N,N-Dimethyltryptamine Extraction: Determining the percent yield of plant matter
Dear fellow travelers,
This is a simple procedure designed to acquire N,N-Dimethyltryptamine for research purposes only. This substance should not be consumed – the intentions for this procedure are for analytical determination of alkaloid content in dried plant matter.
If one chooses to ingest DMT, they are doing so at their own risk. The author of the presented material is not liable for the actions of individuals who choose to consume this compound – or any legal repercussion. The experiment is designed to collect the percent yield of alkaloids in the plant material ONLY. Equipment:SAFETY: 1. Indirectly vented goggles/eye wear
2. Protective gloves – preferably nitrile
3. Respirator or mask capable of filtering organic solvents in gas form
4. Citric acid or vinegar (use to clean up base spills)
5. Sodium Bicarbonate/ Sodium Carbonate (use to clean up acid spills and wash)
6. Glass extraction vessels
7. Awareness of your surroundings
8. Attention to detail
Useful tools:1. pH meter / pH paper
2. Graduated or volumetric glassware
3. Glass pipette or glass syringe
4. 6”x8” pyrex precipitation dish with lid
5. A scale/balance that can range from 50.001-0.001 grams.
6. 1 L mason jars or an old pickle jar with HDPE film underneath the lid
7. Beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks
8. Magnetic stirrer/hotplate (optional)
Reagents and Materials:1. Distilled water; Reverse Osmosis/DeIonized water ; or purified water
2. Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) – sometimes commonly called Lye
3. Acetic acid/citric acid – (citric is preferred due to the lack of smell)
4. Non-iodized Sea Salt (optional)
5. Naphtha / Heptane
6. ~50 grams of tree bark – from roots or trunk (ideally)
Procedure:1. Put on gloves, protective eye-wear, and mask. If you have a lab coat, it is advised to wear – if not, be sure to wear closed-toe shoes, long pants, and a shirt that covers most of the skin on your arms. Be sure to have plenty of gloves, and a proper bin to dispose them in. They will need to be changed often to avoid contaminating surfaces with the reagents used in the experiment. It’s wise to keep a 5-gallon bucket near the work space and toss old gloves and paper towels in there to collect and dispose of all at once at the end of the experiment.
2. Once in proper attire, weigh approximately 50 grams of dried, powdered plant matter and place in a 1000 mL jar or beaker. Measure 500 mL of distilled water and add to the beaker/jar. If you have a stirrer/hot plate, place a stir bar in the beaker/jar and stir on low until the contents of the vessel have mixed and the plant matter has become hydrated. Set the hot plate to the lowest setting and place a watch glass on top of the beaker or place a lid on top of the 1 L jar. – do not tighten the lid while heating.
3. Allow for the mixture to stir/heat for 12-24 hrs. Check the pH with the pH probe or pH paper. At this point, the tannins in the bark should have lowered the pH to ~3-4. If the pH is neutral or only slightly acidic after one day of mixing, a small amount of citric acid or vinegar can be used to drop the pH to 3-4, however the plant mix should eventually drop naturally.
4. Once the pH is between 3-4, and has been stirring/mixing for one day, remove the mix from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
5. Preparing the base: Put on the respirator or mask. While the mix is cooling, the NaOH solution can be prepared. Start with 50 mL of distilled water in a beaker or Erlenmeyer flask. If you have a stir plate, place a magnetic stir bar in the flask/beaker and have the mix stirring prior to adding the NaOH. The water should be room temperature or slightly chilled (NaOH dissociating in water is exothermic and releases a lot of heat). Using the scale, weigh out ~10 grams of NaOH and slowly add it to the beaker/flask while stirring to ensure that all the NaOH dissolves. After the first 10 grams has been added, weigh an additional ~10 grams of NaOH and slowly add it to the beaker, while stirring. Once all the NaOH has dissolved, add distilled water to reach a total volume of ~ 100 mL. This solution will be roughly 5 M NaOH.
Only perform this step in a well ventilated area. Avoid inhaling caustic fumes produced from mixing NaOH with water.6. **** optional step**** Some people add NaCl to their extraction in hopes to boost the ion content of the solution and reduce the solubility of DMT in water. In theory, this would aid in “pushing” the DMT from the aqueous mix into the non-polar organic layer. If you want to add salt, weigh roughly 20 – 40 grams of salt and add it to the bark/water mix. Some people claim it works very well, some people say that they notice little difference. I encourage you to experiment and try both methods. The goal of this experiment is to determine the percent yield, so comparing minor tweaks in the technique adds to the research that can be collected.
7. After the solution that was prepared in step 5 is ready for use, place a pH probe in the aqueous/bark mixture and consistently stir the mix to ensure that the pH measurements are accurate. Note the starting pH and begin adding small volumes of the 5 M NaOH solution to the extraction. You will notice that the pH begins to rise quickly. After each small addition of NaOH, allow the mix to stir so that the mix can reach equilibrium and an accurate pH can be determined. If you are using pH paper, this means that you will have to take small samples from your extraction after each addition and monitor the changes in pH. Once the based soup has reached a pH of ~13, then allow the basified soup to mix for at least two hours to ensure that the pH is going to remain constant. If the pH drops within the two hours of time, add some more of the 5 M NaOH solution. (You should not need all of the solution – and if you do, then there was likely a highly acidic environment in the extraction mix prior to adding base). Once you have determined that you will no longer need the 5 M NaOH solution, dispose of it by turning on the cold water and slowly pour the solution into the stream of water, down the drain. This will dilute the base and it will not be harmful.
If at any point you get some of the base solution on your skin, rinse heavily with water and apply vinegar or citric acid. Rinse the exposed area under the sink for 15 minutes after the acid neutralization. If the solution comes in contact with your eyes, swallowed, or inhaled: contact the poison control center immediately. 8. Determine the total volume of the basified soup. For example, it should be roughly 600 – 700 mL depending on how much base you add, and how much volume is initially displaced from the bark. Remember, the starting volume of water was 500 mL. Measure roughly 250-300 mL of naphtha and add it to the basified mixture. Be sure that your extraction vessel has a lid, because vigorous mixing is required to maximize the surface area that is exposed between the aqueous and the organic layer (naphtha). If using a 1 liter mason jar, make sure to cap the lid tightly and invert the jar numerous times, allowing the layers to mix, and then separate. Using a mason jar is not advisable due to the materials used to make the lids. After long exposure to naphtha and high pH, the lids will degrade. It’s advisable to use an Erlenmeyer flask that is large enough to hold the total volume and has a glass grit stopper or a pickle jar with HDPE film underneath the lid. This reduces potential contamination from the chemicals in mason jar lids. However, many people use mason jars….
If you do use a mason jar, only use a lid once and be sure to do extra cleaning of the final product. (Keep in mind that mason jars are made of glass that is composed of lower quality materials than the glass that is used to make most scientific glassware. Sometimes a mason jar can only be used once or twice before the integrity of the jar has been compromised. If you do use a mason jar, only use it a maximum of 3 times, thoroughly wash it, and place it in the recycling bin. Do not reuse any glassware that has been used in an extraction for anything that could be used for human consumption. 9. The mixing process can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 12 hours depending on how the mix is treated. Vigorous shaking increases surface area exposure, but also creates more of an emulsion. The emulsion will take longer to separate. Slow inversions will reduce the surface area exposure, but they will separate faster. Multiple sets of slow inversions is the most commonly advised method, so that it maximizes the potential to transfer the DMT from the bark/aqueous layer to the organic layer (naphtha).
If you have a magnetic stirrer, then this is a huge advantage. The extraction can be mixed at a medium-low speed for the desired duration. This will help maximize the surface area exposure while minimizing the potential for naphtha to splash on the lid of the extraction vessel. Some people choose to add heat during this process. Adding heat will increase the transfer of oils and fats into the naphtha, so this will possibly require additional cleaning, but it will also increase the solubility of DMT in naphtha, which allows to extract more DMT per pull. Personally, I choose to mix at room temperature. I have mixed in a warm water bath in the past and often resulted in yellow crystals or yellow goo/crystal mixtures. Pulling at room temperature tends to yield less per pull, but the crystalline product is almost colorless and there are minimal oils in the precipitation tray.
10. After mixing, allow the naphtha to form a layer on top of the aqueous mix. Use a glass pipette or glass syringe to decant the naphtha from the top layer and put it into a jar capable of holding 500 mL. Decant as much of the naphtha as possible without sucking up the aqueous layer. Collect the ~250-300 mL of naphtha – this contains the freebase DMT
11. (optional) Prepare a solution of saturated sodium carbonate using distilled water. You will only need about 100 – 200 mL of this solution. Once no more sodium carbonate will dissolve into the water, add ~100 – 200 mL of the saturated sodium carbonate solution to the naphtha. Shake a few times and allow the layers to separate. Decant the naphtha and place in a clean glass tray.
12. Place the naphtha in a clean glass tray that has a lid. Some people choose to evaporate the naphtha until DMT begins to precipitate at room temperature, however the crystals will still precipitate with out this evaporation step.
13. Place the tray in a -22°C freezer and allow the crystal formation to occur for the next 24 hours. You will notice the precipitation forming within the first 6 to 12 hours, but allow for as much time as possible in the freezer before removal. Longer periods in the freezer will allow for more of the crystals to form, increasing yields.
14. After the crystals have grown to your satisfaction, carefully remove the tray from the freezer. Quickly pour the naphtha into a clean container for reuse. Avoid knocking crystals loose from the glass tray during this process.
15. Once the naphtha has been removed, place the tray on its side and aim a fan at the tray to dry any remaining solvent or water that condenses due to the cold surface.
16. After an hour of drying, the crystals should be ready for analysis.
If the equipment is available, it's advised to evaporate the remaining liquids under reduced pressure. This can be done with a vacuum chamber or a roto-vap. 17. Scrape them from the tray and measure their mass.
18. To calculate percent yield: (mass of crystals in grams)/(mass of starting bark)*100 = % yield
19. Properly dispose of the product and any waste product in the proper organic disposal provided by waste management.
Follow up: The initial “test” extraction featured 53.30 grams of mimosa hostilis root bark. One single pull, roughly 250 mL naphtha, was used to collect an initial yield of 759 mg of DMT – 1.42%.
Sometimes it's good for a change. Other times it isn't.