Some questions on salt and solvents for Harmalas

[Kericus]

Hi, I'm wondering if Sodium Hexacyanoferrate additive in my table salt will cause a problem, the salt I have doesn't say it contains Iodine. Also I'd like to ask if pure acetone can be used at the end stage to purify the harmalas.

 

[soulfood]

Hi, I'm wondering if Sodium Hexacyanoferrate additive in my table salt will cause a problem, the salt I have doesn't say it contains Iodine. Also I'd like to ask if pure acetone can be used at the end stage to purify the harmalas.

If you're using syrian rue, it contains a lot of harmaline which isn't really compaitable with acetone as it reacts. I just use water when it comes to rue extractions.

 

[Kericus]

I'm also testing the fluorescence of the extraction regularly, I'm seeing the solid on the filter fluoresce and the also the filtrate fluoresces, is this normal? I'm hoping the harmalas aren't being lost through the coffee filter. Is there any other fluorescent compounds other than harmaline and harmine in the Syrian rue tea?

 

[endlessness]

how are you extracting it? I suggest you check the Harmala Extraction Guide if you havent yet.

Im not sure of Sodium Hexacyanoferrate's reactivity or stability in acidic solutions, maybe some other chem expert can answer that. Though hexacyanoferrate's toxicity seems low, I dont know if its possible to generate some byproduct in the typical extraction environment. Personally I would avoid, the thought of cyanide gives me the creeps. Im sure you can find pure salt, just go to any natural food store or order it online, pure sea salt would work fine too.

And yeah, forget acetone. For cleaning up harmalas, repeat process of redissolving, filtering, and reprecipitating a few times.

good luck and keep us informed how its going

 

[Kericus]

Yeah, apparently sodium hexacyanoferrate is also used as an additive for rock salt.

I'm having problems filtering with coffee filters, I'm filtering the harmalas from the tea, along with some salt I think, as there is a crispy layer on the top which doesn't fluoresce. The coffee filter seems to go fairly steady for a few mins then block so much that the other liquids aren't coming through. Any help would be appreciated thanks