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crystallization

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digisynth420

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Sep 26, 2010
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If i wanted to crystalize mephedrone could i use isopropyl alcahol? I looked up some videos and info on youtube and google but i have a hard time following the steps to crystallize and would like to make sure im right before i try so i dont ruin my product. I take it i would put the chemical i would like to crystallize on an ice bath. Then i would heat my solvent and pour it into the container with my chemical. The slower my solvent drys the bigger the crystals would be. Is this right? Is there any other steps that i am missing?
 
I have no idea which solvent is the best for recrystallization of mephedrone but the substance doesn't need to be iced first.

The principle is: pick a solvent in which the product is soluble when hot but insoluble when cold. The impurities must be soluble at all temperatures (or at least more soluble than the pure product).

If the ideal solvent were absolute alcohol, you'd put your substance in a flask, then heat the alcohol in a beaker till it's practically boiling. You drop the hot alcohol onto the solvent with a pipette (medicine dropper), being very careful not to add too much solvent. That's usually the most important step: only adding enough hot solvent to dissolve the substance. If you add too much, you have to distill and start over again.

Also extremely important is that all of the substance goes into solution: if it's cloudy or milky, the procedure is pointless.

Then after that, yes, just let it cool on its own. If room temp is reached and you don't have crystals, ice it and and scratch the inner walls of the flask with a glass stirrer. If you have some pure mephedrone, a grain or two can be used to seed the crystallization (like clouds are seeded by nucleation centers) if necessary.

Then gravity or suction filter.

There are variants to this technique--like hot filtration. If you had more info on purification of mephedrone, it'd be very helpful.
 
after doing more searching i found step by step instructions on youtube that make sense similar to what you have told me, now i just have to find out if i can use isopropyl alcohol. would it not be good to put the flask in a an ice bath to cool and maybe it will form crystals faster? he does say i will have a more pure solid if i let it cool slow but purity is not my concern as much as making it a large crystal form. I have used isopropyl alcohol before for alot of rc's when i was going cheap because i couldnt afford the size bottle of grain alcohol at the liquor store so i think i might try that.. should i practice with sugar? now i dont have a gravity or suction filter but isopropyl alcohol evaporates quick could i just let it site till its all gone?
 
Oh, I think we're talking about 2 different things. I was talking about going from an impure mixture to a pure solid. I'm not sure what you're talking about.

The slower you let it cool, the more glass-like your crystals will be

btw everyone has gravity filters in their kitchen
 
I looke up gravity and heat filtration and i see i can use a coffee filter. But ya i want to crystalize my mephedrone to turn into large crystals similar to that of large crystals of meth or mdma. I want to do it for the look mostly as i plan on storing a large crystal in a vial permanently and i think it would just look kool. In all the filtration techs i see, looks like after you filter the substance there is still liquid left in the bottom of the flask but the junk is left in the coffee filter or am i wrong on this? i wish i could post youtube videos from what i am seeing
 
dude it depends. you're talking about aesthetics, but "recrystallization" has a practical definition in the lab. Basically it's something u do after you've completed a synth and your raw product is a solid with impurities. Usually u know what the impurities are, and u choose a solvent that will either

  1. dissolve the entire mixture at a high temperature and have only the desired product precipitate out of the solution as the solution cools
  2. dissolve the entire mixture at a high temperature and have only the impurities precipitate out of the solution as the solution cools

You can probably figure out whether you want the filtrate or the precipitate in either case.

(this is a gross oversimplification btw; good laboratory workup technique is often harder than synthesis)

See, from your op I thought u had a batch of mephedrone you suspected to be dirty and u wanted to remove the shit from it (which is a harm reduction concern). I don't think making kool-lookin crystals is within the scope of HR ( tho who gives a fuck what I think :) )
 
i just thought it would be fun to see it in large crystals.. so precipitate is letting it evaporate at room temp right? thanks for all your help truly. I know i have alot to learn with chemistry but i never took it in school and it is very interesting.. I have a feeling even if i go with a crystallization tech i probably will still come out with tiny crystals rather than large ones as i imagine. I learned some new things though. Thank you for no flaming me and putting me down as i know there is alot of info out there on this type of thing but i didnt know how it would work with meph .. either way i think my next step will be to try to get some flasks and a hot plate a few lab items. I would like to teach my daughter some things about science like agar and molds and putting things under microscopes when she gets a lil older and lil real time (legal) (non harmful) things
 
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