.
4. Extraction info
The entheogenic plants in question are traditionally boiled into brews using water as a medium to dissolve their active elements. Depleted plant matter is discarded and the active solution is reduced to a drinkable volume. Traditional brews can therefor be considered 'extractions' in terms of versus 'eating raw plants directly'. The active elements (alkaloids) can also be extracted (isolated) from the plant matter using modern chemistry. This section goes over the theory and background info, the next section lists the best step-by-step extraction teks.
Advantages
- Constant potency for accurate dosing
- Enables other routes of administration such as smoking
- Eliminates undesired plant content
Disadvantages
- May remove full spectrum compounds and reduce synergistic entourage effects
- Requires some knowledge and effort
- Working with unhealthy products (can be done with food safe products only)
Disclaimer
The Nexus is pro small extractions for personal use and is against large extractions for selling. Note that extracting large amounts of material in single containers will lower the yield substantially compared to performing multiple smaller extractions. Trying to save time ends up wasting precious plant material by lowering the efficiency of the extraction and reducing yield.
Safety
Solvents
- Don't use open fire near flammable solvents, use warm water baths or electric stoves
- Work in a well ventilated place and minimize exposure to solvent fumes
- Check that your solvent evaporates clean each time you buy a new batch
- Check solvent msds contents. Online search: 'brand name' 'product name' msds
- Ventilate your DMT yield clean from solvent residue for 2-3 days, the DMT won't oxidate
Acid (low pH) / bases (high pH)
- Wear gloves and eye protection when working with acids/bases
- Don't get any acids/bases in your eyes (by splashing or rubbing with hands)
- Only use stainless steel or glass hardware, no plastic or aluminum
Product grades
Food grade products have high purity and undergo food-safe processing. Lab grade has high purity, yet can be processed in unclean containers with residues of other chemicals. Lab grade can therefore can be toxic even though the product is food safe itself. Technical grade is of low purity and can contain miscellaneous chemicals. Preferably choose food grade. Never choose tech grade, this can ruin the extraction or contaminate the yield.
Product list
The following products can be used for extraction. Some products can be suspicious to order. Preferably use cash in physical stores.
Acids
- Acetic acid (buying tip: white vinegar)
- Citric acid (buying tip: vitamin C)
- Fumaric acid (buying tip: used for wine processing)
- Hydrochloric acid (buying tip: used for etching concrete)
Bases
- Sodium Hydroxide 'NaO' (lye) - soluble in water (1000g/L @25C) and ethanol, very high pH
- Potassium Hydroxide 'KOH' - soluble in water (121g/100mL @25C) and ethanol, very high pH
- Calcium Hydroxide 'Ca(OH)2' (lime), poorly soluble in water (1.73g/L @20C) not soluble in ethanol
- Sodium Carbonate 'Na2CO3' (soda) - soluble in water (34.07g/100mL @28C) poorly soluble in ethanol
- Sodium Bicarbonate 'NaHCO3' (baking soda) - should be changed to sodium carbonate by heat
Salts
- Sodium chloride 'NaCl' (table salt, should have no additives) - used in Cybs ATB Salt Tek
- Magnesium Sulfate (Epson salt, bath salt) - for use as a drying agent
Polar protics
- Water - can be tap water, but preferably filtered or distilled
Polar aprotics
- Acetone '(CH3)2CO' - part of human metabolism and present in fruits in small amounts
Alcohols
- Ethanol 'EtOH' (alcohol) - usually 96% pure (4% water)
- Methanol 'MeOH' - toxic
- Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA, Rubbing Alcohol) - should be >99% pure, less toxic than methanol
- Butanone (MEK) - irritant
Non polar solvents (NPS)
- Naphtha (petroleum ether, C5-C9 distillates, 40-60 and 60-80 fractions) - for freeze-precipitating
- Heptane /Hexane (aliphatic) - for freeze-precipitating, narrow spectrum, can be used for re-x
- Xylene /Toluene (aromatic, paint thinners) - for evaporating and back salting, full spectrum
- d-Limonene (citrus oil) - for evap /back salting /FASX, full spectrum, fumes aren't healthy so ventilate
- Limonene (distilled d-Limonene) - same as above just more refined
- Cooking oil (sun flower oil) - for back salting, full spectrum, prone to emulsions
- Methylene chloride (DCM) - for evap, full spectrum, efficient at lower pH, requires clean-ups
- Octane (petrol) - don't use: explosive, contains benzene and other additives
- Nonane (kerosene) - don't use: unhealthy vapor and additives
4.1 A/B extraction
A/B (Acid/Base) is an extraction method where DMT plant material is placed in an acidic solution. The low pH helps to dissolves the naturally occurring DMT salt from the pant matter into the solution. A base is then added to make the solution alkaline. The high pH turns the DMT salt into freebase DMT. The next step is adding a NPS which floats on top of the aqueous layer. The NPS saturates with DMT by pulling it out of the solution below. The NPS is then separated and depending on which NPS is used either evaporated, freeze precipitated, or back salted to retrieve the DMT.
Procedure
Additional information
Durations
Acidify for > 2 hrs (optional: freeze overnight and thaw). Basify for > 1 hr. The longer the acidifying and basing, the more DMT enters the solution. You may acidify for a day and base for a day for example. Perform 45-60 minute pulls by letting the content settle for 10 min and carefully steering /rotating 30 seconds at 10 minute intervals (4-5x steering for 30 sec spread over 45-60 min). You can also let the NPS sit for 24 hrs. Occasionally steer the bottle during the day (4-5x total), or do an 60 min steer/settle round. Freeze precipitate for 18-24 hrs. Dry the yield for 1 hr with a fan and let it sit of 3-5 days in a dry, cool and well ventilated space to evaporate out any NPS residue trapped in the crystals and plant fats. Test by smelling.
pH levels
Aim for a pH between 3.5-4.0 for the acidifying stage. A not low enough pH may not break sufficient DMT free from of the bark. A pH too low may cause more plant oils to get extracted (darker yellow and more oily yield). pH 4 is optimal for a white yield. The basing stage should be above pH 12. A much larger amount of base (e.g. Lye) is required than needed to reach pH 12 in order to prevent emulsions. When using Lye, use enough but not too much, or the solution will become too viscous (thick), making it harder for the DMT to travel to the NPS.
Temperatures
Acidifying: 20-90 deg C. Basing: 20-60 C. Pulling: 20-60 C. High heat pulls DMT faster into the NPS (less pulls needed), but also pulls more plant oils (requiring a clean-up step). Warning: high temp pulls cause more solvent fumes. Make
extra sure your ventilation is good when doing high temp pulls. The optimal pulling temp is NPS type dependent. For low faction Naptha: 20-40 C. For Hexane/Pentane-Naphtha: 40 C, for Hexane/Heptane-Naphtha: 60 C. You can always go up to 60 C with a clean up step afterwards. Some people pull the last pulls at a higher temp, keeping the purer and less pure yields separate. Note: when heating during pulls, heat the entire solution, not just the NPS. If you only pre-heat the NPS it will cool to same temp as the solution as soon as you add it.
Number of pulls
After 3-6x 45-60 min pulls the alkaline solution should be depleted of all DMT. The amount of pulls needed depends on the temperature, volume, viscosity, NPS type, etc. Different naphtha brands can have different petrochemical mixtures with different pull effects. Keep the last pull separate and check its yield. If significant pull again.
Freeze precipitation
Do not disturb the dish before 18-24 hours are up, the crystals may not form properly otherwise. The higher the saturation and the colder the temperature, the faster the crystallization and smaller the crystals. Very saturated very cold naphtha yields smaller crystals fast. Less saturated less cold naphtha yields larger crystals slower. It takes a very low saturation to not precipitate out any DMT. If in doubt freeze for several days or evaporate the NPS down to a lower volume prior freezing. When separating the DMT from the frozen NPS don't use coffee filters as some DMT might dissolve into them. Simply decant the NPS away for the crystals.
Ratio's and scaling
Per 1g of bark:
10ml - 20ml total solution volume including the bark, acid, base (usually 15ml)
0.25g - 0.75g salt (usually 0.50g)
0.5g - 1.0g Lye (usually 0.75g)
0.5ml - 1.5ml Naphtha (usually 1.0ml)
An efficient method is using 1 liter bottles for the extraction (see Cybs tek in the chapter below). The optimal amount of bark per bottle is 50g to 75g. Using 100g per bottle will result in yield loss compared to 50-75g. To extract more than 75g, use multiple bottles. You may use the ratio (for acid, salt, base, NPS) mentioned in Cybs tek to extract either 50 or 75g of bark per bottle.
Problem solving
Emulsions
If an emulsion forms during the pulling stage add more lye. If that doesn't work add some salt. Heating helps too. Another option is vibrating the emulsion loose. If everything fails, just wait. The first pull can occasionally take up to an hour to separate.
Dark solvent
Sometimes the NPS layer becomes very dark brown. It seems to happen mostly with STB extractions, powdered bark and heated pulls. The exact reason is unknown. Wait a few hours and see if the color settles and the solvent layer gets clearer. If that doesn't help separate the pulls as you would normally and do a sodium carbonate wash. Then freeze precipitate and perform a clean up on the yield such as a re-x or mini a/b.
Oily yield
Too sticky oily yields (not usable) can be caused by a too low pH in the acid step, too high temperatures - especially when pulling, or a bad NPS (product /batch). The latter can happen if Naphta is used which is a mixture of multiple substances. Make sure to check the msds contents of the solvent. Perform a clean-up step to purify the oily yield.
Yield clean-up options
If you want to eliminate any lye or other impurities from the DMT containing NPS, you can do a sodium carbonate wash:
To clean up oily DMT you can do a re-x (re-crystallization):
If you want to remove plant oils and organic substances for whiter DMT do a Mini A/B:
Note: this step is needed when extracting ACRB
An other way to clean up dirty /impure freebase DMT obtained from an A/B tek is to a FASA wash:
Some teks tell you to do a defat (wash) after the acidification stage. This means adding Naphtha to the acidified solution to extract impurities into the Naphtha which is discarded. This step is now considered outdated as its inefficient at cleaning and wasteful in terms of time, Naphta and yield loss. Another cleanup not advised is washing the NPS with charcoal, this can easily result in yield loss.
4.2 STB extraction
STB stands for Straight To Base. It follows the same procedure as A/B without the acid step. STB converts the DMT in solution directly into freebase DMT. Skipping the acid step increases the amount of time it takes to break apart the cellular plant matter in which the actives are located. Other than taking longer, a STB extraction is just as efficient as A/B. Longer means more time passes, but doesn't mean more work. All stages in STB can be performed at room temperature without heating the solution.
STB vs A/B
- STB takes more time to perform than A/B
- The acid step in A/B can result in more plant fats/oils (STB gives a cleaner yield)
- Mimosa (MHRB) can be extracted using STB.
- Acacia (ACRB) is more fat-laden and needs to be extracted by A/B.
Procedure
4.3 Eco friendly extraction
To avoid using unsafe chemicals eco friendly methods can be used with food grade products only. The main challenge is avoiding petrochemical NPS which is able to evaporate or freeze precipitate to retrieve the dissolved DMT. Vegetable cooking oils (refined sun flower oil is known to work well) are an effective NPS and pull full spectrum, but do not evaporate or freeze precipitate.
A backsalting can be performed to retrieve the DMT from the cooking oil. This is done by adding an acidic solution which stays separated under the NPS layer. DMT dissolved in the NPS will travel to the acidic solution below. Similarly to how it travels from the basic solution to the NPS above in an A/B or STB extraction. The DMT depleted NPS is discarded and the acidic solution is evaporated leaving the DMT behind. The retrieved DMT is then purified further to obtain a cleaner yield.
An other option is basing the bark with a food grade base and evaporating it dry, followed by soaking it in ethanol. The ethanol dissolves the DMT, separating it from the plant material. Evaporating the ethanol leaves the DMT behind. The retrieved DMT is then purified further to obtain a cleaner yield.
Tips
- IPA / acetone can be used if 96% ethanol (grain alcohol) can't be found.
- Freeze a sodium carbonate /ethanol solution to -20 deg C. Excess sodium carbonate will precipitate.
- Calcium Hydroxide (lime) is less soluble in water /ethanol than sodium carbonate.
- Filtering results gives a cleaner yield.
4.4 FASX extraction
This is an advanced extraction method. FASX (Fumeric Acid Saturated Acetone /IPA /Water) is an extraction method to yield DMT-Fumerate. DMT-Fumerate is one of many DMT salts. It is used for the oral route (Pharmauasca) as freebase DMT can't be consumed orally, or for long term storage as salts are very stable molecules. DMT salts can be converted to freebase DMT, as well as the other way around. Most DMT salts are hygroscopic. They absorb water from the air and are permanently moist (a goo). DMT-Fumerate is the only salt that isn't hygroscopic. It crystallizes making it easy to handle.
FASA
FASA stands for Fumeric Acid Saturated Acetone. It's created by adding Fumeric Acid (FA) to Acetone until the Acetone is saturated (SA). The methodology of FASA employs the solubility of freebase DMT, the solubility of Fumaric acid and the insolubility of DMT-Fumarate in Acetone. When FASA is added to Aceton in which freebase DMT is dissolved, the FA salts the freebase DMT into DMT-Fumerate which is not soluble in Aceton and precipitates. As it's the only thing that does it can easily be separated.
This can be used to convert freebase DMT into DMT-Furmarate: dissolve 1000g freebase DMT in 50ml dehydrated Acetone. Dissolve 309 mg of Fumaric acid in another batch of 50 ml of Acetone. DMT Fumarate precipitates out. If the Acetone is not dehydrated (some /all) DMT-Fumarate will stay dissolved in the water. In this case fully evaporate the solution to obtain the yield.
NPS for FASA
Instead of using Aceton as the DMT carrier solution, some non-polar solvents can also be used. This opens up the possibility to apply FASA to a DMT containing NPS solution used for pulling an A/B or STB extraction. DMT-Fumarate will precipitate and the NPS can be cleaned for re-use. Add water to dissolve excess FA and Acetone, or distillate. d-Limonene, Xylene and Toluene work as NPS.
Always test your solvent: add some FASA to a clean batch of solvent slowly drop wise to see if anything precipitates out. If the solvent stays clear, it's good. Next, dissolve some (25mg) of DMT in an other batch of solvent. Now, add the FASA solvent and DMT solvent together. If clouding forms (DMT-Fumerate precipitation) the solvent is good to use. Naptha does not work as FA precipitates out. If FA precipitates out of your d-Limonene, try adding some Acetone to your Limo (25ml Acetone per 100ml Limo) prior adding the FASA.
Procedure
FASI
When adding FASI (Fumaric acid saturated IPA) to DMT containing NPS, a separate layer of IPA forms under the NPS in which the DMT-Fumerate precipitates out. First the NPS is separated then the IPA layer is decanted from the DMT-Fumerate.
FASW
With FASW a separate layer of water forms under the NPS in which the DMT-Fumerate is dissolved. First the NPS is separated then the water is evaporated. Some Fumaric acid will remain. This can be separated with an Acetone wash (see below).
CASA
CASA stands for Citric Acid saturated Acetone. When CASA + FASA is used, DMT-Fumerate precipitates in the Acetone. This eliminates the need for a basing stage. See the Tek: "The FASA Method". Note: some people report an oily orange layer form on the bottom with this tek. Might be due to their acetone not being anhydrous enough. Dehydrating the bark might help too.
Fumaric acid solubility and DMT Fumerate ratio
The solubility of FA in Acetone and water is 6mg/ml and in IPA 5mg/ml. About 1/3 unit of Fumaric acid (in weight) converts 1 unit of freebase DMT (in weight) to DMT-Fumerate. Using excess FA is not a problem as residue can easily be cleaned from the yield by washing with fresh Acetone.
To estimate how much FASA volume you need to make to use on NPS from a plant extraction, you can use the following guideline: 3% max DMT yield and 0.5 part FA to 1 part DMT. This means 100g bark contains max 3g DMT for which 1500mg FA is needed. This dissolves in 250ml FASA/W or in 300ml FASI. Stop adding when no more clouding occurs.
Clean-up steps
Cleaning excess Fumaric Acid from final yield
Purifying final yield using IPA
Purifying final yield using MEK
Converting
Converting DMT-Fumerate into freebase DMT
Converting freebase DMT into DMT-Fumarate
Converting Sodium Bicarbonate into Sodium Carbonate
Anhydrous solvents
To make a solvent anhydrous you add a desiccant (drying agent). One of these is anhydrous Magesium Sulfate (MgSO4). This can be made by heating Epson Salts (Magnesium Sulfate Heptahydrate) above 200 C. Anhydrous MgSO4 can absorb 204.7% of it's weight in water. 50g can absorb around 100ml water.
Using warm acetone with magnesium sulfate increases the chances of condensation reactions of the acetone itself. These reactions generate water. Therefore, dehydrate in a cold place and separate the solution from the MgSO4 when ready. Don't leave acetone standing over MgSO4 in a warm place for any great length of time.
Sodium Sulphate and Calcium sulphate are much weaker Lewis acids and thus much less prone to catalysing condensation reactions in the acetone. But they work a bit slower than MgSO4. Calcium chloride can't be used to dry in acetone.
4.5 More info
- DMT extraction overview
- FAQ for DMT extraction
- The Chemistry of Extraction
- Art of Liquid extraction
