The object of this extraction was to obtain a smokeable freebase powder containing harmaline and tetrahydraharmaline alkaloids for use in changa recipes.

( harmaline / tetrahydra seem to be currently unavailable commercially in pure form in the UK )

100g of dried crumbled caapi leaf from a reputable supplier was extracted using thp THP method with small amount vinegar, resulting in 5L sediment free amber liquid which was reduced to 1L. The remaining leaf material was then cooked down once in a pan and the liquid from this was added. 100g salt was added to the warm liquid which dissolved completely.
Liquid was placed in fridge, and cloudy snow type stuff could be seen forming and falling to the bottom.
This sediment was filtered out after several hours and the filter was dried and scraped yielding about 1.1g lightish brown lumpy powder. (no further solids were formed after chilling overnight.)


500 mg of this powder was added to a jar containing 50ml hot water and a splash of vinegar, however, it seemed very reluctant to dissolve, forming dark brown lumps at the bottom and sticking to the spoon in a similar way to, say, cocoa powder might do. little colouration of the liquid was noted, and a little further vinegar was added to no effect.
A further salting of the product had been envisaged at this point, however as a solution could not be obtained Swim moved straight on to the dropwise adding of ammonia. This caused the liquid to go a dark brown colour with some lumps remaining at the bottom. The hoped for precipitation of freebase did not seem to occur. Further Ammonia was added to no effect. after some hours the residue at the bottom was collected and dried out resulting in a mere 100mg dried product which was a darker brown with a greyish tinge. The liquid remained a dark brown and, swim suspects, contains much of the harmala alkaloids still. chilling overnight did not result in any further solids)

Would like to hear suggestions for liberating the remaining 400mg alkaloids from the ammonia laden brown liquid, preferably without adding a bunch of lye.

A small quantity of the light brown powder ( hcl ) from the initial extraction was bioassayed and resulted in an amazingly blissful and clear extended experience which was everything swim had hoped for from this extraction, and
ISHO far superior to freebase powder extracted from syrian rue.