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Removing mephedrone contamination from Ketamine EDIT: actually "magic"

A

aqy5hu5d

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Jun 5, 2019
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SWIM's friend has some ketamine that he suspects is cut with mephedrone.

How could SWIM extract or otherwise clean the ketamine?
 
Here you go.
⬇️
⬇️
⬇️
METHOD 1

  1. In each of 3 small test tubes, I placed 0.5g “K”.
  2. The test tubes were placed in an oven and heated at 75 degrees Celsius for one hour, in order to ensure an anhydrous (water-free) product (water will fuck with our solubilities).
  3. I added 3 solvents – 10ml of a different solvent per tube:
a) anhydrous methanol b) anhydrous isopropyl alcohol c) naptha

  1. The tubes were immediately sealed with chemistry-lab grade polymer test-tube stoppers and then quadruple-wrapped in polypropylene, tightly sealed by elastic bands, to ensure they were waterproof and gasproof.
  2. The tubes were then heated gently to their respective boiling points in hot water baths. They were left there for an hour, agitating every 5 minutes, in order to achieve absorption.
Here’s how it should work:

a) Methanol: Ketamine HCl is classified as “freely soluble” in methanol, which means it will dissolve up to 1-10g in each ml of methanol. I can therefore dissolve 10-100g of ketamine in my 10ml tube. Sodium chloride is less soluble, (dissolving at 14g/kg of methanol, which as methanol has a molar mass of approx. 32 and thus weighs 1.42g/ml, which means 1kg of methanol is 704ml, which means 0.25g salt will dissolve in 10ml of methanol).

So, the methanol tube will dissolve both ketamine (well) and sodium chloride (badly). If there’s more than 50% salt by weight in the product, I’d expect to see some not dissolve at room temperature. If we heat the tube, more will dissolve but then return as crystal precipitate at the bottom of the tube once it cools to standard room temperature and pressure.

Methanol also won’t dissolve cuts like talc, so they’ll rest as (probably wet-looking) solids at the bottom of the tube. They should be easily distinguishable in appearance from undissolved salt.

b) Isopropyl alcohol: Ketamine HCl is “soluble” in isopropyl, meaning 10-30ml of isopropyl is needed to dissolve 1g of ketamine. Therefore since there’s only 0.5g of product in the vial, my 10ml of isopropyl should easily dissolve it.

However, sodium chloride is almost totally insoluble in isopropyl (in fact, it’s used to turn < 99% isopropyl into anhydrous isopropyl – just add non-iodized table salt, agitate, let settle, and you’ll get 2 distinct layers, one containing salt+water and the other anhydrous isopropyl). used to “salt” isopropyl to remove water from it, for this very reason).

Therefore, with the isopropyl test we should see all ketamine dissolve and almost all of any salt cut remain undissolved.

c) Naptha: will dissolve ketamine only if it’s ketamine BASE. It will NOT dissolve ketamine hydrochloride. It will also not dissolve sodium chloride.

So if we had pure ketamine HCl, we’d expect:

  1. Tube 1 to be completely clear
  2. Tube 2 to be completely clear
  3. Tube 3 to be unchanged (all crystals at the bottom).
METHOD 2

Dissolve 14g “K” in 100ml anhydrous isopropyl alcohol – covered, 2 hours at room temperature in a stirrer on light agitation. I filtered the solution though medium-flow filter paper under anhydrous conditions using gravity as a drip force (no vacuum or suction). I evaporated the resulting clear liquid in a Teflon pan at just below simmering point of the isopropyl (i.e. around 75 degrees Celsius) until almost gone, then removed from heat, let the remainder airdry for 1 hour, then dessicated in a 60 degree oven for 15 minutes. This is way too fast to result in huge crystals but will result in some crystallization, which I was curious to observe.

The result: a mere 0.6g of little rod-like crystals, which are somewhat like ketamine in appearance but not really. Here are pictures I’ve uploaded to pix.ru – please feel free to visit them via Tor; it’s quite safe:

http://pixs.ru/showimage/1JPG_3090840_10998861.jpg

http://pixs.ru/showimage/2jpg_7673189_10998868.jpg

http://pixs.ru/showimage/3JPG_8644835_10998872.jpg

Source:http://timbingham.ie/fake-ketamine-being-sold-on-the-market-places/
 
I did it once myself. Not on drone K though. On some MSG cut stuff. I've heard it'll work with drone though.

Who remembers the Chinese s+ 'big ball' K that was famous on the darknet and claimed to be top purity?
I had some of that too at the time, iso washes brought back every gram at 650-750mg. Never trusted the Chinese labs lol always knew there was something weird about that big ball, despite actually loving the high. It was harsh on the nose and throat, and real bad on the insides. The Iso washed stuff was amazing.
(I was using 70% Iso)
 
jhjhsdi said:
Here you go.
⬇
⬇
⬇
METHOD 1

  1. In each of 3 small test tubes, I placed 0.5g “K”.
  2. The test tubes were placed in an oven and heated at 75 degrees Celsius for one hour, in order to ensure an anhydrous (water-free) product (water will fuck with our solubilities).
  3. I added 3 solvents – 10ml of a different solvent per tube:
a) anhydrous methanol b) anhydrous isopropyl alcohol c) naptha

  1. The tubes were immediately sealed with chemistry-lab grade polymer test-tube stoppers and then quadruple-wrapped in polypropylene, tightly sealed by elastic bands, to ensure they were waterproof and gasproof.
  2. The tubes were then heated gently to their respective boiling points in hot water baths. They were left there for an hour, agitating every 5 minutes, in order to achieve absorption.
Here’s how it should work:

a) Methanol: Ketamine HCl is classified as “freely soluble” in methanol, which means it will dissolve up to 1-10g in each ml of methanol. I can therefore dissolve 10-100g of ketamine in my 10ml tube. Sodium chloride is less soluble, (dissolving at 14g/kg of methanol, which as methanol has a molar mass of approx. 32 and thus weighs 1.42g/ml, which means 1kg of methanol is 704ml, which means 0.25g salt will dissolve in 10ml of methanol).

So, the methanol tube will dissolve both ketamine (well) and sodium chloride (badly). If there’s more than 50% salt by weight in the product, I’d expect to see some not dissolve at room temperature. If we heat the tube, more will dissolve but then return as crystal precipitate at the bottom of the tube once it cools to standard room temperature and pressure.

Methanol also won’t dissolve cuts like talc, so they’ll rest as (probably wet-looking) solids at the bottom of the tube. They should be easily distinguishable in appearance from undissolved salt.

b) Isopropyl alcohol: Ketamine HCl is “soluble” in isopropyl, meaning 10-30ml of isopropyl is needed to dissolve 1g of ketamine. Therefore since there’s only 0.5g of product in the vial, my 10ml of isopropyl should easily dissolve it.

However, sodium chloride is almost totally insoluble in isopropyl (in fact, it’s used to turn < 99% isopropyl into anhydrous isopropyl – just add non-iodized table salt, agitate, let settle, and you’ll get 2 distinct layers, one containing salt+water and the other anhydrous isopropyl). used to “salt” isopropyl to remove water from it, for this very reason).

Therefore, with the isopropyl test we should see all ketamine dissolve and almost all of any salt cut remain undissolved.

c) Naptha: will dissolve ketamine only if it’s ketamine BASE. It will NOT dissolve ketamine hydrochloride. It will also not dissolve sodium chloride.

So if we had pure ketamine HCl, we’d expect:

  1. Tube 1 to be completely clear
  2. Tube 2 to be completely clear
  3. Tube 3 to be unchanged (all crystals at the bottom).
METHOD 2

Dissolve 14g “K” in 100ml anhydrous isopropyl alcohol – covered, 2 hours at room temperature in a stirrer on light agitation. I filtered the solution though medium-flow filter paper under anhydrous conditions using gravity as a drip force (no vacuum or suction). I evaporated the resulting clear liquid in a Teflon pan at just below simmering point of the isopropyl (i.e. around 75 degrees Celsius) until almost gone, then removed from heat, let the remainder airdry for 1 hour, then dessicated in a 60 degree oven for 15 minutes. This is way too fast to result in huge crystals but will result in some crystallization, which I was curious to observe.

The result: a mere 0.6g of little rod-like crystals, which are somewhat like ketamine in appearance but not really. Here are pictures I’ve uploaded to pix.ru – please feel free to visit them via Tor; it’s quite safe:

http://pixs.ru/showimage/1JPG_3090840_10998861.jpg

http://pixs.ru/showimage/2jpg_7673189_10998868.jpg

http://pixs.ru/showimage/3JPG_8644835_10998872.jpg

Source:http://timbingham.ie/fake-ketamine-being-sold-on-the-market-places/
Click to expand...
This method would not separate mephedrone hydrochloride from ketamine hydrochloride. As with ketamine hydrochloride, mephedrone hydrochloride will dissolve in isopropanol and methanol but will not dissolve in naphtha. "Method 1" will remove some polymeric fillers, inorganic salts, and non-basic organics from ketamine, but will not remove organic amines or their salts. "Method 2" will only remove some polymeric fillers and inorganic salts.
 
jhjhsdi said:
I did it once myself. Not on drone K though. On some MSG cut stuff. I've heard it'll work with drone though.

Who remembers the Chinese s+ 'big ball' K that was famous on the darknet and claimed to be top purity?
I had some of that too at the time, iso washes brought back every gram at 650-750mg. Never trusted the Chinese labs lol always knew there was something weird about that big ball, despite actually loving the high. It was harsh on the nose and throat, and real bad on the insides. The Iso washed stuff was amazing.
(I was using 70% Iso)
Click to expand...
70 percent iso would not separate out water soluble cuts. You want to salt dry 99 percent (i gues you could use 70 percent and a lot of salt), and then keep it out of air.
 
S.J.B. said:
This method would not separate mephedrone hydrochloride from ketamine hydrochloride. As with ketamine hydrochloride, mephedrone hydrochloride will dissolve in isopropanol and methanol but will not dissolve in naphtha. "Method 1" will remove some polymeric fillers, inorganic salts, and non-basic organics from ketamine, but will not remove organic amines or their salts. "Method 2" will only remove some polymeric fillers and inorganic salts.
Click to expand...

Weight seperation it is then I guess.

OP:
This is pretty time consuming, but it works.
Get a big frying pan or glass oven dish, anything with sides.
Dump a pile 1-2g on one end/side, spread it into a big line/slug shape.
Tilt the pan/tray at an angle with the pile at the top, probably 45 degree max.
Tap the end the pile is on (on the outside) with the edge of a card or something.
The heavier particles will roll down and the lighter ones stay at the top (duh)
This works really well for seperating K and MSG. Fingers crossed for you ket and meph shards weigh differently because I know they can LOOK identical. But msg looks almost identical to shard k. The seperation still works.

Also trying just moving the pile around with a card while the pan etc is tilted, some bits fall out of the pile n roll down n the k tends to stay.
 
Skorpio said:
70 percent iso would not separate out water soluble cuts. You want to salt dry 99 percent (i gues you could use 70 percent and a lot of salt), and then keep it out of air.
Click to expand...
I'm no scientist bud, I was kicked out of school early in fact, so I don't know shit about science. Just how to cook K and crack lol.

But I do know when I put 1000mg of that big ball S+ dust in a sealed test tube with 70% iso and dissolved it, then slow cooked it in the oven only about 75% was coming back to crystal/powder
 
I don't think it was a water soluble cut because when I dissolved 1000mg in water and cooked it off 1000mg came back?

Hold on... I just realised how much of a stupid statement that is lol
 
To go off Shadys point, not only is SWIM frowned upon, in the eyes of the law SWIM means me or I
 
Skorpio said:
Could have been a cut not soluble in either water or iso
Click to expand...

Well it dissolved in (hot) water, but came back when the water was evaporated/boiled off in a frying pan, and it dissolved in iso and didn't come back when the iso was evaporated/slow cooked off in the test tube? So I guess it just got eaten by the iso and then disappeared into the air when it evaporated? Is that what happens? Like I said I'm no scientist I don't know if I'm using correct terms they're defo not scientific terms they're as simple as I can put it...
 
jhjhsdi said:
Well it dissolved in (hot) water, but came back when the water was evaporated/boiled off in a frying pan, and it dissolved in iso and didn't come back when the iso was evaporated/slow cooked off in the test tube? So I guess it just got eaten by the iso and then disappeared into the air when it evaporated? Is that what happens? Like I said I'm no scientist I don't know if I'm using correct terms they're defo not scientific terms they're as simple as I can put it...
Click to expand...

So there was no powder that you separated out from your dissolved iso+garbage gear solution?

It could possibly be loss from transfer between the solutions and vessels but that seems to be a high amount.

If there was no solid matter separated out when it was dissolved in either water or iso, you were not really purifying anything by chemical properties.

Did you weigh it after the water step but before the iso step? If the weight was in between the original and final weight that would point to loss from transfer rather than chemical properties.


One last thing for anybody doing a purification. Save a tiny bit of the impure mixture so that you can compare it (appearance, burn test, and reagent tests). This gives a much better picture of whats going on.
 
@Skorpio

No there was no powder seperated from either, everything dissolved 100%, clear.
I weighed before and after both steps.

With the iso wash;
I did it about 3 or 4 times with iso and every time 1000mg came back at 650-750mg.
Let's allow 50mg to be left in the test tube (which it wasn't)...
That's still around 2-300mg disappearing. I emptied the test tube of cooked/recrystalized gear directly into my scales pot. I can see no or very minimal loss in transfer being in play.
Chinese trickery I tell you.

I also did foil burn test before and after the iso and before was red/dark red with black specs and after was blood red with no specs. And it sniffed alot smoother and didn't burn in the nose (the real test). It definitely changed.


With the water;
Weighed 1000mg, dissolved, evap, dried, scraped off the pan into the scales, 1000mg still. Foil tests the same before and after. Definitely didn't purify. But the iso did, the scales and my nose don't lie 😂

We can blame the Chinese. That big ball stuff was made by illegitimate labs in the meth villages run by Triads.


I'd expect 'normal' ketamine to act very differently. In fact I did do the same iso wash with some standard Indian racemic shard K one time (to check my suspicions of this Chinese batch) and it hardly changed its weight at all. IIRC 1000mg came back like 980mg+...
 
@jhjhsdi

Honestly thats really a stumper. I am probably thinking of this wrong, but the only way (I can think of) to lose mass with the iso is the conversion of a cut to something that boils off/evaporates. Isopropyl is pretty stable, its not like reacting it with strong acid or an oxidizer.

I'm tapping out on this. A real mystery. Or something mad obvious that neither of us grasp...
 
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