Ok, this is propably "not even" advanced or enhanced chemistry but i think in this category there is more of a chance to get meaningful answers.

So, i have been seeing around that boric acid (pharmaceutical grade) is available. I was wondering if it can be used as an acid in any step of an extraction giving borate salts of the alkaloids. Searching around, i did not find anything on "borates of alkaloids" so i might be missing something, does it form salts with amines?

The reason i had thoughts about borates is because the different solubilities of different salts (acetates, fumarates, hydrochlorides) give a lot of "room" to play with solubilities of alkaloids in various solvents, alkaloids crashing out of solutions etc so i thought that having borates in the arsenal could be an interesting choice. Hm, could they form complexes with alkaloids that precipitate?

I apologise for the "too general" tone of my message , but i am just throwing an idea on the table, propably waiting for the more knowledgable members in the "chemistry department" to shoot it down

Not a strictly chemical consideration, but worth mentioning, boric acid may be somewhat toxic:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boric_acid#Toxicology

Aknowledged, checked this thing myself.

Well , i can think of two ways of circumventing the afforementioned toxicity. One , use borates as intermediates in extractions (if the borates have the preffered properties) not as a part of the final product.

The second is of course limiting its consumption if its is anavoidable. This could propably work best with products that have small dosages, in the two digit mg range.

all the acids are potentially toxic.

that being said, I use boric acid on the ants, vinegar for extractions.
There's no significant advantage to using boric acid, or other mineral acids.

Boric acid has some chemical properties which make it useful as a catalyst for some reactions, however as a tool in extraction, there's not much purpose. While its toxicity is over-rated (it's not nearly as toxic as people say), it's still better to use food-grade reagents and solvents when possible, for items meant to be consumed.

Boric acid can apparently be used as a catalyst to convert carboxylic acids into amides, and possibly simpler amides to more complex substituted amides. Apparently it's very good at transferring groups from one molecule to another, and thus works as a catalyst in many such reactions (which are quite useful!)

There were some other catalytic uses for it that were really interesting, but I've unfortunately lost many of the notes I once had.

Org. Synth. 2005, 81, 262
BORIC ACID CATALYZED AMIDE FORMATION FROM CARBOXYLIC ACIDS AND AMINES: N-BENZYL-4-PHENYLBUTYRAMIDE
http://www.orgsyn.org/demo.aspx?prep=v81p0262

Perhaps this could be another useful technique to isolate TRP and NMT from DMT.

EDIT: See also comment at http://www.sciencemadness.org/t...to=search&pid=278484

Good call.

And boric acid is less toxic than table salt, but...

Also, it's steam volatile.

Furthermore:
Although whether that's of any consequence to folk here remains to be seen...