Crystallized Codeine

[mrbigsexy]

I was hoping that somebody might have the experience or knowledge of crystallizing codeine from a solution. I see all these cold-water extraction recipes, etc, for getting the codeine into a solution from pills without the APAP. My question is, can you let the water evaporate and the codeine will simply crystallize?
What i really want is to get the codeine crystallized since I'd rather have it in crystal form, easier to handle. Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to get the codeine solids from the solution?

This is my grand 2nd post, yipee!

[superman]

I was hoping that somebody might have the experience or knowledge of crystallizing codeine from a solution. I see all these cold-water extraction recipes, etc, for getting the codeine into a solution from pills without the APAP. My question is, can you let the water evaporate and the codeine will simply crystallize?
What i really want is to get the codeine crystallized since I'd rather have it in crystal form, easier to handle. Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to get the codeine solids from the solution?

This is my grand 2nd post, yipee!


after removing the APAP, calculate the volume of water required to dissolve your expected yeild of codiene. boil the solution down to this volume. put the solution in the fridge for at least 24 hours, if you're not in a rush leave for a couple days.

now pour the soluton through 2 pre-wetted(and chilled in the fridge) coffee filters. This removes the caffiene.

now evaporate the remaining liquid for nearly pure codeine. if you're reacting this recrystallize it well first. otherwise, enjoy

[mrbigsexy]

I thought though that heat and light affect opiates, so how should I get the water evaporated while still maintaining the best yield possible?

[Woods]

I tried that once, and ended up with purple crud that had no effect. No boiling, all evap in a cool, dark place.

[superman]

I thought though that heat and light affect opiates, so how should I get the water evaporated while still maintaining the best yield possible?

forget what you've heard, they may be correct in a theoretical context, but they're absolutely wrong in a pratical context.

reduce volume by boiling, once you're down to a few mL, pour onto a plate, and finish the evaporation at room temperature with a gentle breeze from a fan


=============

"No boiling, all evap in a cool, dark place."

that's your problem. doing this means you solution was probablt sitting around for days or weeks. that purple stuff was probably some kind of mold. wherever you got your advice, don't go back for more

[insaneike]

Well, yes, you can do a CWE and be left with actual CRYSTAKLS! Not clear as pure crystals but milkyish crystals. Will be crystals indeed though if you even did ahalf assed extraction... I use regular coffe filters. At first I use 1 filter, then run through 2-4 more filters, Being 2 stacked together tomake a better filter. BUT! one thing some ppl do wrong is not let the solution cool before filtering. As if you don't let it cool down to the right temp some of the Acetaminophen(APAP) will still be in the solution. As Acetaminophen is soluble to ane xtent in warm water, as it's not in cold water. and those who arn't left with crystals yet filter VERY well(many times using coffe filters) obviously only used a few pills. Cause if you only use like say 3-5 pills theres gonna be so little shit left the crystals wont be visable as 'crystals'


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Below is an example of a codeine extraction.
The idea behind the following extraction is that
acetaminophen and aspirin (I'll use A/A from now on) are very
_insoluble_ in cold water. Codeine phosphate (the most common
salt of codeine) is very _soluble_ in water including cold water.
The following table explains:

Solubility (31C water) Solubility (21C water)

Aspirin 1g / 100 ml 1g / 300ml

Acetaminophen 1g / 70 ml 1g / 150 ml

Codeine 1g / 2.3 ml 1g / 0.7 ml
Phosphate

So as you can see, both A/A aren't very soluble in 21C
water, so if you cool the water to around 10C, the solubility will
drop even further. That way you can dissolve 20 tablets in 50ml
of hot water, cool the water down to 10C, filter the solution and
end up with the same amount of codeine as the tablets contained
but only a fraction of the original amount of A/A.

[...]

1. Obtain a quantity of tablets containing codeine, check to
see if they contain anything other than codeine, caffeine,
acetaminophen or aspirin. If they do, and you don't know whether
or not it will be a problem, your best bet is not to use them.
Measure out your desired amount of codeine (ex. 64 mg = 8 tablets
* 8mg/tablet). You may want to add 2 extra tablets as it is quite
likely you will lose some codeine in the procedure. As you get
more experience with the procedure you will be able to get
approx. 95% of the codeine extracted.

2. Measure out some nice hot water, use approx. 40ml / 20 tablets
or more if needed. I would suggest you don't go over 50ml for 20
tablets. I don't know if the use of boiling water would destroy
any of the codeine but your best bet is not to use it. Use hot
water but not boiling. Make sure the tablets dissolve completely.
Some dissolve on contact with water while others need some help
dissolving by crushing them. Note : not all of the tablet will
dissolve, there are water-insoluble fillers in the tablet and not
all of the A/A will dissolve either(which is what we want).

3. Place the solution in a cold bath, I just use some ice cubes
in a container of water. Stir the mixture occasionally until the
solution drops to about 15C or lower. You won't need a
thermometer to measure the temperature, just make sure it's
"cold". This will take about 30 min. If you wish to speed this
up, you can use less water to dissolve the tablets, and add ice
chips to cool the mixture faster. Just make sure you don't add
so much ice that you drastically increase the volume of the mixture.

4. Filter the solution using whatever you have. Coffee filters
work well, but lab filters work the best. Just make sure you
don't end up with obvious solids in the filtered solution. This
will take about 1 hr. You may also want to rinse the solids left
over in the filter with some ice-water to extract any remaining
codeine.


Side notes Pretty much anything that CAN be used IV is better if you shoot it. Snorting, on the other hand, in addition to being horrible for your sinuses, is wasteful, and just doesn't work as well. Why? Beats me. I'm only speaking from my own, and many others experience.
Don't use alot of water, use as little as possible. Codeine,hydrocodone, Oxycodone and morphine are all sensitive to heat and light. (Some more than others).
This method will work for oxycodone, but as a side note Percocet and most off-brands contain a relatively small amount of acetaminophen (about 350 mg or so) compared to the oxycodone (5 mg). Since oxycodone is very strong, 2 or 3 percs should have you feeling pretty darn good (as long as you don't have a huge tolerance). As a result, unless you are taking 10 or 15 percs per day, you needn't worry about acetaminophen ingestion.


later

[Narkotikon]

I thought though that heat and light affect opiates, so how should I get the water evaporated while still maintaining the best yield possible?


You could also at the end of boiling / heating on the stove / whatever, put the remaining solution on a glass plate and put it on top of a laptop. The heat will gently evaporate the liquid. I know this works for K, not sure about opiates though. Just curious, why do you want cyrstalized codeine? You're not thinking of injecting that I hope.

[SpecialGuy69]

I've done this with a couple different types of pills. Yellow norcos didn't work. The dye stays in. normal white 10/325 or 5/500 hydros work tho. Just use as little H2O as possible, put it on a large plate after CWE, and heat it slowly w/ a fan blowing over it. It will crystallize and be stuck to the plate- so use a plate that will be easy to scrape with a razor and get it all- it tends to collect in hard-to-reach areas. Watch it the whole time to make sure it doesn't burn- I ruined a batch once cause I nodded out and burned 'em.

I just took the powder and dissolved it in a soda, drank it. The powder seemed to be about 85% as strong as just chewing the same amount of pills. I guess you could also snort it, but it's a whole lot of powder- more than you expect- remember, 90% of a tablet-style pill is binders and inactives, and CWE doesn't remove all of these, just the APAP and non-H2O soluble binders/inactives.

If you do 10 5/500 vicodins, you could expect about 2 grams of crystals o(well thats what it looks like) Don't shoot this powder! First of all, the idea of banging 2 grams of powder to get 50-100mg of hydro is crazy. Second, theres all kinds of bad shit still in the powder. Eat it, snort it (if you must), put it in drinks, shove it up your ass, put it in capsules and swallow. I also compressed it into tablets using a 2-ton press, and ate these, cleaner hydro tablets.

[Woods]

90% of a tablet-style pill is binders and inactives, and CWE doesn't remove all of these, just the APAP and non-H2O soluble binders/inactives.

Actually that isn’t as true with acetaminophen containing pills as it is with others. I guess it compounds pretty well or something, because most of the weight seems to actually be acetaminophen.

Also, the best way to do it, if you could swing it, would be a vacuum apparatus. You can boil it dry with no loss whatsoever.

[superman]

"remember, 90% of a tablet-style pill is binders and inactives, and CWE doesn't remove all of these, just the APAP and non-H2O soluble binders/inactives.

If you do 10 5/500 vicodins, you could expect about 2 grams of crystals o(well thats what it looks like) "

yeah i think you're doing it wrong... 325mg APAP alone makes for a pretty large pill

when i do a CWE on 325mg/8mg cod/16mg caf i end up with about 90% of the theoretical maximum of codiene by weight.

never underestimate the value of precise note keeping and a digital scale when performing extractions. by leaving just a little of the desired compound undissolved, you will end up with purer and more attractive crystals...