Morphine Extraction: Is this idea bunk or acurate?

[newParadigm]

OK, so according to a few articles swim has recently read, morphine is soluble in aqueous solutions of a pH above 11 as it is converted to its anionic 'morphinate' form (in swim's case he is using NaOH so it would be sodium morphinate, right?)

Ok so at this point (considering you started with opium or pods) after filtering, you have a yellowish to brown liquid. Lowering the pH to around 9 causes the morphine to precipitate.

This process seems fairly simple to complete, provided one has the proper acids, bases, and either a pH meter or less preferably pH indicators (swims meter broke so he's fvcked using phenolphthalein and litmus paper).

Swim has a few questions though. One, the most obvious, would the above procedure actually work, provided swim could accurately measure the pH? Two, what form would the morphine be in at the end (morphinate, freebase, or an acid salt; i doubt the last, as even with the addition of an acid to lower the pH, the morphine would still be in a basic solution)? Lastly, if the morphine is in its morphinate or freebase form, what amounts of HCl would ideally be used to create the acid salt?

Thanks all, the above is posted for purely hypothetical academic purposes, and is in no wise recommended...

[SurfRat]

The process seems a lot easier when you are reading it.

In reality, unless you have a chemistry degree, a lot of time and patience and a large supply of raw opium you can afford to experiment with, it is not practical.

[JayTrizzle]

Not really, it seems a lot easier than cooking meth and that's always been really easy for SWIM. AND, I read somwhere (on here maybe?) that good pod grounds are roughly .1 percent morphine by wait, so, after doing this with 100 grams of pod grounds what's to say you wouldn't end up with 1 gram of pure morphine, or shit, do 1000 grams of grounds and end up with 10 grams of morphine. It seems like that's how it work, dillute it all in any aqueous solution with a ph above 11, filter out the solid plant matter, chemically lower the ph, and whatever solids remain on the side is your morphine, is that about right?

[newParadigm]

Not really, it seems a lot easier than cooking meth and that's always been really easy for SWIM. AND, I read somwhere (on here maybe?) that good pod grounds are roughly .1 percent morphine by wait, so, after doing this with 100 grams of pod grounds what's to say you wouldn't end up with 1 gram of pure morphine, or shit, do 1000 grams of grounds and end up with 10 grams of morphine. It seems like that's how it work, dillute it all in any aqueous solution with a ph above 11, filter out the solid plant matter, chemically lower the ph, and whatever solids remain on the side is your morphine, is that about right?

From what swim has deduced from various sources, yes, it may be this easy. Swim is filtering the final solution (after chemically lowering the pH as you put it). So he'll see if what remains are some goodies.

[roxi*stardust]

I'm moving this to the Morphine forum. Please try to post your threads in the proper forum. You will get alot more/better answers to your questions if it is where most people will see it.

Thanks,
roxi*stardust-moderator

[JayTrizzle]

definitely let me know how it goes, because pods DO NOT gety me off (i'm beginning to think that I'm just not taking a high enough dose, what with people talking about drinking GALLONS of tea, and I make tea with about 3 large pods and a cup of water) but if this is the situation, then I can just get straight morphine from my pods, and pure morphine powder would be great.

[robojunkie]

Hey Rox, just moved it to the chem morphine instead the other 23 morphines.

Anyway, strong bases aren't the best thing to have a nice crude solution containing morphinate salt with crude remains. The best base for forming the metal morphinate salt, sobuble in water, and at pH's that render the remaining 40 or so morphinan and benzylisoquinoline alkaloids insoluble. This is the point of this high pH to lowered, but still basic, pH. This base is of course calcium hydroxide. This base is chosen because it is itself virtually insoluble in water, so it is self protecting against over alkalinization. Once all acidic protons, the last being the phenolic H (from the 3-OH), are consumed to make salts, the remaining minor excess that may have been used just settles out after standing. Since its not in solution, it does not contribute to the possibility of over alkalinization. However, even assuming one had, in theory for our thought experiment, pure raw opium from the scoring of pods (not PT putty), one would still be well advised to filter at pH 4.5 to 5, alkalinize filtrate (liquid) to about pH 12.5 to 13, filtering again, then again collecting filtrate and bringing to pH 9 with ammonnium chloride (good buffer, prevents "overshooting") or if the correct intstrumetation is available, 9.1. Then, over the course of several hours up to a day or two, a beige to tan dusty precip will form at the bottom of the solution. When it is evident no more precip is forming, it would be filtered and washed with an ammonium hydroxide/ammonium chloride buffer at ph 9 (or simply dilute ammonium hydroxide at pH 9), then one very small ice cold water rinse and finally let dry (these would idealy be vacuum filtrations). This beige to tan fine powder is morphine base, and if done correctly is likely above 98% pure.

The two filtered solid phases from before are very different. The first from pH 5 is mostly junk like fats or waxes or oils or proteins and possibly some chlorophylls (whereever the deep black with a greenish tint is) and is crap. The second filtration at pH 12.5 or so leaves solids that are essentially a collection of all of the opium alkaloids with the exception of morphine, so there is no reason to toss this. This can be kept for future dreams and so forth.

Also, I haven't had time to write out the detailed version of this stuff as it relates to other stuff, but search smokable opium in the PS forum for a lot more detail than this at least.

Also, what surfrat says is true. This looks so easy and straightforward on paper, but in my fully legal simulations, (after wasting a couple of simulations on those damn rhoes!!!) it still took three sims to get it right, insofar as PT putty is concerned. You see, for example, if you took pure morphine base, say 1 gram, added to 500 ml water (about 100 mg might dissolve) and then added the precise amount of calcium hydroxide (1:2 molar ratio), and then brought down to pH 9 with NH4Cl, the morph would precip in minutes, and about 900 mg would be a likely recovery. However when other stuff is also in solution and in suspension, this has an often dramatic effect on the solubility profile of morphine, as it also does on the likelihood of it being "suspended", hence the standing for a day or more. The more crap that can be removed, the better. Read the other thread, if you can get there.

One last thing, you mention at the beginning, opium or stuff from pods, as though they are essentially equivalent. They may be close in total morphine content but not in %w/w, and there are huge differences in the way they must be processed for success. Real opium from scored pods is far easier than using the "poppy straw extract" that has been concentrated to putty. Read the other thread.