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ACID-BASE EXTRACTION OF MESCALINE FROM SAN PEDRO

by Prdy2GO and starlight, HTML by metanoid

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Prdy2GO:
Step 1: Aqueous Extraction
First, you need to prepare a "tea" from your cacti. If using dried cactus,
powder it. If using fresh cactus, chop it to small pieces and then puree it
in a blender. At this point, it is a good idea to weigh your cactus and
record the weight. This will be helpful further on in the process. Put the
cactus in your stainless steel pot and cover with just enough water to
make a soup. Add some acid to make the pH of the soup fairly acidic. If
using citric acid, you want to add about 3 grams per liter of water. Boil
the cactus about 20 minutes. If you use sufficiently acidic water, there is
no need to boil longer than this. After boiling, strain out the cactus
chunks (the marc) and save the liquid. You want to do three acidic water
extractions on the cactus. Combine the 3 liquids and toss the marc on
your compost pile or dispose of it in some other non-wasteful manner. If
the volume of liquid you have is large, you may want to boil it down to a
more managable quantity.
Step 2: De-Fatting
Once cooled, the next step is to de-fat the solution. This step will remove
the fats and many other non-alkaloidal plant matter. Make sure the
solution is acidic (pH 4 is good) before doing this. If the solution is acidic,
the alkaloids will be in a salt form which is soluble in water but not in
xylene. Pour the solution into a glass jar (or separatory funnel, if
available). Add 25-50% of the solution volume in xylene. For example, if
you have 200ml of solution, add 50-100ml of xylene. Put the lid on the
jar and gently turn the jar over 50 to 100 times. Do not shake the
mixture vigorously as this could result in emulsions that will be difficult
to separate. (If you do end up with an emulsion layer, which looks like a
thin layer of poorly separated bubbles, bathing the jar in hot water can
help separate the emulsion. If the emulsion layer is thin enough, you
may wish to just discard it rather than taking the time to let it separate.)
Once mixed, let the jar sit and separate out into the different layers.
When this is done, you will have a top layer of solvent, a middle fatty
layer, and a bottom layer containing the acidic aqueous solution (and the
alkaloids).
If you are using a separatory funnel, drain out the bottom aqueous layer
and throw away the top two layers. Alternatively, use a turkey baster to
siphon off the top two layers and discard them. (Make sure you dispose
of all solvents safely! Do not flush it down the toilet if you have a septic
tank. If pouring it down a sewer-connecting drain, make sure to wash it
down with large amounts of water.) You will likely find that the turkey
baster only gets off most of the solvent and fat layers. To get the thin
layer that the turkey baster can't get, try this trick. Siphon off all of the
remaining solvent and fat layers, as well as some of the top of the
aqueous layer. Put this liquid into a tall thin glass container (a graduated
cylinder or test tube, for example), and let it separate back into layers.
Then, use an eye dropper to get off the solvent and fat layers, then add
the remaining aqueous solution back to the main jar.
There is one other possibile approach to separating the layers. Because
xylene freezes at -47.7 degrees Celsius, a separation can be done in the
freezer. Put the container in the freezer and let it sit for a few hours until
the water has frozen solid. The xylene can then be poured off and
discarded. I do not know if this will work for defatting, as I do not know
the freezing point of cactus fats. If the fats freeze at freezer
temperatures, it may not be possible to pour them off with the xylene.
This freezing technique can certainly be used later on in steps 4 and 5 to
separate the xylene and water layers, however.
Repeat the de-fatting process two more times, or until you no longer get
a fatty layer after separation. Make sure that you have good ventilation
through the whole de-fatting process (or any time you are working with
xylene). If you begin to feel light-headed or nauseous, or get a
headache, go outside immediately and breathe fresh air until you feel
better. Also, make sure there are no open flames or sparks as xylene is
quite flammable.
Step 3: Basification
After de-fatting, slowly add sodium hydroxide to the aqueous solution
until the pH is up around 10. Rather than adding dry sodium hydroxide, it
may be wise to prepare a solution of sodium hydroxide in water, and add
this. Be careful when mixing the sodium hydroxide and water, as the
mixture will cause an exothermic (heat producing) reaction. Do not
prepare the mixture in heat-sensitive containers. When working with
sodium hydroxide, remember that it is a highly caustic material and can
burn you badly. Avoid contact, especially with the yes, and if any gets on
you wash the spot immediately with plenty of water. It is highly
recommended that you wear protective gloves and goggles when
working with sodium hydroxide or other hazardous chemicals.
Be aware that once you do this step, you need to continue the extraction
at least up through the xylene extraction because leaving the alkaloids in
a strongly basic solution will cause them to start breaking down after
several hours. Making the solution basic turns the alkaloids into their free
base forms, which are soluble in xylene.
Step 4: Extraction of Free Bases
Once the solution is basic, xylene using the same ratio as used during
the de-fatting process. Again, mix the solution thoroughly but gently to
avoid emulsions. Let the solution sit, and it will separate out into two
layers. On the bottom will be a basic aqueous solution, and on the top
will be a xylene layer which now contains the alkaloids. Using either a
separatory funnel or a siphoning process, collect the xylene layer and set
it aside. Since there will still be significant alkaloids in the aqueous layer,
repeat this process two more times. Combine all the xylene and discard
the remaining aqueous solution.
If you are using a separatory funnel, gas may be formed when adding
xylene to the basic solution. To prevent pressure from building up and
potentially leading to an explosion, vent the separatory funnel
occasionally. If you are using a jar, you should remove the lid.
Step 5: Salt Formation and Extraction
The next step is to add acidic water to the xylene. This will cause the
alkaloids to convert to their salt forms, which are soluble in water but not
xylene. If using hydrochloric acid from the hardware store, it will already
be diluted and may be usable as is. Read the label to find the
concentration. One source says, "HCl from the hardware store is
generally between 24%-36% HCl. This is far from dilute. Indeed, upon
opening the container, a visible plume of white vapor can be seen
creeping out of the bottle. First the lungs start to burn, then any skin
which is exposed to the air starts to sting... This should be diluted,
especially if it is going to be worked with without a fume hood. 20 drops
acid per 500ml of water may even be sufficient."
If using vinegar (acetic acid), it comes quite diluted (around 5%) and
should be used as is. It would probably be best to use plain white
vinegar. I do not know what else is in vinegar other than water and
acetic acid, but it is likely other chemicals remain from the original wine,
and this may affect your final product. There should not be any harmful
products from using vinegar, since it is a food-safe product, but you may
not get nice crystals after evaporation.
If using citric acid (which is the recommended choice), prepare a solution
of citric acid powder with a small amount of water. I recommend using
citric acid because unlike hydrochloric acid, it is food-safe and safe to
handle, and unlike either hydrochloric acid or vinegar, it is available in
pure form. I have been told that using hydrochloric or acetic acid has the
advantage that both are volatile and that excess will evaporate off, unlike
citric acid. However, since neither are easily available in pure form, it is
still probably better to use citric acid. Beware that if you do use
hydrochloric acid and let it evaporate, the fumes can be hazardous and
the evaporation should not be done where you might breathe in the
vapors.
For this step, it is useful to have some idea how much alkaloid should be
in your cactus extract. If you weighed your cactus before extraction.
Trichocereus pachanoi has been analyzed with mescaline contents of
0.025-0.12% fresh weight (0.331-2.0% dry weight). Mescaline is usually
around 50% or more of total alkaloid content. You will want to add an
equimolar quantity of acid to the solution.
If you can't or don't want to estimate the alkaloid content, Trout gives
the following work-around: add very small quantities of acidic water to
the xylene, let separate, and then collect the water layer. Check the pH
of the water, and it should be neutral. Repeat this with small batches of
acidic solution until the water layers come out acidic. Trout points out
that "Something to keep in mind is that neutralization won't always be
immediate. pH should be checked after a few minutes to see how it is,
adjusted if needed and rechecked a few minutes later."
If you are using citric acid and you are not worried about having citric
acid powder in the final product, you can just add enough acidic water to
make the solution slightly acidic, and repeat this once or twice, then
combine the extracted water layers. As citric acid is both food-safe and a
solid powder, this is a sloppy but safe approach. Shulgin suggests that
this may be a better approach than stopping when the water layers stop
coming out neutral: "My gut feeling is that there may be quite a bit of
alkaloid still in the xylene, and maybe a couple of extracts with more
aqueous acid would be useful. True, it may load the product down with
excess citric acid, but the increased yield might be worth it."
However you approach it, after the acidification and water extraction
step, discard the xylene. Again, make sure to dispose of it in a safe
manner.
Theoretically, this step could be skipped entirely, and you could just let
the xylene evaporate. This would leave behind mescaline (and the other
alkaloids) in free bas form, which is an oil. This is not recommended
however, as mescaline oil is highly caustic and it would burn your skin to
touch it. Since its an oil, it would also not be possible to put into
capsules. Perhaps you could put the oil into some acidic fruit juice and
safely drink it, but it is still preferable to go through this step to produce
a salt form. Perhaps it may even be smokable, though I know of no
reports of anyone trying to smoke (or vaporize, rather) free base cactus
alkaloids. The boiling point for mescaline free base is around 180 degrees
Celsius. One final concern is that free base mescaline oil may not have
the shelf life of a salt.
Step 6: Evaporation
Finally, pour the water into a large pyrex baking pan. Set it in a
protected location to evaporate. Let it evaporate slowly at room
temperature rather than using heat, as this will give you a better chance
of producing nice crystals. After the water has fully evaporated, scrape
up the crystals (or whatever solid mass you end up with) and put them
in capsules or a vial for storage.
Keep in mind that when measuring doses, there are a few things to
consider. First, your extract will contain all the alkaloids from the cactus,
not just the mescaline. Second, depending on what acid you used in step
5, you will have different salts of the alkaloids. For example, if you used
citric acid, you will have mescaline citrate (as well as citrate salts of the
other alkaloids). If you used vinegar, you will have mescaline acetate. If
you used muriatic acid you will have mescaline hydrochloride. The doses
of each will be slightly different, due to the different molecular weights of
the different acids. Because of these factors, you will need to figure out
the potency of your material before you can weigh doses accurately.
Conclusion
Do make sure that you follow all safety instructions religiously. Failure to
excersize caution can easily lead to harm and even death. To stress this
point even further, I will close with some comments from Trout:
"It seems like it does not matter how many times you tell some people
things, lots of them decide what THEY think is really important and items
like solvent exposure and not using plastics or solvents stored in plastics
(or even the use of slow and careful heating) get forgotten whenever it is
not convenient to follow the instructions.
Its very distressing how careless some people are. Worse, people like
this often expose not just themselves but family, children and pets with
no thought or concern.
You would not believe some of the letters I have gotten. Some of them I
almost can't shred fast enough.
I'm sadly coming to believe that a simple citrate tea (lime not lemon) or
else dried outer flesh consumed as powder are the only safe approaches
the general public is capable of handling responsibly."
REFERENCES

[1]Fletch. Private e-mail. December 7, 2001.

[2]Shulgin, Alexander. Private e-mail. November 24, 2001.
[3]Trout, K. "Sacred Cacti." Second edition, 1999: Chapters 4, 6 and 10.
[4]Trout, K. Private e-mail. December 1, 2001.

Starlight:
crystallization using sulfuric acid
Just replace steps 5 and 6 above with the step below:
This method relies on the low solubility of mescaline sulfate in very cold
water.
(this is not tested from personal experience, but sourced from Trout:
Sacred Cacti and Selected Succulents, 1997)
Step 5: Salt Formation and Crystallization
Once you have separated the organic solvent, dark (or in the case of
recrystallization at least yellow) with alkaloid and impurities from the
basic solution, extract it with dilute sulfuric acid. Use only as much as is
required to neutralize the alkaloid bases. A little excess at this point is
not desirable, but not of concern. Separate the small volume of aqueous
solution now containing the mescaline sulfate and other alkaloid sulfates.
It will need gentle heat to reduce it somewhat, but do not let it become
thick, or overheat. Take this solution while warm and insulate it well (a
small styrofoam shipping box will work as will being carefully wrapped in
towels). Stick the whole thing in your refrigerator until quite cold (near
0C) but do not freeze.
The object is to retard the rate of cooling to as slow as possible. This will
cause the formation of large, beautiful crystals. If you chill rapidly a
crystalline mush of many tiny crystals will form, trapping impurities.
Take the mother liquor containing the crystals and pour through a
buchner funnel. Allow the air to keep sucking through the crystals. Briefly
squirt a bit of ice cold water through the crystals to rinse them of any
remaining solution. Turn off the air flow briefly and immediately dump
out the mother liquor and ice water rinsing and save.
Rapidly resume air flowing through the Buchner. Then quickly rinse the
crystals with a little acetone to remove the remaining water. Let the air
keep flowing to pull off as much liquid as possible. (If one has access to a
cold room all of this will be more efficient).
Take the filter and immediately dry in a warm oven (120-120F) with the
door open. Package as soon as dry and keep away from light, heat,
moisture, air.
Second and third crops of crystals may be obtained by reducing the
mother liquor further (do not allow to become thick) and again chilled.
By the third or fourth time other alkaloids will begin to crystallize. These
may be grey in colour and have a plate-like structure. They should be
easily distinguishable from the beautiful yellow or white needles and
prisms of mescaline sulfate.
The sulfate salt can be converted to the hydrochloride salt by acid base
and evaporation if so required.