Loveall said:
Update is that yields have been low. This is dissapointing because we did finally did get psilocin fumarate.
There may be a loss when changing the pH or during other steps, I don't know.
Because of these issues, to make a practical extract I'll be working with ion resins next in the thread that Benz started.
Isn't the problem here that you are making a Calcium Hydroxide paste with a high pH of 12? That is destroying nearly all the compounds.
From what I have gathered it seems like the best bet for isolated actives is following this procedure to a T; aside from substituting diethyl ether with DCM and fiddling with the base titration compounds.
"A representative sample of 2 to 10g of dried is ground to a fine powder by mortar and pestle. The powder is mixed with 100 mL of dilute acetic acid in a 250-mL beaker. The pH is readjusted to pH 4 with glacial acetic acid. After standing 1 h, the beaker is placed in a boiling water bath for 8 to 10 min or until the internal temperature of the acid mixture reaches 70�C. The beaker is removed and cooled to room temperature under running water. The acid mixture is separated from the mushroom powder by suction filtration using glass wool. The filtrate is brought to pH 8 with concentrated ammonium hydroxide and quickly extracted with two 50-mL portions of diethyl ether. Gentle mixing instead of shaking should be used to prevent an emulsion. The ether is dried over sodium sulfate, filtered, and evaporated under nitrogen with no applied heat."
If you can't evap under nitrogen I would back extract with ascorbate solution of pH4 multiple times and then air temp evap with a fan.