Reasons for use of cetyl alcohol and IPA
LivingOnValium said:
First of all why would you use isopropyl alchol and cetyl alcohol for preparing a shot?
IPA is known to be harmfull when ingested. I wouldn't want to IV it.
Cetyl alcohol seems eaven worse substance to put in your veins. It's a surfactant used in shampoos and it's also employed as a lubricant for nuts and bolts.
All the substances you listed, not including pentobarbital, are HCl salts as well (though pharmaceutical fentabyl for IV use is always a citrte). Why would only heroin HCl basify? And eaven if it did the cetyl alcohol (as an emulsifier) might be able to keep the freebase dissolved in the emulsion.
pentobarbital free acid is water soluble. There's no need for ethanol. Instead of thee free acid the IV preparations are made with the sodium salt of pentobarbital, which is basic. I believe you mean that sodium pentobarbital causes heroin basify and precipitate.
Could you please explain further?
Cetyl alcohol is a common component of iv solutions because, as you said, it acts as surfactant, and this is an effect that helps get some of the more hydrophobic drugs into solution. As far as IPA, I use it in place of ethyl alcohol because the ethanol in my lab is denatured, and while I could obtain absolute EtOH that has not been denatured , the cost is absurd and I have on several occasions ordered ethanol that was supposed to be absolute, and have come to find out that it has been denatured.
In the amounts I am talking about for both IPA and cetyl alcohol, (2.5%/2.5% in 95% water), neither of these alcohols is going to harm you. I am far more concerned about denatured ethanol. Here is a list of what it contains:
COMPONENT: ETHYL ALCOHOL PERCENT: 85.4-92.2
COMPONENT: METHYL ALCOHOL PERCENT: 3.6
COMPONENT: METHYL ISOBUTYL KETONE PERCENT: 1.9
COMPONENT: ETHYL ACETATE PERCENT: 1.3
COMPONENT: TOLUENE PERCENT: 0.8
COMPONENT: SOLVENT NAPHTHA PERCENT: 0.72-0.74
COMPONENT: ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL PERCENT: 25 PPM
COMPONENT: ACETALDEHYDE PERCENT: 10 PPM
COMPONENT: ACETONE PERCENT: 2 PPM
COMPONENT: BENZENE PERCENT: <1 PPM
The exposure limits for IPA are not that different from EtOH according to OSHA. Fentanyl HCl goes into solution very well and stays there by heating in a 95/2.5/2.5 mixture of H20, IPA, Cetyl Alcohol and stays in solution in the 25-50 mg/ml range (yes mgs and not micrograms.) I have worked on this for some time and found this to be satisfactory without any problems at the injection site.
When using brand Nembutal (Na pentobarbital solution), each mL contains:
Pentobarbital Sodium ...................................................... 50 mg
Propylene glycol ............................................... 40% v/v
Alcohol.................................................................... 10%
Water for Injection...................................................... qs
(pH adjusted to approximately 9.5 with hydrochloric acid and/or sodium hydroxide.)
As far as the second part of your question, I am talking about the sodium salt of the barbiturate (Nembutal brand), which is a base (adjusted to pH 9.5), causing the heroin base to precipitate, assuming you are starting of with a salt of heroin like HCl. It is suggested to always look for precipitants in Nembutal solution. Based on the most common method of morphine extraction from poppies (The Thiboumery and Mohr Process or TMP), morphine base will precipitate at pH 9.85 or less. I do not have an exact pH at which heroin base precipitates out at, but it does so at a higher pH than that of the Nembutal. I have always ended up with a precipitate when mixing the two in the same syringe. Also, when mixing these two drugs or any opioids with Nembutal in separate syringes, I recommend always doing the opioid first because of the hyperalgesia caused by the barbiturate; otherwise, the opioid shot is incredibly painful compared to a regular injection when done afterwards. With fentanyl, you do not get a precipitate when mixing it with Nembutal.
The alcohols also likely help solvate the cocaine analogue too as these phenyltropanes tend to form the freebase as well at pH 9.5 or higher.
MobiusDick