Has any one run NMR/TLC on their extraction?

[fourloves]

Hello tout le monde!

I'm wondering if anyone here has run their extraction on NMR and/or Thin Chromatography to test for purity and the presence of contaminants? The solvents involved scare me a bit, and I don't know if I'd be comfortable consuming without testing first. For those that have access to the equipment, what experiences/thoughts have you had on the ethics and ramifications of using said equipment if you've been entrusted with access?

Cheers, glad to be with you after lurking for a time.

 

[SnozzleBerry]

As far as individual solvents go, you can do an evaporation test on a piece of glass to ascertain whether or not they contain contaminants.

 

[endlessness]

I dont have access to NMR but did test with TLC and GC-MS, and it showed only the clean DMT spot/peak. My method of extraction is similar to BLAB with the final water crystallization. The same was true for naphtha extracted solvent that had been properly cleaned/dried

If you extract with naphtha or petrochems, just redissolve final product in acetone and let it re-evap. This will remove solvent traces from inside crystal lattices, and acetone evaps very fast and DMT crystallized from it doesnt form significant crystals, more like a powder, so it doesnt facilitate trapping of solvents (plus as you must know, acetone has a quite low toxicity, we eat it in small amounts regularly, its in fruits and so on). Make sure you have clean solvents and chemicals in the first place, I can only say this is true for what I tested, I cant say it will be so for every single person.

As for the ethics, where I test the equipment is exactly for testing different psychoactive substances so there is no issue, but if you have access to equip for other purpouses but use for this, personally i think as long as you're careful, dont over do-it and people dont see you doing it, it wouldnt be a problem. What ethical issue do you see with it?

 

[fourloves]

Cheers for the advice! I think TLC is probably most appropriate, and probably the way I would go if the time comes. I'd want to use DCM and then acetone wash, so I agree it would probably not be too harmful (especially if vaporized).

I guess my ethics question was more to probe whether using equipment entrusted to a person would be an abuse of that trust. It clearly not a very rouge community here, and it seems everyone really is into the equipment/technique side of things for fun and for self anyhow. I'd be happier to make my own testing setup and methods than to "borrow" equipment from under my empolyer.

Anyhow, thanks again, really enjoying the vibe here, especially the curiosity of everyone on the technical aspects. I must admit I stumbled across the wiki when searching for some non-related chemical advice. Very helpful!

 

[Psyren]

Ive been thinking about asking this question for some time. It seems like theres a few on here with chemical/pharmacological backrounds that have access to said equipment. Ive been thinking about just sending off a sample to one of the many labs around the country thatll analyze it no questions asked...