Just wondering if anyone out there has ever used distillation(fractional or vacuum) to purify their spice.

Do you mean set up a big ol' column with a gentle heating mantle with $500+ worth of glassware, with spice dissolved in the solvent? Because that would require skills, equipment, space, and on it goes. If you can clean up a pull by a simpler method, why go commando on it with the big guns? Hypothetical question.

Or do you have a simpler idea in mind?

I was thinking of using a forced air vaporizer(for cannabis and the like) with decently accurate temperature control to vaporize the different components of the spice(freebase). Then for the condenser, use a champagne bottle filled activated carbon, cooled down in a freezer overnight. First vape out all the NMT at 315°F. Then switch out the bottles and vape out the DMT at 325°F. Throw out what's left in the vaporizer. Leach out the goodies, from the second bottle, with some solvent. Evaporate.

Does that sound like it would work?

It seems like an overcomplicated waste of time/energy, to me.

Sublimation or column chromatography (with appropriate equipment) are both approaches I would consider if I was working with a lot of questionable grass, but I personally would not bother with the approach you have outlined.

Firstly you would need to do this in a vacuum system, or you'll be degrading more spice than purifying.

Secondly, simple distillation is less precise and effective at seperating compounds than you may think. You should read into the concept of "theoretical plate" if you want a better understanding why this is so. Also, DMT and NMT might have a low boiling azeotrope (not saying I know they do, but who knows if they do), which is another complication of distillation.

You have a better chance employing column chromatography.

What about steam distillation from crystal? Goo? Raw root bark?

Is there a reason you are avoiding a standard, straightforward a/b?

Hypothetically, straightforward a/b doesn't separate alkaloids from alkaloids.

I was just wondering if this was viable. I can't imagine steam distillation would be economical on a small scale. This is just out of curiosity. Maybe one day when all medacines are legal there may be a need to produce DMT on a large scale. Solvents are expensive as are bases/acids. Steam distillation might allow for quick & cheapand extraction of dmt from kilos of rootbark at a time.

Hypotheticals are all fine and well, but realistically:

1) Excepting certain non-cultivated strains of grass, there are a wide variety of materials for which there is no need to separate alkaloids from alkaloids, from both a purity as well as a safety standpoint.

2) There are a number of materials where separating alkaloids from alkaloids is optional from a purity standpoint, but certainly not required from a safety standpoint.

To be clear, I'm not saying that alkaloid separation has no place, but I personally don't see a reason to substitute an entire reliable extraction methodology solely based on the desire to separate end compounds. It seems, to my mind, to be much less work (and more straightforward, as far as processes) to follow an a/b with additional procedures at the end for alkaloid separation (e.g. sublimation, chromatography, dry-ice carbamate partitioning, etc.). But, as stated, that's just my opinion.


We don't talk large-scale extraction here, hypothetical or otherwise, sorry. Suffice it to stay that there are easier methods than steam distillation (imo) when working with larger amounts of material, but that is not a topic for discussion on the Nexus.

that's what solvent partitioning is for.

As has been mentioned previously, there are far simpler ways to purify. These methods would work just fine on a large scale as well so realistically, this idea is just an overcomplification. I tend to overcomplicate things all the time so I know where you are coming from. Just stick to the tried and true methods. No reason to reinvent the wheel here.

Alright sorry for bringing up large-scale manufacture. Also i wasn't looking for a practical route i just wanted to know if it was possible. Thanks for the replies.