Straight to Base - Sodium Carbonate Wash Turns Naptha Milky

[khazoth]

Hello everyone. I am wondering what it means if you do a straight to base extraction, and then when you do a sodium carbonate wash, the naptha which was very clear with a yellow tint turns fairly milky with no more yellow tint.

Vovin's Tek says the sodium carbonate wash leaves you with clear solvent.

Tap water was used for everything.

I would greatly appreciate help with this question as I have been searching for hours and have so far failed to find any information.

[EDIT: I should note that I did not merely just decide to use this forum as a last resource. I have been reading from the DMT-Nexus for around a year now, I simply have not posted until this point. Please don't take my blunt post as a demand for information with no regards for the people giving it to me, I just wanted to keep it simple. Thanks everyone! ]

 

[shishigami]

I don't know if this is your issue but in general don't use tap water. It might not matter for a simple extract but if you use it for anything more complex than I bet there would be issues.

That said, did you reduce the volume of naptha? Perhaps you have saturated it and the dmt is beginning to precipitate.

 

[endlessness]

I dont think tap water is a problem, but shishigami's guess about maybe the naphtha being very saturated could be one?

Im not sure whats happening but I would think you have nothing to fear, considering the water was basic enough the dmt shouldnt go to the water. Continue normally and freeze/evap the solvent. Just in case, dont throw that water away until you know your final yield.

Good luck and tell us how it went

 

[khazoth]

The naptha hadn't been reduced yet. It was about 400 mL, so I don't think there is any way it could have been saturated, unless I am very lucky.

What concerns me is the possibility of something being dissolved in the naptha from the sodium carbonate? I don't think this is possible but it is all I could think of as to why the water would turn milky only after being mixed with Na2CO3.

The solution is still being reduced, and freeze precipitation will be attempted later today.

All future attempts will utilize distilled water, just in case.

Thanks for your replies, I will keep you updated.

[EDIT 2: A friend of a friend who was having the same problem as me sent me pictures of his freeze precipitation results. I have attached the pictures. Do those look right? I didn't expect the crystal formations to be round like that. There is still a small layer of naptha in that dish by the way. ]