What is up with the 68% number
So I made the 7-OH from 95% Mitragynine, not going to discuss how here, but it's the easiest organic chemical reaction I've ever done in my life.
63% (not 68%) was the highest purity I was able to make at the time without using chromatography, although now, using Liquid Liquid Extraction techniques, people are reporting as high as 80%. Regardless, I trust very few kratom products to actually contain what they are labelled as. I've literally seen my own COA's being circulated for other people's products. Certainly was a compliment if super shady.
sorry mods, delete if really necessary
I'm not a mod anymore, but just keep specific protocols out of the discussion and I think you'll be fine. Oxone and PIFA oxidations are the routes that most people are taking. The PIFA method creates Iodobenzene as a byproduct and very few labs out there are putting in the work to remove that. For that reason alone, I won't take anyone's 7-OH unless they describe how they made it. And sadly, the PIFA method is more prevalent than the oxone method, mainly because it yields higher and mitragynine as a precursor isn't exactly* cheap.
All of these oxidation pathways produce to some extent 1 of 3 different Mitragynine "heterodimers" meaning basically 2 mit molecules get destabilized at the 7 position and before oxidation occurs they bind to each other. If you sci-hub this paper, you can see an image.
or this paper
"Formation of an Unusual Dimeric Compound by Lead Tetraacetate
Oxidation of a Corynanthe-Type Indole Alkaloid, Mitragynine" (Takayama is the orginal gangster of kratom chemistry by the way)
I have misplaced the paper that describes the different ways they can bond to each other sadly.
I think this paper inspired a lot of clandestine chemists
The paper that really got 7-OH taking off is this, and honestly people are only now beginning to be clandestine about it, because most states it's still entirely legal. read the supporting information document, you'll be pretty blown away.
Mitragyna speciosa, more commonly known as kratom, is a plant native to Southeast Asia, the leaves of which have been used traditionally as a stimulant, analgesic, and treatment for opioid addiction. Recently, growing use of the plant in the United ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
I think a lot of the red batches, which are aka / sold in vape shops as "red OH" or "pseudoindoxyl", are actually the 11-x analogs
I promise you, that "Red 7" is literally referring to un-purified crude reaction mixtures. The kratom industry is about as bad as the Delta 8 THC industry was a few years ago, but I have yet to see any 11 analogues out there in the wild. I have heard of fluorinated mit analogues being offered, but I am highly skeptical.
What the red pigment is... I don't think anyone is entirely sure yet. The paper I provided by kruegel has a corresponding patent. In that patent,they describe it as a yellow amorphous solid. Well, I am so tempted to post a picture here, however, I have to restrain myself because I snapped it at a homies lab without permission while he was getting paid to do R/D for someone else (Bad didgital!).
Using flash chromatography he basically purified 7-OH to 99.5% (to a single peak on the GCMS) and it was a clear transparent crystal with a slight pink hue.
The last batch I had a week ago I think was an 11-x analog.
Seems extremely unlikely. The chemistry is complex, and if I'm understanding this paper correctly, the only way they are getting reliable 11 substitution is by forming something called mitragynine ethylene glycol first, halogenating it and from there they can do different substitutions. This is not something a delta 8 thc "chemist" can do.
They also reporting yields of 36% over two steps which is fine for research purposes, but I doubt something so rare would find it's way into a head shop or a gas station.
On top of that, I am not seeing any 11 substituted mitragyninoid reference samples commercial available sooooooo
Not trying to talk shit just thinking outloud.
