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Sparkly crystals where water and naphtha meet

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prey

prey

Rising Star
Have you ever seen this?

It seems like after you add naptha to basified MHRB mixture, after a while a bunch of crystals form on the barrier between naptha and water.

They are very tiny and a bit hard to see, and they seem to wink in and out of existence. No, I'm not on drugs, I really saw it! :)

I also noticed after I wipe off my stir stick (a wooden paint mixing stick) it will form similar looking crystals on it after it dries off.

Anyway that is just an observation of mine.
 
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DMT Entity said:
I think what you're seeing is the emulsion layer. DMT crystals cannot form in a liquid solution under those environmental conditions.
Click to expand...

Even after several days sitting undisturbed? I don't think it is an emulsion layer, considering I used a large excess of KOH to basify. I'm pretty sure they are crystals. :)

So what crystals are they? KOH? They aren't nessecarily DMT. I could try to post a picture...
 
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I know what you're talking about... And it actually is very tiny emulsified droplets of oil or naptha.
Click to expand...

the "i know what you're talking about" phallacy... it's a nice phallacy

prey as a good psychonaut that u are u know that this is the emulsion layer XD

i'm kidding, post these pics!
 
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SWIM has observed this occurrence and has even collected, dried and used these crystals.

In SWIM's case, this occured while using STB methods to basify fumarates. SWIM had a layer of sodium carbonate solution and a layer of naphtha in a container under fairly cold conditions. This was most certainly jungle-spice. It seemed as though the jungle-spice was attracted to the naphtha layer but was unable to dissolve. The layer seemed to start out as an oily layer floating atop the aqueous layer, under the naphtha layer.
 
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My friend already noticed this and this was not emulsion but clear nice BIG cristals forming at the water surface in the jar. However, it was almost impossible to gather them correctly because they were corrupted by the dark lye soup. My friend had to clean them up with a freeze precip.
 
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I think I know exactly what you're talking about prey...and fortunately I took a photo as I had never seen this before either
 

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Wow, those look incredible. I haven't had those form before, either between layers or on my stirrer.

How long are you guys letting your extractions sit there before those form?
 
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I have seen this before, not exactly as pictured but I'm pretty sure it's the same thing.
They appeared to form a thin layer on top of the soup,maybe they would cluster together if left longer. I didn't collect them as had no idea.
The base soup was quite heavily salted and left in the cold approx 36h. I will try to recreate this if I can
 
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Nice pics, JefFlux. It seems likely that crystals could form for a number of reasons and combinations thereof.

Off the top of my head:

cooling of naphtha
evaporation of naphtha
slow diffusion of alkaloid from the base-dissolved plant material
interaction of diffusing alkaloids with trapped naphtha also diffusing


What would happen if you chucked the whole lot in the freezer? If the aqueous layer froze it would make separating the naphtha a complete doddle. It would be interesting to know how the separating of the crystals from the frozen sludge might shape up.
 
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