tl;dr I extracted DMT with dirty naphtha. How do I clean the DMT?
I noticed the "Crown and Klean strip VMP have changed chemically." thread today. I tested my naphtha (Jasco VM&P Naphtha) by putting 50 mL into a jar with 50 mL vinegar and shaking. Unfortunately, my vinegar did not clear up, so I think my naphtha is contaminated. I also just finished my first extraction - the recrystallized product is drying as I write this. I plan on vaporizing 10 mg of the DMT tonight to test the quality, but, having never tried DMT before, I am not confident that I would notice impurities introduced by the contaminated naphtha. So, I think it would be best to just assume that I need to clean it.
My question, then, is this: how do I clean the impurities from the DMT? As noted in the thread, a recrystallization with cleaned naphtha may leave trace amounts of the impurity behind. Syberdelic says that the residue obtained is an acetate salt, so I would expect that trying a mini-A/B would not work. The impurity would form a salt just like the DMT during the acid portion and, I assume, basify and become non-polar during the base portion. So it would just end up in the final product again. I expect that it would also form a fumarate salt, although I have no idea what the solubility of that would be, so I can't really guess at how well cleaning it that way would work.
Might recrystallization with another solvent work? My vinegar does not evaporate cleanly, so I can't obtain a pure sample of the impurity to test its solubility in various solvents. Since there is not a consensus on what it is, I cannot really look that up either. But heptane, for example, is supposed to be a very selective solvent. So, my thought is that the impurity might not be soluble in heptane even though it is soluble in naphtha. Or less soluble, at least. Even if this would work, other suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I am having a difficult time finding heptane.
If I have misunderstood something and am overcomplicating this, please feel free to correct me. I am still trying to learn all the different chemistry that goes into this sort of thing, and given that it is not even known what the impurity is here, this seems especially complicated to me. But I am very interested in it and I am willing to learn, so corrections are welcome.
Also, I was not sure whether or not this would fit in the "official extraction help thread". If this should have been put there, or anywhere else, instead of in its own thread, please feel free to move it.
I noticed the "Crown and Klean strip VMP have changed chemically." thread today. I tested my naphtha (Jasco VM&P Naphtha) by putting 50 mL into a jar with 50 mL vinegar and shaking. Unfortunately, my vinegar did not clear up, so I think my naphtha is contaminated. I also just finished my first extraction - the recrystallized product is drying as I write this. I plan on vaporizing 10 mg of the DMT tonight to test the quality, but, having never tried DMT before, I am not confident that I would notice impurities introduced by the contaminated naphtha. So, I think it would be best to just assume that I need to clean it.
My question, then, is this: how do I clean the impurities from the DMT? As noted in the thread, a recrystallization with cleaned naphtha may leave trace amounts of the impurity behind. Syberdelic says that the residue obtained is an acetate salt, so I would expect that trying a mini-A/B would not work. The impurity would form a salt just like the DMT during the acid portion and, I assume, basify and become non-polar during the base portion. So it would just end up in the final product again. I expect that it would also form a fumarate salt, although I have no idea what the solubility of that would be, so I can't really guess at how well cleaning it that way would work.
Might recrystallization with another solvent work? My vinegar does not evaporate cleanly, so I can't obtain a pure sample of the impurity to test its solubility in various solvents. Since there is not a consensus on what it is, I cannot really look that up either. But heptane, for example, is supposed to be a very selective solvent. So, my thought is that the impurity might not be soluble in heptane even though it is soluble in naphtha. Or less soluble, at least. Even if this would work, other suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I am having a difficult time finding heptane.
If I have misunderstood something and am overcomplicating this, please feel free to correct me. I am still trying to learn all the different chemistry that goes into this sort of thing, and given that it is not even known what the impurity is here, this seems especially complicated to me. But I am very interested in it and I am willing to learn, so corrections are welcome.
Also, I was not sure whether or not this would fit in the "official extraction help thread". If this should have been put there, or anywhere else, instead of in its own thread, please feel free to move it.