Quick chemistry question

[vecktor]

That probably makes a lot more sense than what I said (I was just speculated hah).
Why won't the base only tek work for leaf material? Because it has more of the fats present therefore making it a lot easier for an emulsion to form?

the biggest problem with leaf material is the non polar solvent will pull the chlorophyll too. the emulsion problem is a nightmare with some extractions.
with leaves it is best to digest in acid then basify and extract.
though variations do work:
with coca they let the leaves brown usually, but they also do the crude base technique where they grind dried leaves with lime and then use kerosine to do a crude extract, they then extract the kerosine with sulphuric acid which pulls the alkaloids but leaves behind the chlorophyll.

 

[adrian89987]

ah ok
Awesome stuff.

 

[Beenhead]

I was under the impression that DMT is freebase, as with most alkaloids.I can see were they would form completes with tannins . but have never read then are salts. Are you sure of this?

 

[Beenhead]

as a general rule alkaloids in plants are not present as freebase, they are either as salts, or combined with various phenolic complexes like tannins.

My understanding is that the most important reason for the use of strong base in high concentrations in these 'kwik Teks' is to saponify the fats which otherwise would end up in the non polar extract. the basic solution does also dissolve tannins and polyphenolic compounds and holds them in the aqueous layer.

The technique only works on some extractions because the saponified fats are soaps which can make it really difficult to separate the layers, basic solutions and non polar solvents are notorious for making emulsions which require centrifuging or other trickery to separate.

I don't know why I thought they were FB. this is pretty much what I was looking for. It does seem like l learned in orgo that Saponification creates a phase transfer catalyst and this could form nasty emulsions. It does seem like an emulsion would be a huge problem with an the plant matter lm dealing with.

So this has totally changed my Views on the quick tek. thanks Vector, I was thinking that if DMT was stored as freebase then why do you have to mix with lime to snort the seeds. The Complex with tannins makes sense though.I can deal with emulsions pretty well, and recrystallization can clean it up, once Ive precipitated my crystals. thanks guys for all the help!