Virola78 said:
My red cat still has to try the washing of mesc using (acetone and) IPA. So he is eager to learn from your experience.
I read about some monkeys that do not have (that) much loss from IPA wash.
Was it the first time you opened the bottle of IPA?
did you use an open glass when you put it in the fridge to precipitate the solids from the IPA?
how did you remove the IPA from the solids? decant? pipette? syringe? dropper?
My friend says he only used IPA because he wants to stick to food-grade reagents. He put about 200 mL of 91% IPA in a glass, and added way more than enough home-made "anhydrous" magnesium sulfate.
* He thinks it was an excess amount because the AMS formed 2 layers in the bottom of the glass: 1 solid, clumpy layer, and 1 "dusty" layer. He then stirred the IPA-AMS solution, waited for it to settle, and then drew off only the top 20-30 mL of dried IPA.
This IPA was then run through a coffee filter (to remove particles of magnesium sulfate), and then placed in a glass dish that was covered with an air-tight plastic cover. This was then placed in his freezer for about an hour. The cold IPA was then added to the ~0.6 g of crude
mescaline HCl in a beaker and stirred. My friend says at this point, it seemed like almost all of the solid had dissolved (even though it was cold IPA

). This solution was then filtered through a coffee filter. After scraping off the remaining solids from the coffee filter, the filter itself was soaked in distilled water twice to remove any remaining water-soluble
mescaline HCl.
My friend feels that filtering the IPA &
mescaline HCl through the coffee filter was a bad idea, and will not do this next time. Instead, he'll just wait for the solids to settle and then decant the IPA. BTW, what do you recommend for removing the IPA: decanting, an eyedropper, a pipette, or a syringe? Would a plastic syringe partially dissolve in the IPA?
He is nervous about trying to recrystallize Mesc. HCl from IPA, mainly because he wants to keep his technique as simple as possible so as to avoid any more screwups.
* the reason I put "anhydrous" in quotes is because the magnesium sulfate was not truly anhydrous. My friend said he started out with mag sulfate heptahydrate, and by the time he finished heating it in his oven, the weight had not decreased enough for it to be completely anhydrous. However, he still thinks his magnesium sulfate can still be an effective drying agent, even though it's probably mono or di-hydrated. (can anyone comment on this?)