Annotation: The material contained herein is merely for informational purpose and

is not to be carried out unless written permission from local law nforcement is
gained. The author takes NO responsibility for what one does with this information.
Before even reading the procedure below, check with your local/state/national
government to ensure that the law is not being broken.

So my friends, this will be SWIMethLab's touching-up for several personal reasons. That
does not mean that SWIMethLab will not be around to check what's up with the kidz.

This work deals with the solvent extraction of fortified ephedra extract and following
reduction to methamphetamine hydrochloride via 57% w/w hydriodic acid p.a. and 50%
w/w hypophosphorous acid (H3PO2) as recycling agent in a long wet reflux session.

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Let's start with the preparation of the alkaline aqueous solution for the extraction. For the
extraction of 200g ephedra (which is said to contain 10% alkaloids) there has been
prepared a solution of 1200-1250ml water which contain:
 180g NaOH p.a.

 60-70g Na2CO3

 100-120g NaCl
The following pictures show the preparation of this solution on the hotplate with good
magnetic stirring:
To this solution 200g of herbal ephedra extract have been added in smaller portions under
magnetic stirring. Of course, after the aqueous solution has cleared up:

This mixture has been stirred untill it cooled down to room temperature while a seperatory
funnel of appropriate size has been setted up:
Afterwards the ugly mixture has been transfered into the seperatory funnel and 250ml of
TCM aka chloroform has been added.

Side Note for those having actually no access to chloroform:

"The first industrial process was the reaction of acetone (or ethanol) with sodium
hypochlorite or calcium hypochlorite. The chloroform can be removed from the resulting
sodium acetate or calcium acetate (or sodium formate or calcium formate if ethanol is
the starting material) by distillation. The reaction mechanism is called haloform reaction,
and is still used for the production of bromoform and iodoform."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloroform)

Looks like this:

Afterwards the aqueous solution has been extracted twice with TCM. The second pull
used 150ml chloroform and the third on additional 100ml. One should think about recycling
the solvent after the whole procedure with the help of distillation.

But you need to have patience for this extraction process because it lasts a while untill
the layers seperated totally after shaking the solution not too gentle. This shaking is
necessary because freebase ephedrine tends to dissolve in water well.

After all three pulls are finished they should be combined in the sep. funnel again.
Here you see the situation as it looks like after about 60-70ml of a 5-6% w/w Na2CO3
solution has been added. This solution is very effective in washing out some of the plant
trash. So shake the shit like your life depends on it and don't forget the bottom layer is
what you want. This step is going to be repeated once more. You will probably see
something like this:
So at this time there should be at least three washes with distilled water each with about
50ml.

After those washes make sure to separate the non polar layer as good as possible from
the aqueous layer and put it into a beaker. To this solution one has to add a little bit of
dry K2CO3 or MgSO4 as drying agent. But the first one is preferred for amines. After you
mixed it a little bit you should notice that the solution becomes clear. Good. So wait
about 15-20 minutes before you filter this solution by the way of choice.

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The now dry non polar solution is transferred into a beaker or something similar. While the
stuff dried you should set up a HCl gas generator of your choice. For SWIMethLab an
apparatus working with H2SO4 is the first choice. But also HCl with CaCl2 should do the
job.
This could look like this:

And after one gassed it could look like this:

So now it is time to filter again by vakuum as far as it is available. After the filtration by
suction with a little bit more than one 200g extract one gets something like this:

Ah and don't forget to wash the now extracted alkaloids with fresh & dry acetone while it
is still in the Buchner.

This stuff should be recrystallized at least one time in methanol and acetone or ethanol &
tone. Afterwards one will see something like this:
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==========================

After a few days of work one ends up perhaps with 45g of ephedrine hydrochloride which
cries for reduction. Hmmm... So after a few calculations with the Hi spreadsheet which is
mentioned in several threads here at the board, one figured out that it is a good idea to
use about 90ml of 57% w/w HI and 36,9ml of 50% w/w H3PO2 to react that shit in an
apparatus that looks like this:
Or a little bit closer:
This is allowed to run at about 120-125ÿC for 24-36 hours after which this thread is to
bee continued!

So far, have fun...

SWIMethLabhas to add one fact:

Although SWIMethLab worked with this way of extracting out the honey of this plant
material it isn't the most effective way!

SWIM is going to explain the problems with such a "standard solvent" extraction. But
befor a little little bit of theory:

If you extract substances you can differentiate the following in gerneral:

 Extraction of solids

 Extraction of liquids

Further on it is interesting what extraction in this context means. Extraction means the
transformation of a substance from one phase in which it is dissolved or suspended, into
another liquid phase. This transformation is possible because the substance allocates in a
certain ratio on both phases. With "allocation" means in the broader sense the allocation
between any phases, proper it means the allocation between two liquid phases.
This allocation is expressed through the distribution ratio. The distribution ratio (D) is
equal to the concentration of a solute in the organic phase divided by its concentration in
the aqueous phase. Depending on the system, the distribution ratio can be a function of
temperature, the concentration of chemical species in the system, and a large number of
other parameters.

And what SWIMethLab is tryin' to tell ya is: a common solvent extraction will only give
'good' yield when too much (that means economically too much) solvent is employed.

What are the alternatives?

There is the soxhlet extraction which is a good way if not a better way to the so loved
amine. Okay one has to buy the equipment but this could be get for less than 150$...So
doesn't matter. Ah the Hatter... (You know!)

Another alternative is perforation...there is a translation of this process somewhere here

at the board. But SWIM would prefer soxhlet...

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Tramp SWIM will answer your question probably after this weekend. But it isn't good time
to say much atm...upps.

Okay here come a few pictures of the honey at the end after reXtaliSation:
The crystalls look blue because the cam made some mistake with the light
adjustment...They are more clear and without a color. But it looks like art to SWIM.