Rodríguez et al (2022) New Insights into the Chemical Composition of Ayahuasca.

I've found this paper very interesting for several reasons:

1- Fructose found as the main ingredient in ayahuasca

It has never been described before, but makes perfect sense, considering the potential sugars in plants, such as the previously described hydrolizable glycosides Banistenosides A and B and the fructose-based disaccharide β-D-fructofuranosyl-(2 → 5)-fructopyranose. Also considering how some ayahuasca has a distinct sweetness to it (some concentrated ayahuasca in Brazil is called "Mel" , or honey), it does fit in with the observation.

Samples had 3 - 33g/50ml of fructose, which is impressively high. Researchers hypothesize this may be partly responsible for diarrhea/intestinal discomfort.

This is also interesting to keep in mind for diabetic people or people with fructose intolerance taking ayahuasca

2- Harmine->THH during brewing theory dismissal, and presence of harmine in sediment

The researchers discuss Callaway's hypothesis that harmine reduces to THH during boiling, hence why brewed ayahuasca samples contain significant THH amounts while plant material generally seems to contain less. Researchers say they do not think this reduction is happening without a reducing agent, they believe the difference is related to the solubility of harmine, which seems to be partly insoluble and present in sediment which is often not analysed hence the ratio of THH to harmine increases when testing only the supernatant liquid.

I found it interesting to read that indeed there is no THH detected in sediment, only harmine.

I will definitely test this hypothesis out myself using a control (crude plant samples) vs boiled material.

3- Detection of ethanol, acetate and lactate

These are products of fermentation, so more likely to appear in older stored brews. Apart from ethanol, I dont think the other ones have been described before in publications (though I might be wrong)


4- Detection of trace amounts of bufotenine in two samples

Two samples contained trace bufotenine, which the researchers hypothesize is probably related to Diplopterys cabrerana being used in the brewing instead of Psychotria viridis.

They also found trace amounts of N-methyltryptamine, tetrahydronorharmine, and harmalol


5- Ayahuasca alkaloid content recap, support material material

And on a last note, I find it nice when authors provide support material with more data, and describe methodology very well. They also provide an average alkaloid content in different ayahuasca samples in the literature, in a very handy table:

The presence of bufo surprises me. Didn't you once test chaliponga, only to find DMT as the only alkaloïd present?

Isn't it at least as likely, or more likely even, that trace amounts of bufotenin ended up in these brews by contamination? I can easily see that happening during either shipment or storage of ethnobotanicals, or when making the brew.

Hey dragonrider,

You can check about some of the previous analysis of D. cabrerana here:
https://wiki.dmt-nexus.m...brerana#Alkaloid_content

As you can see, bufotenine was detected in trace amounts in D. cabrerana before. At such nearly imperceptible amounts (under limit of quantification levels) I would suspect it doesn't really affect psychoactivity in any noticeable way.

Thank you!

Main ingredient is fructose, that's significant discovery. Polysaccharides are known to complexate with DMT. How about simple sugars... Could there be a possibility that fructose contributes to the psychoactive strength in this way..? Ör perhaps there are also polysaccharides.

the fructose part of the paper is very interesting
probably can explain why pharmahuasca experiences can be a hit or miss, or why you need way more DMT to achieve an equivalent result with traditional drinks
also DMT can complex with | High Pobability of Braindamage by Creepy non tested Drugs (forced by scammer 69ron) |, a cyclodextrin polymer, and can by this way absorb sublingually

İ'm a firm believer that you cannot reduce any psychedelic medicine to it's bare "active alkakloids."

The answer to my question, directly from the study:

"Finally, the presence of fructose in the brew may also alter the bioavailability of the alkaloids, which could be another factor explaining the difference between the traditional preparations and pharma-huasca′s formulations."

The pharmacological definition of ayahuasca is being changed in front of our eyes from beta carbolines+dmt to fructose+beta carbolines+dmt.

And of course there are all the flavonoids, tannins etc which I have no doubt serve important purposes...

And how does the solubility of harmaline compare to harmine? Would harmaline also be expected to accumulate in the sediment or would it concentrate in the liquid along with THH?

Yes, it accumulates in the sediment.