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Extracting Methylphenidate from lactose-containing preparations (Such as Concerta)

Burn it up

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 25, 2009
Messages
119
Getting the methylphenidate out of normal tablets which do not have extended time releasing qualities is pretty simple, taking in account that the methylphenidate is soluble in water whilst the other inactive ingredients are not: Disolve the pill in cold water, filter the solution, throw away the precipitate, let the water evaporate and you are done.

However, what happens when you try to get the methylphenidate out of extended time release tablets such as concerta? These have as a main inactive ingredient lactose, which is even more soluble in water than methylhenidate is. Now we cant use water to dissolve methylphenidate in it because the lactose will also dissolve, and we will not be able te separate both of them using the previous method.


Solution? ALCOHOL.
Methylphenidate hidrochloride (HCL), which is how it comes in pharmaceutical preparations, is very soluble also in alcohol, whilst lactose is not soluble in it (some of it can dissolve, however, but not any significant quality). To make as little lactose as possible dissolve in the alcohol, we must keep the temperature of alcohol at 10ºC (30 minutes in the fridge). At that temperature, lactose will very difficoultly dissolve in the alcohol, while the methylphenidate will dissolve without any problems. Now we just have to filter the solution, throw away the precipitate (which will be mainly lactose) and let the alcohol evaporate so that we are left with the methylphenidate.

This is a great harm reduction method to avoid insufflating enormous quantities of lactose, which could block in a very umpleasant way your respiratory pathways. Also, its a great method for those who are lactose-intolerant to ingest methylphenidate without getting sick from the lactose. Finally, its a great way for those of you drogophiles who like to have your substances as pure as possible, taking away all the cuts and unnecessary inactive ingredients.


However, I want to ask you guys a question about this, in case some of you know it from personal experience or from theoretical knowledge: Which alcohol will be the bst one to make as much methylphenidateas possible dissolve in it and at the same time making the least lactose dissolve in it. In other words: In which alcohol is methylphenidate more soluble in and at the same time lactose least soluble in? Maybe isopropyl alcohol? Ethanol? A mixture of both of them (such as the one they sell for disinfecting wounds)?


Cheers! :)
 
Alcohol.

Lactose is a sugar, so the more organic, the more insoluble. I'd say stick with ethanol, because its the least harmful to the consumer.
 
I dont really get what you say of "more organic". As far as I know, its either organic or its not, but I'm unfamilliar with the term "more" or "less" organic... (english is my second language, so maybe thats the reason). Im not trying to be rude, I just dont understand what you are trying to tell me, how is isopropyl alcohol less organic than ethanol? As far as I know, the only difference between ethanol and isopropyl alcohol is an extra methyl group on the second one.

On the other hand, I plan on completely evaporating all of the solvent, so theres no problem with it being slightly harmful. Both of them will work, right? But I want to know whch of them will do the job Best.

Thank you :)
 
Yes this im interested in. I have a bottle from the Pharmacy - Isopropylalcohol. Says nothing about % or other ingedients. Just Isopropylalcohol used for cleaning electronics and such.

Will the powder of metylpen. be safe to inject when all of the isopropylalcohol has evaporated?
(Safe in the meaning of - no isopropylalcohol left so 'that' specific substance can harm me)
 
I have IV'd Isopropyl alcohol on numerous occasions when doing Heroin or cocaine. Now it is not recommended and probably stupid but in 5 years of doing this I have never run across any issues, never an abcess or even inflammation for long periods of time.

However, I do recall reading that isopropyl alcohol, when IV'ed could cause necrosis of cells. The article made it seem as if it was going to mass damage but from personal experience I have never noticed such, nor does it seem too logical. Would not suggest it for everyday use but it so far has never really caused problems, for me mind you.
 
I have IV'd Isopropyl alcohol on numerous occasions when doing Heroin or cocaine. Now it is not recommended and probably stupid but in 5 years of doing this I have never run across any issues, never an abcess or even inflammation for long periods of time.

However, I do recall reading that isopropyl alcohol, when IV'ed could cause necrosis of cells. The article made it seem as if it was going to mass damage but from personal experience I have never noticed such, nor does it seem too logical. Would not suggest it for everyday use but it so far has never really caused problems, for me mind you.

I thank you very very much for this post man!
I'll let the Isopropylalcohol evaporate till its clean powder/crystals whaever Methylphenidate turns into - no liquid left anyway.
And then add water and filter and shoot!
Shouldn't be much of the isoprop. left anyhow.... just though if it was VERY LETAL to even get a tiny tiny amount of isopropylalcohol into your bloodstream.

Stay Safe!
 
FWIW, any iso you buy at the store has water in it. It's not going to work properly. You need pure alcohol with no water content.
 
If you dissolve methylphenidate in any alcohol it will react with the solvent.

For instance if you dissolve it in ethanol:
Methylphenidate + Ethanol -> Ethylphenidate + Methanol

To retain methylphenidate, you should use methanol as the solvent. Make sure to evaporate all of the solvent though because methanol is toxic. Also the technique described will most likely result in an impure sticky goo or oil which cannot be snorted. Your best bet is to take the Concerta orally as prescribed.
 
Umm... doesn't that only happen in presence of a transesterase enzyme or something?
 
Umm... doesn't that only happen in presence of a transesterase enzyme or something?

Chemistry is rarely a 100% thing, but the large excess of ethanol in the solvent will drive the reaction towards an equilibrium with ethylphenidate being the favored product. As the solvent, now an ethanol/methanol mixture, evaporates, the equilibrium will be further driven towards ethylphenidate because methanol evaporates at lower temperatures than ethanol.
 
Is there anyone who knows for certain a good method for extracting the MPH out of Concerta? And if it turns out the only possible outcome of the extraction is a batch of ethyphenidate, instead of MPH, would that be so terrible? as far as I'm aware, the only difference worthy of mention is ethylphenidate is slightly less noradrenergic, and imho the dopaminergic effects are the most coveted.
So either way, does anyone know of a relatively safe and practical product (ethylphenidate or MPH) to be exctracted from Concerta, and how to achieve it?
 
ethylphenidate aint bad, I read that it's more dopaminergic and less adrenergic(compared to Methylphenidate). Plus it lasts longer.
 
Your focus should be less on Methylphenidate/Concerta and more on the OROS Push-Pull system.

OROS® Hydromorphone

With a goal of bringing to patients the convenience of a once-daily pain relief medication, Neuromed is developing OROS® Hydromorphone, a combination of the effective opioid pain reliever Hydromorphone with the OROS® PUSH-PULL™ controlled release technology. Hydromorphone is a Schedule II opioid that has been used under the brand name Dilaudid® (Abbott Laboratories) and is also available from various generic manufacturers. Current formulations of hydromorphone marketed in the U.S. are immediate release, requiring dosing several times per day.

Neuromed has acquired the U.S. marketing rights to OROS® Hydromorphone from ALZA Corporation (see press release). OROS® Hydromorphone was developed by ALZA and uses the OROS® PUSH-PULL™ delivery system to release the opioid at a controlled rate. The OROS® PUSH-PULL™ drug delivery technology has been employed as a sustained release formulation for many successful marketed products, including Concerta®, Ditropan XL®, Covera-HS®, and Procardia XL®.

OROS® Hydromorphone has been approved and is marketed in Germany and other European countries by Janssen-Cilag under the name Jurnista™.

http://www.neuromed.com/technology/index.php?nr=2&txt=

OROS = Osmotic Release Oral Systems.

Awhile back I went through the inactive ingredients in all of the products listed as having this 'OROS' delivery system, and made a list of the inactive ingredients listed in their FDA prescriber leaflets that they all have in common (which should be the physical ingredients that make up the OROS system in the pills). I can't find the post I put this info in, it may have been pruned during the recent Great BL Purge :(

Anyway, if you can defeat the OROS Push-Pull drug delivery system (which is what makes these drugs 'Extended Release' and notoriously 'gummy' 'non-crushable' etc) you have access to the active ingredients in high doses.

Since all of these drugs use the same XR delivery system, if you can defeat the one in Concerta, you can defeat them all (including Jurnista, the large dose Hydromorphone tablets that go up to 64mg Hydromorphone per tab).
 
ethylphenidate aint bad, I read that it's more dopaminergic and less adrenergic(compared to Methylphenidate). Plus it lasts longer.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17218796

What you said appears right at first glance.

However, TMP is transesterified enantioselectively, and the isomer that goes on to form ethylphenidate is biologically inactive (according to the above abstract).

Therefore the only way to get pharmacologically meaningful amounts of ethylphenidate is in a lab.
 
What about, leaving the pill in some water with a bit of citric in it, heated lightly a few times, for 24 hours, to sort of make it think it's in the stomach. Then technically the drug will have entered the solution and you could draw it up through a filter, and/or micron filter, etc..
 
What about, leaving the pill in some water with a bit of citric in it, heated lightly a few times, for 24 hours, to sort of make it think it's in the stomach. Then technically the drug will have entered the solution and you could draw it up through a filter, and/or micron filter, etc..

adding heat dissolves more unwanted filler crap into the solution so this is not advised !
 
If this is going where i think its going, IV use of methyphenidate has been known to cause problems if i remember correctly.
 
So I read this whole thread and I guess nobody is quite sure if using alcohol will yield pure methylphenidate or even active ethylphenidate and is therefor not useful?

I ask not because I want to IV MPH but because I am actually lactose intolerant and most methylphenidate preparations (even IR) contain lactose. Very anoying. Snorting them fixes this issue to a large degree. Although that doesn't make sense to me since supposedly ~90% ends up going down your throat anyway (I think that's the statistic).
 
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