Morphine extraction methods

[arielcream]

The following is a step-by-step description of morphine extraction in a typical Southeast Asian laboratory:

1. An empty 55-gallon oil drum is placed on bricks about a foot above the ground and a fire is built under the drum. Thirty gallons of water are added to the drum and brought to a boil. Ten to fifteen kilograms of raw opium are added to the boiling water.
   
2. With stirring, the raw opium eventually dissolves in the boiling water, while soil, leaves, twigs, and other non-soluble materials float in the solution. Most of these materials are scooped out of the clear brown 'liquid opium' solution.
   
3. Slaked lime (calcium hydroxide), or more often a readily available chemical fertilizer with a high content of lime, is added to the solution. The lime converts the water insoluble morphine into the water soluble calcium morphenate. The other opium alkaloids do not react with the lime to form soluble calcium salts. Codeine is slightly water soluble and gets carried over with the calcium morphenate in the liquid. For the most part, the other alkaloids become part of the residual sediment 'sludge' that comes to rest on the bottom of the oil drum.
   
4. As the solution cools, and after the insolubles precipitate out, the morphine solution is scooped from the drum and poured through a filter of some kind. Burlap rice sacks are often used as filters. They are later squeezed in a press to remove most of the solution from the wet sacks. The solution is then poured into large cooking pots and re-heated, but not boiled.
   
5. Ammonium chloride is added to the heated calcium morphenate solution to adjust the alkalinity to a pH of 8 to 9, and the solution is then allowed to cool. Within one or two hours, the morphine base and the unextracted codeine base precipitate out of the solution and settle to the bottom of the cooking pot.
   
6. The solution is then poured off through cloth filters. Any solid morphine base chunks in the solution will remain on the cloth. The morphine base is removed from both the cooking pot and from the filter cloths, wrapped and squeezed in cloth, and then dried in the sun. When dry, the crude morphine base is a coffee-colored powder.
   
7. This 'crude' morphine base, commonly known by the Chinese term p'i-tzu throughout Southeast Asia, may be further purified by dissolving it in hydrochloric acid, adding activated charcoal, re-heating and re-filtering. The solution is filtered several more times, and the morphine (morphine hydrochloride) is then dried in the sun.
   
8. Morphine hydrochloride (still tainted with codeine hydrochloride) is usually formed into small brick-sized blocks in a press and wrapped in paper or cloth. The most common block size is 2 inches by 4 inches by 5 inches weighing about 1.3 kilograms (3 lbs). The bricks are then dried for transport to heroin processing laboratories.

Approximately 13 kilograms of opium, from one hectare of opium poppies, are needed to produce each morphine block of this size.

[arielcream]

now for the next step......................................
Not that many of us would have a hectare.................................

[chucky]

NO, many of us do not.

[arielcream]

Adjust measurments to suit the size of your crop. If you would like the REST of the recipie convert the M to H, private message me.

[bogumil]

Yeah that must be a pic man such a pot full of morph...

Question: Did you do it with O or with straw? Im asking because with straw this procedure never worked for me. Mainly because I have tons of liquid to handle, which one just cant avoid with straw and then getting it clean and so on ... really annoying thing. Please PM me, if you have an adjusted working version.

Here is one I found in an NG

With Calcium Hydroxide the Meconate salts will form as calcium salts the best at 11+. Calcium hydroxide will only get you to 9 or so. Once there add some caustic soda to get it up to around 11.

-Extract the mass a couple a times with that calcium hydroxide caustic soda solution. It should then be stirred for a while and let sit for a couple of hours. Rather than using a buchner of gravity filter I would use a DIY filter press (a big metal pot with small holes drilled inthe bottom should work very well).

-Now unite your extracts and add a non-mineral acid ie.citric tartaric ect. to attain a pH of 5.5-6.5 and concentrate to a workable amount, using a vacuum pump in a warm bath will speed this up.

(do not evaporate to the consistency of syrup! crystillization will be very difficult and you'll probably lose more morphine in a syrupy mother liquor than in a more dilute one)

-Now you can bump it up to 11-12 with your slacked lime first and then caustic soda. Add an amount of ethanol or methanol to assist in the precipitation of non-desirables which include codeine to an extent. (Some people like to extract with toluene, chloroform, ether ect. at this point just to get the M really fuckin clean. If you want you can do that. Once you've done that discard the nonpolar layer and keep the aqueous. If you want you can back wash the non polar with a little bit of basic solution just to get out the little bit of morphine that it stole.)

( the amount of alcohol depends upon how much straw you extracted)

-stir for 15 minutes and then let sit for an hour or two than Vacuum filter. Now add ammonium chloride to the filtrate until 9.1, add an amount of ethanol to equal about 15 -20 % of you aqueous. Covering with a layer of ether will help protect it from atmospheric oxidation. So yah let that bitch sit over night than filter wash with some water or non polar of both and enjoy. (the point of the ammonia is to decompose the salt bonds and hence facillitate the the morphine droping out of the solution. The chloride forms with the excess calcium/sodium to become calcium/sodium chloride which are extremely soluble and shouldnt intrfere with the precipitateing morphine. )

---- I may add that the last part after the acidic phase is all optional and is only really usefull if you intend to inject or acetylate your M. If youre just gonna take some rails a little codeine wont hurt. So instead of doing all that you could simply add ammonia hydroxide to you morphine citrate solution up to pH 9 and then filter.


Some things that I'm not sure of and that you might do some research on:

1. The sodium carbonate (ie Na2CO3) forms Calciumchloride with excess Ca. I'm not sure if it will leave the Meconates alone. You will definately have a huge precipitation when you add the carb. to the Ca(OH)2 - I have no idea if that will have an effect on the process.

2. Alcohols take morphine in solution way better than water, which might be a problem by precipitating morphine. On the other hand alcohols are used to maximize precipitaions (often in a mix with a salt and drying agent - a good ppt. solution is for example: 25ml HCl [25+] in 150ml Isopropanol [99%] + 2 teaspoons Natriumsulfate, Magnesiumsulfate or Calciumchloride)...)

Anyone any ideas on that?

[rachamim18]

I realise it is an old thread but I might add something here if I might...The quoted source is pretty good, it is the DEA after all. They left out alot of relevant parts [probably on purpose although with Big Bro's inefficiency, who can tell?] so that it just it makes it a good staring off point or conversation starter.

Step I is incorrect. Opium should NEVER be boiled do to possible adverse conditioning of the target alkaloid [morphine]. A slow fire, with careful attention paid to temp. is the best way to accomplish the neccessary dissolution of opium....you want to maintain it 10 degrees below boiling at all times. It takes a long time, and alot of stirring, but it is very "doable."


When faced with step III, you can use any kind of calcium extract will do...slaked lime, high content fertiliser, even limestone. Admittedly, the DEA paper does point out that one can use high lime content fertiliser but does not take pains to point out that not only calcium hydroxide will dot he job.




The rest is pretty good. Still...it leaves out ratios so that one only has an idea of how illicitly refined heroin is made from opium.


Here is the listing of rations, etc.:
When setting up, you want to use 30 gallons of water to 12 kilos of putty [refined opium].
When you add your calcium, you want to add it in a 5:1 ratio, 5 being the quantity of opium.
When adding the ammonium chloride, do so in a 4:1 ratio, 4 representing the amount of putty.



Of course, you should use proper equipment, pH meter, filters, and so forth.

This is the illicit recipe. There is plenty of free info in licit production as well...especially with reagrds to morphine extraction although this is admittedly the simplest way to go about it.


Conversion of morphine to heroin is rather simple. It can be accomplished two ways, one of which varies slightly as to the main catalyst and ratio [as well as time] used. Very simply, these are acetylation via glacial acetic acid [usually acetic anhydride] Or simply via DMAP. DMAP is not talked about too often but aside from it being less risky [no chance of exploison] it only takes 10 minutes for the whole process [as opposed to the quickest glacial acetic acid, anhydride, at 5 hours and 85 degrees C. in reflux!] !


If anyone expresses interest, I will post on it.


Boumil's questions....This is for opium. there is a straw method of course but it is not for the do it yourselfer. Straw is technically speaking, the pod itself and the 5 inches of stem directly underneath the pod. the extraction is not easy to accomplish outside of the lab.


In your listed method, caustic soda is of course sodium hydroxide and the reason for this is not only to easy the pH adjustment. The soda helps to isolate the 38 and a half other alakloids that you do NOT want in your target product. Why do I say "half?" Because, as most recipes take pains to point out, codeine is partially water soluble so that is partially carried over into the morphine in the listed extraction method.


From the rest of your post it seems, as you stated, that it is aiming for a straw extraction. Again, this is exceedingly difficult out of the lab. the listed method will only offer a very small net. So small in fact, that it is inadvisable to even follow it.


Also, you do not need to use any alcohols to help with the codeine. You can do so much more easily with a few different steps. Again, if anyone expresses current interest, I will get into it.

[SomniGod]

Boumil's questions....This is for opium. there is a straw method of course but it is not for the do it yourselfer. Straw is technically speaking, the pod itself and the 5 inches of stem directly underneath the pod. the extraction is not easy to accomplish outside of the lab.

This reminds me of a question... how about "chornie" or "churney"? (The eastern-euro development of a way to inject a product from dried pods). The scary part is the blood they use to clot -out antagonists. Is there really an easy way to do this?

~S~

[bogumil]

Hey rachamim18, you seem to have good knowledge of the opie chemistry! And Im definately interested in the writeups you have.

Here is what a friend of ine did and what resulted in a good product the very first time (from straw). What do you think about it?

- Extraction into ethanol
- evaporating to dryness with regular fiterings until the amount of liquid is reached that holds the expected amount of morphine, + maybe 50- 100 ml.
- digestion in 5 parts H2O + 2 parts diluted acetic acid (2%) for one part of putty for 12 hours under steady swirling and with 50 C the last 4 hours.
-filtering through millipore under vacuum.
- from the solution narcotine and a small amount of papaverine are precipiated with NaOH at pH7 and then the rest of the alkaloids is precipitated with NA2CO3 at pH 9.1 (Thats like you said the sodiumcarbonate gets the alkaloids).
-Filtration and drying of the filtrate.

What do you think about it? I kow that it yields a good product, but do you think ther could be improvements made? The text that SWIM used for this is in the topic where I posted the collection of papers in papaver somniferum.

One thing that I wondered is, if the pure alcohol wont recrystallize a part of the morphine and that because of this some water (maybe 10%) should be added. Also I have ben thinking about an acidic extraction first (acetic acid at pH4 maybe) to prepare the material.

[paesan]

Is there a way to turn Morphine Sulfate tablets into H using DMAP. I've found a fuckload of sources for it and it's much cheaper than AA, I also have access to a lot of MS so if you know how to do this, can you post???

[ontario_opiophile]

MS ehh? *coughs* PM *coughs* Oh I've got a nasty cough. All in a dream. All in a dream. Oh I wish I existed.

[rachamim18]

You are referring to "Chernaya" [it is a transliteration of course since the Cryllic alphabet is different, but an accurate one never the less]. Chernay os a vile substance that adfdicts only used because they were desparate during the Soviet era. There was also "Hanka," "Kompot," "Braun," and a couple of other Eastern Bloc opiated preperations. If you would like, I will post on them but safe to say, they should only be looked at with curiousity as they are very vile. Hanka for example requires the "cook's" own blood to prepare it. Leave it alone unless you just want to learn what it was.


bogumil: You got that off of "poppies.org," right? there are a couple of problems with it but I tell you what....Either tomorrow or monday, I wlll post in depth on "straw" extraction. I will offer a couple of illict methods as well as the textbook methods, and even a couple of little kno0wn licit patents. O.k.?


Paesan: Yes, you can. You have to work that sulfate a little but DMAP is by far the easiest and safest way. 10 minutes is my kind of recipe.

[paesan]

Paesan: Yes, you can. You have to work that sulfate a little but DMAP is by far the easiest and safest way. 10 minutes is my kind of recipe.

Fuuuuuuuck yeah bro, 10 minutes, shit even with severe adhd I think I can wait 10 minutes. PM me the procedure or post it, either way I'd like to give it a shot. The MS pills I get have obviously some fillers so I'll need to isolate the MS before doing anything correct??? I'm kind of a chem novice but I do have a friend with a bit more experience who can help me out, so if you can send me the proc. I'm sure we'll figure it out.

[SomniGod]

I have done some searches on "chornie" and now "chernaya" with not much info comin back. I would love to find out more. i keep getting links to an article re: 1 users' story about it. If you do a search... you'll see what I mean. More info would be GREAT, Rachamin.... and I agreee... this is not something one would wanna do ... ever!


~S~

[rachamim18]

Replies: I will try and iniate a thread on homemade opiated compounds like Chernaya. As for the DMAP, I will iniate a thread on that as well.

[rachamim18]

I forgot: Yes, timed relase morphine, like most timed relase meds, has a wax matrix that needs to be handled properly prior to nay attempt at conversion or isolation. I will do a thread on that as well.

[asaqwert]

just so you all know, the DMAP method isn't any safer or easier

first off, can you get DMAP? is it controlled? i haven't really looked, but i assume its at least watched, if not somewhat controlled

secondly, the DMAP method is faster, yes, and can be done in around 10-15 minutes, BUT, DMAP is only the CATALYST. you still need an acetylating agent, i.e. acetic anhydride. you cannot do it without this, there is no way.

and to everyone who thinks that glacial acetic acid works, try it. i do not agree with you that it works; if it does, it creates like, 2% 3-MAM, not diacetylmorphine. to create heroin, you need to REFLUX morphine with acetic anhydride (not acetic acid, they are much different) for 5 hours....imagine how long it would take for such a weak acetylating agent like acetic acid to do this??? even if it COULD do it. the 6 position is much more difficult, as persay, to acetylate, and as such, it is highly unlikely that the acetic acid method will work to make heroin, and i highly doubt it will honestly work for 3-MAM

if it worked for 3-MAM don't you think a LOT more people would be taking simple GAA and mixing it with morphine, which can more often than not be had for lots cheaper than heroin, in most places. i mean honestly, more than 1 person would have suggested it over the years, and at least a few people would have tried it (i've spoken to one person who's CLAIMED it worked, but they only got one shot cuz their buddy did it). i've tried it with dilute acetic acid, heated for about 3 hours or so, and notice ZERO difference. i realize its not nearly long enough, but you'd think if something were to happen, SOMETHING AT ALL would have by 3 hours, i mean even if it converted a smalll portion (assujming it actually works like some ppl are saying.....) you should notice some extra effect....

anyways, sorry to burst your bubble, guy witht eh DMAP and morphine pills, but you can't make heroin without the acetic anhydride

(which, by the way, can be had legally if one knows where to go )

[asaqwert]

rachamin18, i do not mean at all to insult you or to claim you are wrong in any way. i am in no way as chemically knowledgeable as some other people, nor as you yourself appear to be

i would like to say a few things, however. i have read the paper where morphine was tested with different amounts of acetic anhydride and different enviromental variables, as well as with DMAP involved also. i seeem to recall, however, that acetic anhydride is required regardless, and that DMAP is merely a catalyst. do you know this, and do you know if this is true or simply a mistake on my part (reading) or their part (writing it up)?

i would really greatly appreciate you PM'ing me with any info you have on acetylating morphine sulphate, as well as any info you have on removing the wax matrix from time release pills. the pills swim has are M Eslon, which have tiny beads inside instead of being a solid pill. i pesronally have found these to be MUCH MUCH better than any hard pill or "contin" formulation. there's a LOT less shit to get rid of, and i have found that filtering it through cotton from a cotton ball, stuffed inside a 3ml barrel by forcing the morphine solution (acidified with a little bit of hcl acid) through this barrel with damp cotton in it. when it comes out, the solution is probably 98% clear, although sometimes a little yellowish or brownish, moreso the more i heat the solution and the more i try to boil off some of the water

any idea why it turns yellowy? any idea how i could boil or evap down the water in the spoon any quicker, without burning the morphine?

also, does anybody know what solvents morphine and it's respective salts are soluble in. i mean, a definitive answer, not "i think it disolves in toluene in some salt form" or whatever...i mean "morphine free base will dissolve in toluene (or won't, as well, if possible, the amount of morphine (salt/base) that will dissolve in any given solvent

i would GREATLY appreciate this information, or any hints on how to find it. i have searched high and low and can't find anything truly definitive, except for morphine sulfate and hydrochloride, and these i have only found solubility info for them in water, not ether or toluene or anythiung else

i would really greatly appreciate any info anyone can offer, as well rachamin18, i would GREATLY appreciate any of your vast knowledge that you woudl be willing to share with me (possibly via pm? that would be awesome....)

thanks again, and to anyone who thinks i am trying to be a "know it all" i'm not, i simply have done lots of research on morphine and its relatives and chemistry, and am just in search of more knowledge. i do not mean to come across as an asshole or someone who thinks he has a masters in organic chem, although i will not take people telling me to piss off sipmly because i dispute what they say. thanks again for everyone's help and all the info

[superman]

" i seeem to recall, however, that acetic anhydride is required regardless, and that DMAP is merely a catalyst. do you know this, and do you know if this is true or simply a mistake on my part (reading) or their part (writing it up)?"
asagwert, you are correct. the anhydride has no substitute, and the DMAP allows the reaction to proceed extremely fast and at a very low temperature (room temp IIRC).

as for acetylating morphine sulphate, assuming this is coming from pills you will have to convert the morphine to the freebase in order to remove the fillers anyways, so the sulfate will no longer be in the equation

funny, i just happen to have a bunch of empty elson morph caps right here. though i haven't noticed the discoloration that you mention. i crush the beads to a fine powder with a mortar+pestle before cooking. when crushed they only need a very brief cook for near complete extraction. but I am pretty sure there is a filler or something coming through that is not in the morphine tablets because these caps are WAY harder on my arms. veins look bruised and they stay that way for a long time.

"any idea how i could boil or evap down the water in the spoon any quicker, without burning the morphine?"
I just crush the beads first, and use 120IU of water per hit, whereas with a hit from a tab i would use 150IU. I cook it down to 100IU. also, by positioning the flame below where the pill material is touching the metal, i can sort of push it back off the metal so it floats on the water.

as for dissolving morphine, the salts are soluable in H2O and OH. the FB is not soluable in any usefull quantity in any solvent that i know of. Though i have been told that i am wrong, i have yet to hear of anyone actually saying that they were able to dissolve the freebase, nor does any commercial or experimental procedure that i know of involve the dissolution of the freebase in any solvent. You're going to have to rely on precipitation of the freebase.

I had some great solubility notes for morphine, but my hard drive has since failed and my notes are backed up on a machine that i will not have access to for a couple weeks. feel free to PM me if you're having trouble figuring out suitable solvents for separating the morphine from certain other substances.

as for being a "know it all", don't sweat it. that's what the peer review process is all about, putting what you know out there for others to examine. It's inquisitive minds that are interested in the facts that have the most to contribute to these areas.

[thbronze]

" i seeem to recall, however, that acetic anhydride is required regardless, and that DMAP is merely a catalyst. do you know this, and do you know if this is true or simply a mistake on my part (reading) or their part (writing it up)?"
asagwert, you are correct. the anhydride has no substitute, and the DMAP allows the reaction to proceed extremely fast and at a very low temperature (room temp IIRC).

as for acetylating morphine sulphate, assuming this is coming from pills you will have to convert the morphine to the freebase in order to remove the fillers anyways, so the sulfate will no longer be in the equation

funny, i just happen to have a bunch of empty elson morph caps right here. though i haven't noticed the discoloration that you mention. i crush the beads to a fine powder with a mortar+pestle before cooking. when crushed they only need a very brief cook for near complete extraction. but I am pretty sure there is a filler or something coming through that is not in the morphine tablets because these caps are WAY harder on my arms. veins look bruised and they stay that way for a long time.

"any idea how i could boil or evap down the water in the spoon any quicker, without burning the morphine?"
I just crush the beads first, and use 120IU of water per hit, whereas with a hit from a tab i would use 150IU. I cook it down to 100IU. also, by positioning the flame below where the pill material is touching the metal, i can sort of push it back off the metal so it floats on the water.

as for dissolving morphine, the salts are soluable in H2O and OH. the FB is not soluable in any usefull quantity in any solvent that i know of. Though i have been told that i am wrong, i have yet to hear of anyone actually saying that they were able to dissolve the freebase, nor does any commercial or experimental procedure that i know of involve the dissolution of the freebase in any solvent. You're going to have to rely on precipitation of the freebase.

I had some great solubility notes for morphine, but my hard drive has since failed and my notes are backed up on a machine that i will not have access to for a couple weeks. feel free to PM me if you're having trouble figuring out suitable solvents for separating the morphine from certain other substances.

as for being a "know it all", don't sweat it. that's what the peer review process is all about, putting what you know out there for others to examine. It's inquisitive minds that are interested in the facts that have the most to contribute to these areas.

Feedback on this method,I take m-eslon,crush micro-pellets,mix w/ hot-not boiling-water,mix,crush more,then IM it using # 23 needle,haven't filtered yet-don't want to waste.Is this stupid or what,let me know,am about to in few hours,might try filtering-something giving me large infected welts hurt like shit

[superman]

thbronze: i would say that once crushing with a mortar+pestle is plenty. as well boiling it won't hurt. filtering is extremely important when injecting. any particles can 'seed' blood clots which can be fatal, especially if they travel to the brain and cause a stroke. just use about half a Q-tip end rolled tight. the needle will suck it almost completely dry. if the cotton is left to dry quickly so as to prevent molding if can later be boiled with several others to extract any residual opiates.

any kind of skin change, aside from a little bruising and the needle prick as a very bad sign. I suggest you stop using that 23 guage and switch to a 30. it sounds like you are missing the vein, or that your monsterous needle is puncturing the vein so bad that it leaks after you pull out.

proper technique should allow you to use the same injection site all the time, though rotating is reccomended. as long as i am only doing 3 hits a day or so i can always use the vein on my inner elbow where people won't motice the track marks

i bought 400 oxy's a while back, and saved all the once extracted pill mass and cottons till the end. then each morning i would re-extract enough material to mix up all my shots for the day. IIRC it kept me going for a couple weeks.

[exitwound]

thbronze: i would say that once crushing with a mortar+pestle is plenty. as well boiling it won't hurt. filtering is extremely important when injecting. any particles can 'seed' blood clots which can be fatal, especially if they travel to the brain and cause a stroke. just use about half a Q-tip end rolled tight. the needle will suck it almost completely dry. if the cotton is left to dry quickly so as to prevent molding if can later be boiled with several others to extract any residual opiates.
any kind of skin change, aside from a little bruising and the needle prick as a very bad sign. I suggest you stop using that 23 guage and switch to a 30. it sounds like you are missing the vein, or that your monsterous needle is puncturing the vein so bad that it leaks after you pull out.
proper technique should allow you to use the same injection site all the time, though rotating is reccomended. as long as i am only doing 3 hits a day or so i can always use the vein on my inner elbow where people won't motice the track marks
i bought 400 oxy's a while back, and saved all the once extracted pill mass and cottons till the end. then each morning i would re-extract enough material to mix up all my shots for the day. IIRC it kept me going for a couple weeks.

damn! i need the kind of sources where i can go around saying "oh, yeah, I bought 400 oxy's a while back...." lol.

granted, i buy several hundred tablets of hydro per month, but that's the combination of my 100 prescribed and 210 online pharmacy tabs. the prescribed tablets are Mallinkart 5's, the ROP tabs are Watson 10/500's and 10/325's. even the ROP pills are at well below black market prices. i can only imagine what 400 oxy tabs cost you.

there just plain needs to be a revived trade in homegrown opium in this country again. it has to supercede the shitty, cut, organized-crime sourced heroin that dominates the domestic opiate market. pharms are way too expensive.

[UlTrA_]

well i dont even know what dmap or whatever the fuck it is.ive been paying 6 dollars a ml for pyridyne but all up homebake with codine phos 60mg pills is rather to fucken xpensive 4 me and ppl have been saying that the packets r to small yet even tho they dont beleive me they are buying poppy seed bake from everyone else but mine is homebake.does anyone have a good recipy for poppy seed bake pm or thread would be greatly appreciated.

[superman]

actually i got a good deal on those oxy's, traded for MJ
I second what you say about the homegrown scene. I can understand how it could have faded, given cheap uncontrolled morphine available at every pharmacy. but i would think that with the loss of that opium would come back....... I guess we'll just have to sow the world ourselves and reteach the craft to all the laymen. perhaps next year it would be interesting to buy 100kg of seed and distribute it freely.

Ultra: homebake i know about, but what the hell is seed bake? are people actually acetylating a poppy seed extract? say it ain't so, the taliban would be laughing they're asses off