea with hot non-boiling water, then reducing the tea to yield some form of a goo. Water takes extremely long time to evaporate though, so I am inclined to look for alternatives.

Methanol is a huge no-no for me, both because of its toxic effects if not totally evaporated, and because I simply can't get it in my area. I am much more drawn towards a food-safe extraction technique.

Too bad the solubility in ethanol is low. I would love to make some ethanol based tinctures! I will contact some suppliers of Amanita extract and hear what they have to say. Thanks for the advice!

So, did you find out? If so, how is muscimol extracted from amanita?

I guess the mistery of muscimol isn't over yet...
I too am prone to try and extract something but I'd rather try with TLC or something similar.
Now I just eat dried caps or make a tea slightly acid.. Maybe evaporate it like most resin are done...

Any extraction, other than water will cause different effects and will cause you to lose the most important spiritual healing from this fungus. This particular fungus is unlike any other and anything you've encountered. Most people do not like this one because they are not primed up mentally and spiritually for it. Usually, those that abuse it tend to have horrific experiences. Those that treat it with respect, love, and patience are usually the ones that get everlasting life.

The ibotenic acid is avoided by properly drying the AM. Also, warm water will convert ibotenic acid into muscimol. Be aware that the smaller the cap, the more potent. The larger caps, especially the ones bigger than your hand or face seem to have a lot more ibotenic acid and are weaker, so if you have large caps, make sure you get them cracker dry first and then you can do a simple water extraction, by boiling some water, turning the stove off and then dropping your mushroom in it. Have a large wooden spoon or ladle or some other device ready to keep the mushroom submerged as they often like the float on top of the water. There is a difference in experience if you just consume the extract, than if you consume the tea along with the flesh.

Also if you soak it in warm grapejuice it will taste different and the effects are different. Advice to anyone attempting to experiment with AM is to give yourself at least one full year of microdosing on this fungi. One would start with one gram and see how the body does. The first few weeks of consuming AM at this dosage seemed to not have any effect, that's ok this mushroom does not work like anything you've known, patience and just the love for the fungus itself is what will open doorways.

After a few weeks, one can go up to 2 or 3 grams, but remember the smaller caps are much more potent than the larger ones, so 2 grams of a small tiny cap is NOT the same as 2 grams from a big huge cap. There is an initial phase where the only results are sleepiness or a type of intoxication. During this phase its best to sit quietly somewhere for at least thirty minutes to let it do its thing, although you may not experience a mind blowing trip, rest assured that the healing power of this fungus is working on a deep unconscious level.

My cat is up to 5 grams a day and often grinds the caps up and gelcaps them. My cat takes two size 000 caps (approx one gram) in the morning to help start the day. Also, be aware that the effects will be different if you space out the dosage. For example if you're consuming 10 grams all at once is going to give you a different benefit than if you break the 10 grams up in portions of 2 or 3 grams at several intervals during the day. This fungus is a very powerful teacher, right up there with DMT, but in a different way. Therefore, to get the most out of the benefits, it's best to dose smaller rather than larger. A massive trip for someone who is not primed mentally and spritually will only cause your mind to block most of it out. Therefore, taking smaller dosages over time and keeping it balanced can prevent a lot of suppression and enable you to remember the small "aha" moments that will come.

Some people will have instant realizations and flashes of light go off in their heads. Others will only feel sleepy and think nothing of it, only to look back six to eight weeks and realize that they have changed something or understood something very important in their lives, or at least feel like they've made some progress.

If you are sincere and patient and balanced, with a spirit of love and openeness to whatever experience this fungus brings, then you will be pleasantly surprised, but you have to take your time in getting to know this wonderful teacher.

No matter what it is you're working on this can be your counselor, guitar teacher, math tutor, mother, father, lover, guidance counselor, life GPS, as well as extra sensory perception development. Mary Jane goes very well with AM, and it is recommended to use them in conjunction with each other to experience the most effects. With continued patience, you'll begin to experience an inner teacher that will clearly have an inner dialogue with you and will open up pathways of wisdom, knowledge and take you right to the experience.

I absolutely LOVE this fungus.

Also, at doses of 5 grams (small tiny caps) to 8 grams, one will go into a drooling trance. The drooling will stop after a few months of taking this fungi daily. But the trance will put you into a hyper suggestible state. Therefore, you DO NOT want to be watching TV, or at a party, etc. Instead, your mind is primed up for new reality programming. If you have a problem quitting smoking for example, you can use this state to give yourself positive suggestions. Your subconscious is brought to the forefront ready and willing to take any and all suggestions. Please be careful not to do this in a forceful way, but in a gentle, loving and almost 'nudge' type of way. Notice that I mention *suggesting* things to yourself, not commanding. If one is involved in magick and rituals, then this is an excellent catalyst to take your powers to a whole other level. Use responsibly.