Cocaine Le Junk's Cocaine Purification Megathread v. The Final Word

[Peruvian Cocaine]

Read through all 12 pages and maybe I'm still missing some things. The new method using the chloroform is used to purify cocaine HCL or is it used to purify freebase? I dont think it specified on the original post.

By using the choloform method, you are filtering out the ephedrine and by using anhydrous ethyl alcohol, you are filtering out amphetamines? It is possible that some cuts of coke could contain both, so it would be wise to use both methods then?

Since the acetone is only used to rid the cocaine of chloroform, would the quality of acetone really matter? I know you pointed out buying acetone NF from sciencelab.com, but it's quite pricey for the quantities they provide. If I pick up acetone from a hardware store, is there a certain purity I should be looking for?

 

[Le Junk]

Read through all 12 pages and maybe I'm still missing some things. The new method using the chloroform is used to purify cocaine HCL or is it used to purify freebase? I dont think it specified on the original post.

By using the choloform method, you are filtering out the ephedrine and by using anhydrous ethyl alcohol, you are filtering out amphetamines? It is possible that some cuts of coke could contain both, so it would be wise to use both methods then?

Since the acetone is only used to rid the cocaine of chloroform, would the quality of acetone really matter? I know you pointed out buying acetone NF from sciencelab.com, but it's quite pricey for the quantities they provide. If I pick up acetone from a hardware store, is there a certain purity I should be looking for?

Yes, this new method refers only to cocaine hcl. No freebase this time.

And yes, the chloroform removes the ephedrine and the 95% ethanol removes the amphetamines.

That should do it.

 

[Peruvian Cocaine]

Ahh, many thanks for the guide and clarification. I'm eagerly awaiting to try this at home. I always knew my coke was cut up with something speedy in it.

 

[Le Junk]

Ahh, many thanks for the guide and clarification. I'm eagerly awaiting to try this at home. I always knew my coke was cut up with something speedy in it.

No problem. And if you have any patience at all, after extracting the cocaine via the chloroform, use a hair dryer to blow off the remaining chloroform in the pie plate. Once the pie plate only contains the goo of your cocaine in raw form, let it air dry in a non-humid environment overnight. Then, check out those beautiful crystals! Once you've admired them for awhile, put the plate under a heat lamp and continue to let it dry some more.

Try scraping up a small sample. If it scrapes up easily without sticking to the blade, finish it up and move on to the ethanol extraction.

Good luck!

Junk

 

[xxl]

Yes. Amphetamine freebase is actually quite soluble in water. I don't know where you got your info from, but it's to the contrary.Junk

But look what I've found at http://www.bluelight.ru//vb/printthread.php?threadid=197113

"The basic procedure involves basifying the speed with lye (sodium hydroxide/caustic soda). This is done by dissolving the speed in distilled water and mixing this with a solution of distilled water saturated with lye. This reduces the amphetamine to its freebase form which should separate from the water once it settles because it is not water soluble."

 

[Le Junk]

But look what I've found at http://www.bluelight.ru//vb/printthread.php?threadid=197113

"The basic procedure involves basifying the speed with lye (sodium hydroxide/caustic soda). This is done by dissolving the speed in distilled water and mixing this with a solution of distilled water saturated with lye. This reduces the amphetamine to its freebase form which should separate from the water once it settles because it is not water soluble."

xxl,

I appreciate your input, but I'm already way ahead of you here. There was my original method that involved using an A/B extraction to remove the "active" adulterants. I was on the premise at that time, that amphetamine freebase was soluble in water. Thus, the "UPDATED" logo, now located at the top of the thread. So, if your just reading this thread for the first time, alot of the first several pages of responses are in response to my "original" thread.

I completely re-wrote and revised the entire thread about half way thru the posts.

FYI. If you'll notice, I put at the bottom of my "updated" thread, that if your product was still speedy and contained amphetamine, that anyone could PM for easy instructions on the removal of it.

I'll just go ahead and post how to remove the amphetamine now. To remove amphetamine, you will need 95% ethyl alcohol, 190 proof, ACS reagent. 1 gram of cocaine hydrochloride is soluble in 3.2 ml.s of it. But, it takes 515 ml.s of it to dissolve 1 gram of amphetamine. So basically, use the extraction method (same as the chloroform), just with ethyl alcohol instead.

It's that simple.

 

[xxl]

I completely re-wrote and revised the entire thread about half way thru the posts.To remove amphetamine, you will need 95% ethyl alcohol, 190 proof, ACS reagent. 1 gram of cocaine hydrochloride is soluble in 3.2 ml.s of it. But, it takes 515 ml.s of it to dissolve 1 gram of amphetamine. So basically, use the extraction method (same as the chloroform), just with ethyl alcohol instead.

I see. By the way, I suppose one could use the ethanol on the crack stage rather than on Coc-HCl. If I'm not mistaken crack is even more soluble in ethanol than Coc-HCl so the solubility contrast would be even better. Also, if you leave the ethanol-crack solution to dry, the crack settles in tiny flakes and spicules around the plate and this might be the ideal form for the water wash afterwards.

The whole purification process is actually simple, the only problem is that - at least over here in Europe - products like anhydrous acetone are getting restricted. The acetone sold in pharmacies and in drugstores no longer carry any indication of purity and I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't guidelines to actually add water to it in order to make it useless for separation purposes.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

 

[Le Junk]

I see. By the way, I suppose one could use the ethanol on the crack stage rather than on Coc-HCl. If I'm not mistaken crack is even more soluble in ethanol than Coc-HCl so the solubility contrast would be even better. Also, if you leave the ethanol-crack solution to dry, the crack settles in tiny flakes and spicules around the plate and this might be the ideal form for the water wash afterwards.

The whole purification process is actually simple, the only problem is that - at least over here in Europe - products like anhydrous acetone are getting restricted. The acetone sold in pharmacies and in drugstores no longer carry any indication of purity and I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't guidelines to actually add water to it in order to make it useless for separation purposes.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Ah, but there's always our cheap little, non-restricted, sodium hydroxide available. You can buy the acetone from the hardware store (in Europe), and then easily make it anhydrous with the addition of the sodium hyd., and then re-filtering the acetone.

Yep!

 

[xxl]

Ah, but there's always our cheap little, non-restricted, sodium hydroxide available. You can buy the acetone from the hardware store (in Europe), and then easily make it anhydrous with the addition of the sodium hyd., and then re-filtering the acetone.Yep!

Uhm ... there are quite a few threads around on the internet regarding the drying of acetone and it seems it is not that easy. Either the acetone keeps pumping in water while you manipulate it, either you get reactions of the acetone with the drying agents (calcium sulfate, lye). Here's a quote about the lye method (emphasis added (**)):

"From "Purification of Laboratory Chemicals":

Silica gel and alumina, or mildly acidic or *basic dessicants* cause acetone to undergo the aldol condensation, so that its water content is increased by passage through these reagents. Anhydrous MgSO4 is an inefficient drying agent, and CaCl2 forms an addition compound. Drierite (anhydrous CaSO4) offers he minimum acid and base catalysis of aldol formation and is the recommended drying agent for this solvent."

But it seems the drierite method involves some kind of distillation, so not really useful for our purposes. Trouble is, one may never know the drying was inefficient. One may, instead, put the small yield down to a heavily cut starting material.

 

[Le Junk]

Uhm ... there are quite a few threads around on the internet regarding the drying of acetone and it seems it is not that easy. Either the acetone keeps pumping in water while you manipulate it, either you get reactions of the acetone with the drying agents (calcium sulfate, lye). Here's a quote about the lye method (emphasis added (**)):

"From "Purification of Laboratory Chemicals":

Silica gel and alumina, or mildly acidic or *basic dessicants* cause acetone to undergo the aldol condensation, so that its water content is increased by passage through these reagents. Anhydrous MgSO4 is an inefficient drying agent, and CaCl2 forms an addition compound. Drierite (anhydrous CaSO4) offers he minimum acid and base catalysis of aldol formation and is the recommended drying agent for this solvent."

But it seems the drierite method involves some kind of distillation, so not really useful for our purposes. Trouble is, one may never know the drying was inefficient. One may, instead, put the small yield down to a heavily cut starting material.

Well, that's very discouraging, isn't? Well, I've got an alternative, then.

Okay, if that method seems insufficient, or your not covinced that the water has been completely removed, then simply eliminate the use of acetone alltogether. That's right.

Use the chloroform extraction, let evaporate until crystallization is complete to dryness. Scrap the cocaine hydrochloride up from the glass pie plate. Crush into, or use a fine screen to make the crystals as small as possible. Spread out evenly and continue to let the crystals air dry in a non-humid environment for 24 hours. The chloroform will evaporate down to .001%.

After drying, skip the acetone step alltegether. Instead, proceed with using the ethyl alcohol extraction for the removal of the amphetamine (if any). Let evaporate in the same manner on the glass pie plate. Total evaporation will be complete within 24 hours.

No acetone, no water, no ephedrine and no amphetamine. Simple, a lil' time consuming, but the end result will be of the upmost quality and safety.

Your thoughts, xxl.

Le Junk

 

[xxl]

Use the chloroform extraction, let evaporate until crystallization is complete to dryness. Scrap the cocaine hydrochloride up from the glass pie plate. Crush into, or use a fine screen to make the crystals as small as possible. Spread out evenly and continue to let the crystals air dry in a non-humid environment for 24 hours. The chloroform will evaporate down to .001%.

After drying, skip the acetone step alltegether. Instead, proceed with using the ethyl alcohol extraction for the removal of the amphetamine (if any). Let evaporate in the same manner on the glass pie plate. Total evaporation will be complete within 24 hours.
Le Junk

One would think of skipping either the acetone or the chloroform anyway to keep things within a reasonable time-frame.

Regarding the acidification of crack dissolved in acetone, it occurs to me that adding muriatic acid is tantamount to adding water (31% HCl (aq) implies 79% water, roughly). So by adding aqueous acid, quite apart from the aldol condensation, one is adding water to one's precious anhydrous acetone, and in that water some of the Coc-HCl may redissolve and get lost. That's probably why the litterature mentions the complicated procedure consisting in bubbling gaseous HCl into the solution.

If one's priority is to avoid losses, it may be preferable to acidify solid crack in water and wait for the water to evaporate (spill the water in a thin film onto several clean ceramic plates?).

 

[Le Junk]

If one's priority is to avoid losses, it may be preferable to acidify solid crack in water and wait for the water to evaporate (spill the water in a thin film onto several clean ceramic plates?).

Interesting, if you decide to go about the procedure using the A/B method. I like your thinking with regards to the excessive amount of water being used.

But, with crack being insoluble in water, I would assume your relying entirely on the acid to convert your freebase back over into HCI.

If so, what would your recommended ratios of H20 and 31% acid be, to exactly 1 gram of freebase?

Keep in mind that when performing an A/B extraction, that the more euphoric, less speedy product will fall in the earlier stages of your process. For that reason, I would always break the procedure into 3-4 parts. Your first extraction will always be the best pile, followed by the second and so on. So, when providing the ratios above, I would tend to want to remain on the short side of the acid, thus falling short of any speed. The amines in an A/B extraction fall in this order (meth>cocaine>ephedrine/amphetamines). Something to keep in mind as well.

Looking forward to your response, doctor.

Le Junk

 

[xxl]

If so, what would your recommended ratios of H20 and 31% acid be, to exactly 1 gram of freebase?

Keep in mind that when performing an A/B extraction, that the more euphoric, less speedy product will fall in the earlier stages of your process.

Actually, I was not thinking in terms of the A/B reaction when I mentioned letting the water evaporate. I was thinking in terms of doing the acetone wash (or the chlorofom extraction) followed by the freebasin with attendant water wash and ethanol extraction. The end-product ("pure" freebase could then be reacidified at leasure: just acidify until all the crack has dissoved and the aqueous solution is transparent. One wouldn't want to overshoot the PH and get a corrosive end-product, so controlling with a PH strip would be a good idea. For mainlining, using a weak acid could be preferable.

Reverting to the A/B extraction from acetone, I wonder whether one could use solid anhydrous citric acid to avoir adding water. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia : "At room temperature, citric acid is a white crystalline powder. It can exist either in an anhydrous (water-free) form, or as a monohydrate that contains one water molecule for every molecule of citric acid. The anhydrous form crystallizes from hot water, while the monohydrate forms when citric acid is crystallized from cold water. The monohydrate can be converted to the anhydrous form by heating it above 74 °C." The unknows are : 1) is there an undesirable reaction between citric acid and acetone? 2) what does Coc-H-citrate look like and does it come out of solution? If Coc-H-Cl is less soluble than Coc-H-citrate, maybe adding NaCl to the whole would precipitate Coc-H-Cl? I'm dreaming aloud here.

 

[Misterwize2]

Surely someone who has successfully completed the purification process can manage to get some decent pictures uploaded?

Nice work though Le Junk

 

[Funnyboy]

If 95% ethyl alcohol is 5% water, how can it be regarded as anhydrous?

 

[Le Junk]

If 95% ethyl alcohol is 5% water, how can it be regarded as anhydrous?

Because it's not 5% water.

Here is an example of 190 proof, ACS reagent ethanol alcohol.

http://www.sciencelab.com/page/S/PVAR/10412/SLE1036

Scroll down for the specs of this item...................

Now, compare their 190 proof to their 200 proof which actually does contain a trace amount of water, though still considered anhydrous. This can be confusing, I do understand.

 

[xxl]

If 95% ethyl alcohol is 5% water, how can it be regarded as anhydrous?

Alas, see quote from the web:

"The problem is, drying ethanol is a big challenge. It can't be done well on a small scale without some very expensive equipment. Regular distillation can only get it to 95% purity - not nearly dry enough."

"Anydrous" probably means "containing as little water as possible". My understanding is that the acidification of a freebase-ethanol solution ("snowstorm" in ethanol) is really not on, too much snow would vanish in the 5% water present.

If, however, you use ethanol do dissolve the freebase and filtrate out the cut that is non soluble in ethanol, some water should not be a problem: the freebase is not soluble in it so it won't get "lost" into the water. It is better to have high-percentage ethanol because it evaporates quicker than the typical 70% ethanol sold as disinfectant (unless you "burn" it on a plate, then it's less dangerous to have a fair amount of water in it to keep the fire from getting out of control: the ethanol burns and the water partly evaporates in the process, leaving behind, if all goes well, a tiny amount of water with the freebase precipitate ; not a good idea to fool around with flames though).

 

[Funnyboy]

My intenetion is to take Coc-Hcl and use the chloroform extraction to lose the ephedrine then do the ethanol extraction for any remaining amphetamine however my (UK) chem supplier only stocks 100% Ethanol, if this is not suitable,can it be made suitable in some way? I guess that the addition of 5% water will just allow a quantity of Amph to be dissolved along with the C-Hcl, thus not completley eliminating it. Alternativley are there any other solvents that dissolve C-Hcl but not Amph (Sulphate), or vice-versa for that matter.
One more thing, is '100% Chloroform'='Anhydrous Chloroform'

Sincere thanks to all the knowledgable folk posting this valuble information!

 

[xxl]

My intenetion is to take Coc-Hcl and use the chloroform extraction to lose the ephedrine then do the ethanol extraction for any remaining amphetamine however my (UK) chem supplier only stocks 100% Ethanol, if this is not suitable,can it be made suitable in some way? I guess that the addition of 5% water will just allow a quantity of Amph to be dissolved along with the C-Hcl, thus not completley eliminating it. Alternativley are there any other solvents that dissolve C-Hcl but not Amph (Sulphate), or vice-versa for that matter.
One more thing, is '100% Chloroform'='Anhydrous Chloroform'

Indeed, in both cases the presence of some water would allow some of the ephedrine/amphetamine to get through, but since one is evaporating the solution and throwing away the filtrate, one doesn't risk losing C (like one would in an acetone wash if the acetone contained too much water). So one can only improve one's product. I don't know about the 100%. There's some confusion in that they will sell you eg 100% acetone in pharmacies meaning there's nothing in it "other" than acetone but it still wouldn't mean it contains no impurities (water being the main impurity). For ethanol sometimes the word "absolute" is used to designate the purest ethanol.

As regards solvents, apart from water, the three players seem to be Acetone, Chloroform and Ether (diethyl ether, not petroleum ether). Ether is hard to come by and it is genuinely dangerous (explosions), I don't know if it's a good idea to even try and get some.

Again, I don't think one can go wrong with these two steps, it will only improve the starting material. Introducing an additional, C-Hcl to crack stage, enables the water-soluble cut to be got rid of. It depends on how proficient one is in the making of crack, if one has done it before it's the easiest thing in the world. On the other hand, a two-stage purification is enough for a start.

 

[Le Junk]

I'm going to make one small additional change to the original post. I'm going to leave out the acetone entirely, and just go with a 2 step extraction program.

Chloroform extraction, evaporate, followed by an ethanol extraction, evaporate. Extremely simple, even for the novice.

I'll re-write it this evening....................