So I did once acid soak for 4 days and then an acid boil and an overnight crockpot cook with 1lb of rootbark.

I reduced the volume down to about 1 liter and then added 1lb of sodium carbonate. I left this to react for about 1 hour and when I returned, I noticed a dreadful foam had formed. I added 1L of warm water and this seemed to help. I then proceeded to add about 100ml of warm naptha. This formed an emulsion and I added another liter of water (bringing the total to 3 liters) and this eliminated that issue. I rolled this around and let sit overnight.

This morning, I siphoned off the naptha and went to freeze precip. and tonight I have yet to notice any crystals.

Currently I'm evaporating down to see if anything shows up. I've added more naptha to the water, however I'm curious if I have not added enough sodium carbonate?

I haven't thrown anything from the process out yet (still have the rootbark as well) so if I'm missing something or have messed up, I should be able to remedy it.


I've made a few posts in the past few days but usually I've figured out a solution on my own, this time I don't really know where I might have gone wrong. I was hoping to bypass issues by using sodium carbonate, but I'm probably going to just use calcium hydroxide next time...

edit: I just wanted to add that I've got 2 layers minus the naptha. The bottom layer is greyish (looks basic) then on top of that there is a brown layer that looks almost like what the acid water looked like prior to basing.

yea....it sucks sodium carbonate's not that strong of a base or else i would be all over it...i hate using NaOH

Ya using sodium carbonate as a base does not work with naptha. Ive seen the grey layer with sod carb. If you add more sod carb you could probably turn that mess all black however naptha will not work with sod carb as a base. I think a couple options...many have said that other solvents such as xylene or d-limo do work with sodium carbonate, im not sure never tried it. Or you could use Sod hydroxide and try to base that up well over 13. Im not sure if mixing sod carb and sod hydrox is a problem, probably not but check into that 1st and pull with naptha.

I may be blasphemed here but next time id buy some goggles and some lye, be careful, and stick to the old fashioned but highly successful naptha and lye extraction.

What about pickling lime??? With an A/B extraction and a de-fat step, i dont think there would be any emulsions with pickling lime. And even if there is a bad emulsion in the naphtha, sitting the jar in a hot-water bath should settle it out over time right?? Just make sure the PH goes to at least 13-14 when basifying and it might work...im gonna try it

Ca(OH)2 aka pickling lime isn't very soluble in water

swim had success with sodium carbonate (tho not the highest yield) in an A/B tek, but used d-limonene for the pulls, then followed by FASW.
the grey layer is not basified enough. are u sure sodium carb is full strength?--ie did u purify it in the oven? add more, check ph.

so many people say they hate NaOH, but still only use STB.
KOH is a nicer experience for swim, it doesn't give him the quivers, and delivers the goods.

Most reports claim that sodium carbonate will not work in this way.

yeah, or many more would use it for sure cause NaOH is blaaaahhhhh.

sounds like u have to boost your ph with KOH or NaOH and continue with naptha or heptane

OR
boost your ph with more sodium carb and use D-limonene for pulls.

if u go the latter, then here is a link to the tek swim used:
http://www.dmt-nexus.me/....aspx?g=posts&t=7644

Oh certainly, but SWIM's never heard of a standard STB using sodium carbonate being successful.

SWIM neither.. sodium carbonate and STBs is a no-no...

sorry for the confusion, but i had this in mind from the OP.

ive also never heard of sodium carb success with stb tek.

No, actually, SWIM's sorry for the confusion, as he somehow got it stuck in his head that the OP was performing an STB, though he clearly wasn't.

no worries

Does a de-fat step reduce the chances of emulsion when using sodium carb?? And if d-limo supposedly works with sodium carb, im gonna try an A/B extraction with sodium carb. and d-limo!

there have been speculations that a long vinegar soak may achieve better results than a vinegar cook. (i.e. as in BLAB)
i dunno if a defat would work or not.--seems like a waste of solvent.

the emulsion created was VERY troublesome until swim used HOT water bath on the jar and emulsion broke completely!

also pre powdered may work better as well??



would be nice to see this tek proven further. so many options when pulling with d-limonene.
give er a go, please post results!!

This interests swim enough for a trial!

Good to see someone else is finally giving drytek a shot with something other than MHRB, as SWIM's long suspected it could work a bit better or even quite well with alternative sources.

Is there a reason sodium carbonate doesn't work? SWIM tested something similar, dissolved sodium carbonate(about 9 grams) to raise the PH of 250ml of water to around 11, maybe a tad higher. He added 20 grams of powdered bark, shook like crazy, lots of bubbles formed, but then a gray substance settled on the bottom in 2 layers, bottom layer is dark gray, top layer is light gray, almost white. Added 50-100ml of heptane, shook like crazy again, siphoned off heptane, nothing precipitated when cooled. Could it be that the PH was not high enough to freebase the alkaloids? SWIM did the same sort of deal, more dry however, using calcium hydroxide instead, to great effect, but wanted to experiment a bit.

i heard the PH has to be at least 13-14 to freebase...thats just what i heard tho

No, 11.4 will freebase 99% of the DMT.