mescaline extraction question - poor yield and browning cactus solution?

[cecil_cbr]

I am doing a mescaline extraction with some san pedro cactus i obtained awhile ago. All has been decent so far, but i am not getting a very good yield and i am thinking i messed up somewhere to get such a limited end product.

After adding my basic water solution (lye & water) to my cactus, i next added xylene and gently mixed this together and waited for the xylene to separate. For the salting phase i used hydrochloric acid to obtain mescaline hcl. To be honest my product turned out good (nice light yellowish-tan color) but i am only getting around 100 mg of mescaline hcl per pull. I have consistently gotten the same amount on every pull, and i've done around 12 now (which seems like alot- a majority of the mescaline should come out on the first pull, right?)

Anyways another thing i am worried about is the color of my cactus solution. It is turning brown now and i'm not sure if this is ok or not. My latest product on these last few pulls have been more of a greenish color than the yellowish-tan powder i was getting before. Can anyone tell me whats going on? This isn't anything to be concerned with is it? I just want to know when to quit so i don't get a dirty or even unsafe end product. Thanks for the help

 

[cecil_cbr]

Anyone here have any experience or first hand knowledge of mescaline extractions?

 

[dg420]

prolly just some average (weak) cacti

the color change is ok/normal

i'd guess you are getting salty traces after 5-6pulls, be sure to do a re crystallization or "wash"

 

[Roger&Me]

From practical experience (not with mescaline extractions or anything like that, but from working in a lab) I can tell you that simple aromatics like xylene, toluene, benzene, etc. are fucking unpredictable solvents. Sometimes you have a molecule with mostly non-polar surface area, and you think "surely, this must be soluble in toluene"... and it turns out the toluene won't even mix with the goop in the bottom of your flask. Other times you'll have some goofy shit with 4 carbonyls and an alcohol and a few small non-polar functionalities, and it will dissolve in toluene right away. What the shit is going on there? I have no idea. But anyways, moral of the story: if you're having trouble pulling with xylene, the first thing you should do is try switching extraction solvents, methylene chloride would be the best choice.

 

[cecil_cbr]

Thanks for the replies, maybe i will switch out the xylene on this next extraction.

I always use naptha on my dmt extractions, but i'll do a couple pulls at the end with xylene to get the jungle spice out. I have had pretty good luck with my dmt extractions, but sometimes the yield is low which could be the mimosa or could be the naptha- not sure. All i know is that the naptha has everytime pulled atleast something out and it always ends up beautiful snow-white crystals.

What would be the preferred order of solvents to use on a cactus extraction? Methylene chloride>xylene>methanol>toluene? Or maybe put xylene farther back? I'm sure theres been plenty of experiments on different solvents..
I've read d-limonene is also very good, i may end up using that on my next extraction...