pH too low?

[holidayyy]

I’m relatively new to extractions (did one A/B with decent yield) and am trying to understand the chemistry side before my next attempt.

I noticed most (if not all) teks recommend pH between 2-4 in the A step. I assume there’s a downside to going lower but, remarkably, I couldn’t find much on the subject. I came across one comment that suggested sub-2 pH may degrade the alkaloid and/or result in inclusion of more plant gunk.

In case it matters, the key materials are MHRB, phosphoric acid and lye.

Would love to hear some thoughts on this

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Yes, it's possible that excessively low pH could result in additional plant gunk from degradation of other molecules in the plant. However, some of these degradation products may end up in the NPS or react with the alkaloids, impacting purity, yield or both. The alkaloids themselves will be unaffected by the acid (depending on the exact alkaloid of course, but DMT will be robust), and dilute phosphoric acid is not especially harsh by any stretch.

One further downside of adding too much acid is that it's simply a waste of materials - both the acid and the extra alkali you'd need to use in order to neutralise it. Phosphoric acid is not the cheapest of acids.