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DMT via steam distillation

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mechanizmz

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Mar 21, 2012
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so i'm new on this, first post. i'm a bit curious about the theory of DMT isolation through steam distillation of root bark. anyone know anything?
 
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there's some skepticism as to whether or not the oil released from the root bark will transfer with the steam to the condenser due to its vapor pressure being lower than water. i've been under the impression that this was the case for all steam distillation and feel that in theory steam distillation should work as
effectively as any other extraction method
 
Hey, I know this is your first post so I'll give you some advice:
1) Post some sort of literature/ scientific comparison on the extraction
2) Explain or post a diagram of what you're talking about
3) Proper grammar is smiled upon here
4) Give more detail on the condition and source of the root bark
5) Skepticism from who?
6) I like to keep discussion here more on the technical/theoretical side than the user side

I don't deal with extractions myself, so I can't really answer with any solid advice. But, are you talking about something like this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soxhlet_extractor
 
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I've always wondered about using supercritical CO2 for this, but never thought of steam distillation.

Anyway, why not go through the literature and see if anyone else has tried this first? People have been trying to get alkaloids out of things for a while now.
 
http://mywadud.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/sci_mec_11c_sina_steam_distillation.jpg

This is a good image to describe the process i'm looking into. There are many different plants that contain DMT so I haven't limited which kind of root bark
this process should work for. I've looked into the process thoroughly on the internet and other forums and only found speculation, there isn't much literature out there about this other than techniques that the natives of the amazon use which do not include steam distillation in the apparatus shown above. As far as I can tell nobody has tried this process and posted the results on a public forum. There are other methods that involve just materials you could buy from a hardware store, but I want to look at extraction from another side. I was hoping somebody with some chemistry experience could explain to me how the higher boiling point of DMT (160C compared to 100C for water) would prevent the oil released from the bark when exposed to steam, from being carried up into the condenser with the steam that is the skepticism i'm referring to which I read on a forum similar to this one. However countless essential oils are extracted from plant material in this way so I see no reason why it wouldn't work for DMT.
 
I don't know that DMT would be volatile with steam - it could easily be heavy/polar enough to "stay away" from water.
 
steam distillation is used especially for organic oils with high molecular weights that are immiscible in water. The steam lowers the boiling point of the oil so that it can be extracted with out reaching a temperature that destroys the molecule. How can I determine what form the DMT is naturally found in (like salt or freebase ect.) and whether or not it will act the same way as essential oils do when extracted from plant matter?
 
I suggest you use a "normal" solvent extraction, if you cannot answer that question.

Hint: check the scientific literature.
 
This thread has kind of gone downhill, feel free to post this topic again so long as you've consulted the scientific literature and wish to have discussions on existing techniques and potential new ones.

Best,
EA
 
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