Hi,

I would like to ask your help as I've seen similar discussions here.

I had some psilocin freebase that started to turn grey and clump after 2 weeks at RT. In an effort to preserve it (I did not have continued access to refrigeration) I tried to salt it with ascorbic acid. I added an equimolar amount of the latter to the psilocin in a water/ethanol solution. Then, I laid it on a tray. 24h later, there is a brownish resin-like goo on the bottom of the tray.

Would you say this could work? Is the goo going to dry out and crystallize? Is there anything else I should do to help it?

Through what processes did you obtain psilocin freebase and have you vaped it?

Mind sharing? plzzzz

I THOUGHT that psilocin is a zwitterion and therefore is already in a salt form.

i.e. if you have psilocin 'freebase,' you have removed the phosphoric acid and you no longer have psilocin at all.

Am I correct?

no.

Well... perhaps you could educate me about my incorrectness? ....or am I just generally wrong now and forever until the end of time?

I remember reading this, and also reading it explained by dr. shulgin a while ago. I am nowhere near a chemist, and I have only a rudimentary understanding of these things, but from what I understood psilocin doesn't form a salt with acids because it is already of neutral charge - so there is no freebase psilocin.

Please, to broaden my understanding of the world, tell me what is wrong about that.

psilocin is not a zwitterion, and has no phosphoryl group. that would be psilocybin, and it's only a zwitterion within the range of the second pKa (3-4). psilocybin has 5 possible charge states.

psilocin incurs a negative charge above a pH of 8, so attempting to convert it to a free base
will likely give an inactive product. with careful titration to avoid exceeding the upper pKa, then salting with ascorbic acid, you may be able to get psilocin salts.


btw.. Dr. Shulgin's commentary of psilocybin extractions are purely speculative. His hypothesis that pure psilocybin may be obtained from alcoholic extractions is inaccurate, as alcohols also pull fungal carbohydrates.

Two days later, the goo is in the same state. I was thinking of putting it in a plastic bag together with some calcium chloride crystals. Do you think this could work? Or could it have degraded to an inactive substance?

I obtained the psilocin through the process of purchasing it . It is synthetic. It is not tested independently but I have bought it from a trustworthy person. The thought of vaping it did not cross my mind, because I've always read that it is destroyed by heat. Unfortunately, the thought that it would degrade so quickly did not cross my mind either. I've had miprocin fumarate at room temperature for three years and it lost no potency.

I have read two theories about the degradation of psilocin. One said that it forms carbonate salts when exposed to air, which are hygroscopic, and that's why it liquefies. However, the resulting goo would still be active. Another theory said that it forms a N-oxide.

I know little about chemistry. Would you say any of the above theories are plausible? If yes, what would be the best way to recover psilocin from goo? (I mean through a kitchen 'tek' accessible to laymen)

Yea, I thought it was interesting reading his answer to that question as "probably pure psilocybin" when I thought it was generally thought that those precipitates are proteins or other stuff.

While theoretically possible, can anyone point to any publication regarding the documented existance of psilocin salts?