Syrian Rue tea and a couple vape puffs

[The Sofa Traveler]

Maybe my interpretation is wrong, but this reads as an admission, especially, the phrasing "mission accomplished" is very telling. However, I do need to thank you for your overenthusiastic stance on harmala alkaloids. It is making me curious, and I want to see what all the fuss is about, so perhaps in the near future I will make isolated harmalas. So again, thank you.

Yes, mission accomplished because I aimed to share some elements in favor of extracts to balance your rather negative ones. Now it's done, I feel my mission is accomplished. I'm French and we often use the idiom "mission accomplie" to talk about things we have done. Don't overthink it, there is nothing to interpret.
Also, I realize I was lacking precision about my personal use of harmal : I advocate for harmal in any form, absolutely any, and love them all. That's why I said all approaches have their pros and cons and to each their own depending on their use and needs. No approach should be dismissed.
My tea years were memorable, and although I tend to prefer extracts nowadays, I don't dismiss tea and never will. If I favor extracts currently it's because they fit the most to my needs and current practices, which include introducing people to DMT and harmal combo, where dosage consistency/accuracy and nausea alleviating is important. I sometimes also enjoy having sublingual doses or smoke harmal infused herbs (mullein).
Don't force yourself to make extractions and use extracts if you don't feel so and don't need it. I never said one should have extracts over tea or whole seeds. To each their own depending on their needs (bis if not ter repetita).
All this clarified, I'm gonna leave this thread, because I think I said all I had to say. "Mission accomplie". I don't think continuing to interact would help OP further and lead to something more constructive, especially when I feel an underlying tension because of misinterpretations or overthinking. I feel like we're going around in circles a bit.

 

[JosBoaz]

Sounds like a political debate

I don't share this view, I think this is a healthy discussion between refined gentlemen whereby each of the participants eloquently broadcasts their views on this matter. This goes for the following members,
@The Sofa Traveler
@harmala_afficianado
@Panpsychic
@JosBoaz

 

[northape]

@harmala_afficianado
@Panpsychic
@JosBoaz

You three refined gentlemen eloquently broadcast your views in every thread. It's beyond bias at this point and closer to preaching. Hiding behind a polite, cold persona doesn't work on me either. What I see in this thread is pure dogma in colorful clothes. @The Sofa Traveler kindly explained his views, and you all kept interrogating him like it's a crime scene. Well done; go play among yourselves now

 

[The Sofa Traveler]

I couldn't leave this thread without a constructive outcome. For OP and also for @JosBoaz and @Panpsychic, who seem to struggle with Tao of Rue tek, here is another one with more concise writing and some personal insights : forget Tao of rue and forget the hassle of manske/HCL. Freebase will cover all of your uses (oral, sublingual, smoked, even snorted), it's the most versatile form and the one who requires the less work. Here is the tek I use for my extractions - thanks @CosmicLion, Nexus is missing you - that I tweaked as follows :

• No need to grind/powder seeds : it's just more hassle to filter (it's not an instruction from this tek but from Tao of Rue). Time saving.
• Other than vinegar (acetic acid) can be used instead, I always use citric acid and have a pH of 4-5 in sight. If you can't measure pH precisely it's not a problem, pH strips do the job, the most important is that the water is acidified enough. Not too much because it could create an emulsion when you add the base. Weigh/measure your acid and water amounts, so you don't have longer to check the pH for next extractions.
• Start from sodium carbonate (SC) rather than converting baking soda to SC. Time saving.
• Prefer SC over lye, it requires less caution, it's less expensive and doesn't affect the yield (this tek doesn't mention lye but Tao of Rue does). Risks and cautions saving.
• You can discard first gunk from tea by passing the brew through a cotton cloth if you don't want to wait hours for the gunk settling at the bottom of the bottle (that's what I do). Time saving.
• Saturated Sodium Carbonate Solution (SSCS in the tek) can be done with measured amounts using a ratio of 2g SC/1cl water. Heat slightly the water for faster dissolving.
• Repeating the refining crude extracts steps 2 times is enough. You won't get much purer harmalas from repeating the step more times. Time saving.
• After the refining steps done twice, pour distilled water over the harmalas in the coffee filter until the water color is no longer yellowish. This is not mentioned in the tek but it's what allows to stick to only 2 refining steps.
• Dry -> enjoy.

Over time, you'll find yourself adding your own tricks, adjusting brew simmering time, using more adequate amounts of SSCS and so on.

Doing so really doesn't require high commitment. As I said, most of the time taken by the extraction is decanting time. You can expect 5% average yield of nice clear tan freebase (see pic), with variations in yield depending on seeds alkaloids content. Sometimes you might have weak seeds with only 3-4% content and sometimes (rarely) exceptionally high content seeds with 6-8%.
You can get your final product in 2-4 days if you accelerate the drying steps using a heat source. I’m never in a rush because I plan ahead for the extraction; I don’t wait until my last dose to get started.
Doses wise : freebase requires lower amounts than HCL. Tracers land start from 200-250mg doses. 400mg doses are more challenging. Expect insane tracers and stroboscopic visuals, auditory distortions, hypnagogic states and difficulties to move. My usual dose for more or less daily use is 150mg (oral) or 60/70mg (sublingual). Oral dose can be taken in capsule, freebase will be converted to salts by stomach hydrochloric acid. For faster absorption, freebase can also beforehand be dissolved in a few lemon juice (harmalas citrate), add a few water and gulp down the hatch (my favored method, kicks in faster). For sublingual use I put the powder in a capsule, drill small holes in it with a syringe needle, give it a bean shape and put it under the tongue. All should have been absorbed in about 15mn. Powder can be smoked/vaporized as it is but tend to clog if you roll it in a joint. Infused herbs to be smoked/vaporized can be done with IPA.
Those aiming for harmine/harmaline separation will need precise pH meter. It implies yield loss and more time consuming. I prefer to stick to mixed harmine/harmaline freebase. Harmaline brings its own psychedelic touch to rue experience.

Hope this helps.

*End of transmission*

 

[Panpsychic]

My tea years were memorable, and although I tend to prefer extracts nowadays, I don't dismiss tea and never will. If I favor extracts currently it's because they fit the most to my needs and current practices, which include introducing people to DMT and harmal combo, where dosage consistency/accuracy and nausea alleviating is important. I sometimes also enjoy having sublingual doses or smoke harmal infused herbs (mullein).

I just want to comment again that, for dose consistency when introducing to others, tea is perfectly adequate. In any case it is more down to the individual how they respond but if you brewed some tea based on a set amount of seeds and then tested it for strength you will have a fairly accurate idea of how much is needed for a dose.

As to nausea - is this just due to taste, or can extracts also cause nausea? A good blend of the tea with another drink, for me this is usually non-alcholic Ginger ale or it can be something like cacao as suggested, cuts the taste and minimises nausea.

Then you also get the chance to serve it up in a more ritualistic format, which can aid with set and setting and is a nice aesthetic.

I couldn't resist to post this again on a thread about the tea because, Rue does not exist and nor has it just come to us in a vacuum.
For example using a Goblet - like the ancient tradition.

5000 year old Rue tea goblet from Jiroft

I couldn't leave this thread without a constructive outcome. For OP and also for @JosBoaz and @Panpsychic, who seem to struggle with Tao of Rue tek, here is another one with more concise writing and some personal insights : forget Tao of rue and forget the hassle of manske/HCL. Freebase will cover all of your uses (oral, sublingual, smoked, even snorted), it's the most versatile form and the one who requires the less work. Here is the tek I use for my extractions - thanks @CosmicLion, Nexus is missing you - that I tweaked as follows :

• No need to grind/powder seeds : it's just more hassle to filter (it's not an instruction from this tek but from Tao of Rue). Time saving.
• Other than vinegar (acetic acid) can be used instead, I always use citric acid and have a pH of 4-5 in sight. If you can't measure pH precisely it's not a problem, pH strips do the job, the most important is that the water is acidified enough. Not too much because it could create an emulsion when you add the base. Weigh/measure your acid and water amounts, so you don't have longer to check the pH for next extractions.
• Start from sodium carbonate (SC) rather than converting baking soda to SC. Time saving.
• Prefer SC over lye, it requires less caution, it's less expensive and doesn't affect the yield (this tek doesn't mention lye but Tao of Rue does). Risks and cautions saving.
• You can discard first gunk from tea by passing the brew through a cotton cloth if you don't want to wait hours for the gunk settling at the bottom of the bottle (that's what I do). Time saving.
• Saturated Sodium Carbonate Solution (SSCS in the tek) can be done with measured amounts using a ratio of 2g SC/1cl water. Heat slightly the water for faster dissolving.
• Repeating the refining crude extracts steps 2 times is enough. You won't get much purer harmalas from repeating the step more times. Time saving.
• After the refining steps done twice, pour distilled water over the harmalas in the coffee filter until the water color is no longer yellowish. This is not mentioned in the tek but it's what allows to stick to only 2 refining steps.
• Dry -> enjoy.

Over time, you'll find yourself adding your own tricks, adjusting brew simmering time, using more adequate amounts of SSCS and so on.

Doing so really doesn't require high commitment. As I said, most of the time taken by the extraction is decanting time. You can expect 5% average yield of nice clear tan freebase (see pic), with variations in yield depending on seeds alkaloids content. Sometimes you might have weak seeds with only 3-4% content and sometimes (rarely) exceptionally high content seeds with 6-8%.
You can get your final product in 2-4 days if you accelerate the drying steps using a heat source. I’m never in a rush because I plan ahead for the extraction; I don’t wait until my last dose to get started.
Doses wise : freebase requires lower amounts than HCL. Tracers land start from 200-250mg doses. 400mg doses are more challenging. Expect insane tracers and stroboscopic visuals, auditory distortions, hypnagogic states and difficulties to move. My usual dose for more or less daily use is 150mg (oral) or 60/70mg (sublingual). Oral dose can be taken in capsule, freebase will be converted to salts by stomach hydrochloric acid. For faster absorption, freebase can also beforehand be dissolved in a few lemon juice (harmalas citrate), add a few water and gulp down the hatch. For sublingual use I put the powder in a capsule, drill small holes in it with a syringe needle, give it a bean shape and put it under the tongue. All should have been absorbed in about 15mn. Powder can be smoked/vaporized as it is but tend to clog if you roll it in a joint. Infused herbs to be smoked/vaporized can be done with IPA.
Those aiming for harmine/harmaline separation will need precise pH meter. It implies yield loss and more time consuming. I prefer to stick to mixed harmine/harmaline freebase. Harmaline brings its own psychedelic touch to rue experience.

Hope this helps.

*End of transmission*

View attachment 111963

Thanks for this, if I consider to experiment with extracts in future you provided some good resources.

 

[The Sofa Traveler]

I just want to comment again that, for dose consistency when introducing to others, tea is perfectly adequate. In any case it is more down to the individual how they respond but if you brewed some tea based on a set amount of seeds and then tested it for strength you will have a fairly accurate idea of how much is needed for a dose.

As to nausea - is this just due to taste, or can extracts also cause nausea? A good blend of the tea with another drink, for me this is usually non-alcholhic Ginger ale or it can be something like cacao as suggested, cuts the taste and minimises nausea.

Then you also get the chance to serve it up in a more ritualistic format, which can aid with set and setting and is a nice aesthetic.

I couldn't resist to post this again on a thread about the tea because, Rue does not exist and nor has it just come to us in a vacuum.
For example using a Goblet - like the ancient tradition.

5000 year old Rue tea goblet from Ziroft
View attachment 111964
View attachment 111965



Thanks for this, if I consider to experiment with extracts in future you provided some good resources.

Please, stop trying to impose your views on me. I'm experienced enough with rue as well as DMT to know what I do and why I do how I do. I have a fair share of experience introducing people to rue in any form - including tea - and DMT medicine, as well as self practice with them, separately or together. Do you I do me.

To each their own depending on their needs (bis if not ter repetita).

And also :

*End of transmission*

This is the very last message from me in this thread.

 

[Panpsychic]

Please, stop trying to impose your views on me. I'm experienced enough with rue as well as DMT to know what I do and why I do how I do. I have a fair share of experience introducing people to rue in any form - including tea - and DMT medicine, as well as self practice with them, separately or together. Do you I do me.

And also :

This is the very last message from me in this thread.

Could you clarify what views exactly are trying to be 'imposed on you'? I guess not since you keep exiting the thread then coming back.

Just to be clear though, you made some exaggerated claims seemingly to endorse your use of extracts- such as the idea that tea becomes horrible to drink after a few days when in reality there is little to no change to the taste even after weeks in the fridge. These claims were refuted.

Likewise about dosage accuracy - it can be fairly consistent with tea from the same brew so isnt an issue with introducing to new people if you brew from the same batch and with the same amount of seeds. Obviously extraction will be more accurate but that isn't some big deterrent to administering the tea.

What strikes me is, joining this discussion about half way in, is how sensitive and touchy people seem to be here about having a little discussion. Somewhat ironic since this is a psychedelic discussion site, but
if all that work with psychedelics has left one overly reactive and sensitive to mild disagreements, perhaps there's a lot of work to do still, that's all I will say. Not a comment on you particularly just a general trend I have noticed with many posters on the site.

 

[iykyk]

I can not really comment on this because rolling paper is not designed to be consumed by humans, as far I know.
Secondly, this whole approach is akin to: "Hey I do not feel the need to do proper extraction and I want to take shortcuts at any cost."
Which is fine, I guess, you are entitled to use whatever approach you deem appropriate for your practice. But the thing is, the more energy you put in, the more you get out of it.

oh, you guys don't bomb drugs in rizla. That's cool. I've only ever done it in the club with mdma a couple times in my life... and chewed/ate paper when I was a child in school hahaha.

Umm.. not trying to find shortcuts necessarily. I'm completely new and trying to understand. I'm getting the picture now, I value everyones opinions and different views. It has been incredibly useful. Nice to see you all sharing your passion for it too.

I think I may try a dose tomorrow. Planning on a 2.25 gram shroom trip on Tuesday.

 

[harmala_afficianado]

You three refined gentlemen eloquently broadcast your views in every thread.

I don't see where is the issue?

It's beyond bias at this point and closer to preaching.

He said extracts can be good because dosing with tea is inconsistent and when stored in the fridge or freezer the taste becomes worse, and we replied that this is not true in our experience, dosage can easily be consistent and the taste doesn't really get much worse when put in the fridge or freezer, and when sharing with friends you can just give them a small amount of seeds, he can do whatever he wants, no one is forcing him, but the reasons he gave to make an extract are not proper reasons to make an extract, and we told him that, that's it, i don't see where is the issue.

 

[theghost]

I assume tea includes drinking the seed and not just the liquid?

And if you buy SR extract online what is it exactly - I assume its not just the powder ground up.

 

[JosBoaz]

I assume tea includes drinking the seed and not just the liquid?

And if you buy SR extract online what is it exactly - I assume its not just the powder ground up.

Tea can be with or without ingesting the seeds.

SR extract will most likely be a crude free-base extract.
Cook the seeds, remove the seeds from the liquid, add a food-grade base, separating (by filtration) the extract from the liquid.

You can also make crude HCl extract,
Cook the seeds, remove the seeds from the liquid, add rock salt (free of iodine) until the liquid no longer dissolves the salt anymore, separating (by filtration) the extract from the liquid.

These two extracts can be taken orally, or a person can choose to further refine them, creating the substance that is depicted in the small bottle. (post above ^ )

 

[JosBoaz]

@theghost

This is the extraction form that I mostly focus on right now, in the picture, it does not look like much.
But it's actually a lot of gram, as stated by many other people, be it on this forum or other platforms.

The extraction methods described here above or your SR extract (online shop) are good enough for DMT or other psychedelics.
But the more they are refined, the more they lose the full experience of harmala. Hence, I opt for resin because 1) it's full spectrum, 2) allows me to have harmala ready to go, and 3) I can use flour or rice paper to cover it, so that I do not have to experience the nasty taste of harmala.

However I do think it's a good idea for anybody that is serious about harmala to isolate harmala alkaloids i.e doing the whole refining process.
A person would learn much from the different techniques that are implemented during the operation, and as well as creating the opportunity to experience harmala in a new way. Be it crude extract, isolated alkaloids harmaline/harmine, harmine solo, and harmaline solo.

 

[JosBoaz]

forget Tao of rue and forget the hassle of manske/HCL

Interesting, I thought that manske was mandatory.

No need to grind/powder seeds : it's just more hassle to filter (it's not an instruction from this tek but from Tao of Rue). Time saving.

Powderization of the seeds is indeed time consuming, however I do not experience any difficulty with separating the plant matter from the liquid.
Most people would place the seeds in a fine strainer or coffee filters. I decided to use "a gravity-fed siphon initiated by vacuum priming"

"I place a tube into the liquid in an elevated jar and use a 50 mL syringe to create a vacuum, drawing liquid into the tube and priming the siphon. I then disconnect the syringe, allowing the liquid to drain through the tube by gravity as a gravity-fed siphon."

citric acid and have a pH of 4-5 in sight.

Good to know citric acid can be used in this capacity.

• Start from sodium carbonate (SC) rather than converting baking soda to SC. Time saving.
• Prefer SC over lye,

I tried Sodium Carbonate but I was not able to get my pH higher then a certain level. I believe it was below a specific condition that I needed.
Even after increasing the SC concentration, it would not rise. The second time I ran the extraction procedures, I used Sodium Hydroxide.

• Repeating the refining crude extracts steps 2 times is enough. You won't get much purer harmalas from repeating the step more times. Time saving.
• After the refining steps done twice, pour distilled water over the harmalas in the coffee filter until the water color is no longer yellowish. This is not mentioned in the tek but it's what allows to stick to only 2 refining steps.

It's been 4-5 years since I did the extraction, so i need to look up the data and see what/how exactly you are referring to by saying "refining crude extracts steps 2 times" and "pour distilled water over the harmalas"

It implies yield loss and more time consuming. I prefer to stick to mixed harmine/harmaline freebase. Harmaline brings its own psychedelic touch to rue experience.

Interesting that you mention that further refinement i.e separating the two alkaloids, will result in yield loss, that is rather unfortunate, because I like to obtain harmine through this extraction methodology, which I also, of course, have done in the past.

 

[ommani]

I'm glad you clarified the Tantric part. Since original Buddhism is indeed 'dualistic' in that Nibbāna is not Samsara but is the release and escape from it, the Unconditioned as the escape from the conditioned.

Conflating Theravada/The Pali Canon with “original Buddhism” is historically inaccurate…

 

[HumanOcean]

Harmalacidine seems to not get extracted in the purified Harmine/Harmaline mix, so maybe it is worth it to just chew the seeds as is, or do a cold brew by putting seeds into cold water, shaking every now and then, neither acids nor heat, just enough time (overnight) and shaking. Otherwise, if you're aiming for synthesis of THH by reduction or Harmaline, or isolation of Harmine, then by all means do extract the purified Harmine/Harmaline mix/combo.


The harmalacidine exists in abundance, more than harmaline and harmine in fact, and is what seems to get thrown away, in the process of extraction, along with metabolites such as Harmalol and Harmol and a plethora of other minor trace alkaloids, but the harmalicidine seems to be the major player/influencer, it can be extracted with Methanol but as far as I know no one in the Nexus has done it, other than some scientists who wrote about it in academic research publications/journals.

My two cents

 

[Panpsychic]

Harmalacidine seems to not get extracted in the purified Harmine/Harmaline mix, so maybe it is worth it to just chew the seeds as is, or do a cold brew by putting seeds into cold water, shaking every now and then, neither acids nor heat, just enough time (overnight) and shaking. Otherwise, if you're aiming for synthesis of THH by reduction or Harmaline, or isolation of Harmine, then by all means do extract the purified Harmine/Harmaline mix/combo.


The harmalacidine exists in abundance, more than harmaline and harmine in fact, and is what seems to get thrown away, in the process of extraction, along with metabolites such as Harmalol and Harmol and a plethora of other minor trace alkaloids, but the harmalicidine seems to be the major player/influencer, it can be extracted with Methanol but as far as I know no one in the Nexus has done it, other than some scientists who wrote about it in academic research publications/journals.

My two cents

This is very important and my suspicion with extracts in general that something is lost.

Any reason though why you specify cold extraction? Does heat have a known influence on degrading harmalacidine more as opposed to harmine and harmaline? Boiling significantly increases the concentration of the brew as well as obviously speeding up obtaining it from Rue seeds.

Conflating Theravada/The Pali Canon with “original Buddhism” is historically inaccurate…

This is a good post, probably worthy of a separate thread to discuss. However, I don't know of any evidence that core fundamental tenets of early Buddhism such as that Nibbāna ≠ Samsara have been challenged or reconceived until a later period, even if some Mahayana suttas or concepts have been dated much earlier also.

 

[HumanOcean]

This is very important and my suspicion with extracts in general that something is lost.

Any reason though why you specify cold extraction? Does heat have a known influence on degrading harmalacidine more as opposed to harmine and harmaline? Boiling significantly increases the concentration of the brew as well as obviously speeding up obtaining it from Rue seeds.

I'm not really certain, but according to this study linked below, it was extracted via maceration in methanol, then subsequently reducing at a reduced pressure at 45 degrees Celsius.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1386142525013630

Sci-Net: Ultrasensitive spectrofluorimetric analysis of harmalacidine HCl: A potent underexplored MAO-A inhibitor from Peganum harmala L

 

[JosBoaz]

it was extracted via maceration in methanol

Just as a warning for an unexpected novice scrolling by this thread, kindly do not try to extract harmala alkaloids with methanol 1) if one doesn't know what they are doing. 2) are extracting harmala alkaloids to consume them.

Maybe chemist @Transform can shed some light on this.

 

[Transform]

The harmalacidine exists in abundance, more than harmaline and harmine in fact, and is what seems to get thrown away, in the process of extraction, along with metabolites such as Harmalol and Harmol and a plethora of other minor trace alkaloids, but the harmalicidine seems to be the major player/influencer, it can be extracted with Methanol but as far as I know no one in the Nexus has done it, other than some scientists who wrote about it in academic research publications/journals.

Just as a warning for an unexpected novice scrolling by this thread, kindly do not try to extract harmala alkaloids with methanol 1) if one doesn't know what they are doing. 2) are extracting harmala alkaloids to consume them.

Maybe chemist @Transform can shed some light on this.

Three distinct extraction methods were applied to P. harmala seeds to evaluate their influence on the yield of its major β-carboline alkaloids, with particular emphasis on harmalacidine. The first method was adapted from Kartal, Altun and Kurucu [28]. Briefly, 2 g of dried P. harmala seeds were extracted via successive maceration with methanol (4 × 50 mL) at 50 °C, followed by filtration and evaporation to dryness. The residue was acidified with 2 % HCl, defatted with petroleum ether, then basified (pH 10) using NH4 OH and extracted with chloroform (4 × 50 mL). The chloroform extracts were pooled, evaporated to a constant weight. In the second method, harmala alkaloids were extracted via acid-base partitioning, beginning with acidification of the plant material using 50 mL of aqueous acetic acid solution (30 %w/w) and stirring for 30 min. After stirring and filtration, the extract was washed in a separating funnel with petroleum ether-ethyl acetate (1:1 v/v) to remove non-polar impurities. The aqueous phase was then neutralized with saturated sodium bicarbonate and extracted with ethyl acetate (3 × 100 mL). The organic layers were dried over anhydrous Na2SO4, filtered, and evaporated to dryness under reduced pressure to a dried alkaloids residue [29,30]. The third extraction method was per formed according to our previously published protocol [13]. Briefly, 2 g of ground P. harmala seeds were exhaustively extracted with 98 % methanol (4 × 4 mL), followed by 75 % methanol (2 × 4 mL). The combined extracts were concentrated under reduced pressure at 45 °C to obtain a syrupy residue, which was subsequently dried to a dark brown residue.

2.3. Isolation of harmalacidine HCl (H3) and other P. harmala alkaloids

The present study aimed to isolate harmalacidine HCl from the alkaloid-rich aqueous fraction of P. harmala L. seeds, following the methodology established in our previously published research [13]. Briefly, 2000 g of ground seeds were subjected to exhaustive extraction using 98 % methanol (4 × 4 L) followed by 75 % methanol (2 × 4 L). The combined extracts were concentrated under reduced pressure at 45 °C to yield a syrupy residue, which was subsequently dried to a constant weight (616.9 g; 30.8 % yield). This crude extract underwent successive solvent partitioning, resulting in five fractions. Among them, the aqueous fraction was the most abundant (374.6 g; 60.7 % yield), and it served as the target extract for the current investigation. In brief, 190 g of the aqueous fraction was subjected to column chromatography on silica gel (l70–230 mesh; Merck, Darmstadt, Germany), using chloroform-methanol (95:5, v/v) as the mobile phase, and 250 mL per fraction were collected and monitored using TLC, with chloroform-methanol (8:2 and 7:3, v/v) solvent systems. TLC chromatograms were visualized using UV light at 254 and 336 nm, as displayed in Fig. S1. Fractions 6–11 (combined weight: 3.85 g), eluted with 5 % methanol in chloroform, were selected for further purification based on their TLC profile. The selected fractions were pooled and re-chromatographed on a silica gel 60-A column (70–230 mesh; Merck, Darmstadt, Germany), packed with ethyl acetate (3 cm i.d. × 40 cm length). The elution was performed using gradient mixtures of ethyl acetate-methanol, and 30 mL fractions were collected throughout the process. Sub-fractions 50–78 (1.697 g), eluted with 10 % methanol, were combined and concentrated under reduced pressure to dryness. The remaining solid was washed repeatedly with chloroform then recrystallized by dissolving in methanol to afford pure compound (H3, yield: 1.544 g). The identity of the isolated compound was established by 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopy on a Bruker UltraShield Plus 500 MHz spectrometer (Bruker BioSpin GmbH, Rheinstetten, Germany), using methanol‐d4 as a solvent.

I.e. the harmalacidine was isolated, after an initial soxhlet extraction, via repeated chromatograohy, using (toxic) methanol and (even more toxic) chlorofom, followed by ethyl acetate along with more methanol and chloroform.

This is only suitable for those well-versed in the arts of the chemical laboratory.

I'd personally be intrigued to know the solubility of harmalacidine in butyl acetate.