Hey all,

I finished basifying my alkaloid solution as outlined in step three here:

https://www.erowid.org/p.../cacti_chemistry2.shtml

I accidentally over-basified after defatting to a ph of ~12 instead of ~10, and when I moved on to step four, the xylene layers came out bubbly instead of clear. I saved the (maybe still alkaloid) solution which had begun to form a precipitate. Ideally at the end of this step, the alkaloids are contained in the xylene solution, but now I'm not so sure.

So now I have two vessels stored, the presumably alkaloid laden yet bubbly xylene solution, and the over-basified original solution.

Does anyone who has performed an A/B extraction before might know what an appropriate next step would be? This is a small scale extraction that originated with an 18 inch San Pedro cutting, so there's not a lot at risk to lose, however I'd still love something at the end to show for the work involved. I apologize for my ignorance here... first time going through an extraction like this.

Much thanks.

My feeling is that the higher pH has caused cactus mucilage and/or dissolved salts to precipitate. Presence of particulate matter in the mixture increases the likelihood of emulsions.

The alkaloids will still have passed into the xylene so you could try filtering it or warming it gently on a water bath to see if that clears it up. Alternatively, you could simply use the xylene as is for the acid pulls in the next stage but bear in mind that the product would likely be less pure than optimal and hence you might want to consider a further purification step in those circumstances. (There's plenty of information about this in the cactus section of the forum.)

Product of a lower purity (likely from inorganic salts and cactus mucilage) will seem to be less potent per weight. It may also be deliquescent and have poorer keeping properties.

I do think that pH 12 is needed for extraction, pH 10 seems quite low.
Yes, basified cactus tea have some separated mucilage floating in the solution and emulsion with non polar is always there due to this.
But that is not an issue, just wait some time for settling and continue with extraction. Use just clear fraction of xylene.

One good trick is to clean xylene with adding few grams of dry NaOH and filtering through cotton, before adding acid.

Hey guys,

Sorry for the late update. Thank you for your responses!

The [XYLENE] never returned to a clear layer--it stayed bubbly for the next couple days. I ran through the last step of the extraction the night I posted and after drying the acidified water, what resulted was an extremely sticky goo. I am hoping it contains some remaining mescaline, though I don't think I'll be the one to test that out.

I did wind up discarding the basified solution after the attempt to pull the alkaloids from it, as the guide stated that the basic nature would be destroying the alkaloids within a few hours anyway.

For future extractions I'll refer to the advice that's been posted here. I'll also do my best to update the thread when I get the results back from my friend who is more eager to try it out.

Hopefully you mean xylene. You wouldn't get very far using naphtha in a cactus extraction.

The information about the alkaloids being destroyed is simply wrong; it's a shame that it caused you to toss your cactus material before the extraction was complete.

Once again, we have to re-state the golden rule of extraction - never toss anything until you're sure you've got the goods.

Shoot, sorry, yes, xylene. I must have had DMT on the mind when I was writing that post.

I'll have to return to this extraction again in the future. Tedious, maybe, but very straightforward.

Thank you for correcting that misunderstanding, downwardsfromzero. It's nice to have information freely available these days, yet it is a shame when there can be one falsehood mixed into a glut of helpful advice.

EDIT:

I did test the resultant product of the extraction on myself.

It did work. Gooey mescaline citrate is still mescaline citrate, hasty chemistry or no.

Despite the misinformation in the linked extraction guide, it did work out in the end.