extract pure thc

Discussion in 'Drug Chemistry' started by ghost of rat, Mar 21, 2009.

  1. ghost of rat

    ghost of rat Senior Member

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    Why is it that I cant find a recapie for extracting PURE THC out of cannabis- The most studied psychoactive plant?

    I have tried to reseach via goolge but only got hash/oil extraction recapies.

    The furthest I have gone with my own experiments is extracting thc with isopropyl alcohol, letting it evaporate to yeil a potent resin/oil, and then putting the extracted resin/oil into a small ammount of 90% alcohol.

    ^this produced a potent tincture, good results. but I want to go further.
    There was still too much tars and chlorophyll in the tincture for my liking.

    How would I go about extracting pure thc out of cannabis- removing tars and chlorophyll??
     
  2. Superpimp

    Superpimp Member

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    google "budder" thats all u need to know......
     
  3. ghost of rat

    ghost of rat Senior Member

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    I dont want budder. I want pure, isolated thc, or as close as I can get to that.
     
  4. ghost of rat

    ghost of rat Senior Member

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    Basically I need a solvent in which tars,resins and chlorophyll are soluble in, but thc isnt.
    The only other way I can think of involves vaporisation of the thc which is then put through alcohol, but this method would be very difficult.
     
  5. LSDMIKE

    LSDMIKE Member

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    Butane honey

    GOOGLE??????
     
  6. nesta

    nesta Banned

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    you'll have trouble isolating "THC" because there are a whole lot of cannabinoids in marijuana which will likely end up in the end result. your best best would be a full-spectrum extract, if you could get it as pure as possible.

    that said, this isn't very likely to happen. the "next best thing" would likely be essentially what you've done, but scrapping the ISO extraction and going instead for more dangerous but selective solvents like butane, hexane, petroleum ether, etc. then you could again dry it off and dilute it in ethanol for oral consumption or application to other smokable goods.

    better still would be extracting from kief or hashish rather than bud. working primarily from trichomes would give you a far cleaner product, but i would be concerned with how you would seperate the few remaining solids. a seperatory funnel may be necessary, i'd guess.

    this is purely theoretical of course, as i've not done it, but i bet extraction using better solvents and starting from hash or kief rather than bud or leaves will give you the best results you can hope to get without doing anything fancy.
     
  7. LSDMIKE

    LSDMIKE Member

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    fucking RXN hehehehehe hahahahaha o man im a dick
     
  8. ghost of rat

    ghost of rat Senior Member

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    Ok. I understand now that it is too complex for me to isolate pure thc.
    But i do still want to extract the cannabinoids of cannabis into a relativley pure form.

    As I understand it, THC dissolves in non polar solvents. So I need to find a polar solvent to remove the tars and chlorophyll. What could this solvent be?

    I was thinking something simple. H20. Water would remove the chlorophyll and a small ammount of resins. So if I soaked the ground up buds in water, removed the water and dried the out the buds prior to extracting the THC via Isopropyl alcohol, then I would end up with a clearner extract. Right?

    I was also reading that eucalypus oil is good for extracting tars and such, so that is another possibility.
     
  9. LSDMIKE

    LSDMIKE Member

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  10. dd3stp233

    dd3stp233 -=--=--=-

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    Check the "Cannabis Alchemy" ebook by D. Gold, pages 7-10. http://www.scribd.com/doc/7720803/Cannabis-Alchemy-

    Its a method for purifying crude thc alcohol extracts (starts at the bottom of page 7), doesn't end up as pure thc (30-60%), but its a step up though. I haven't tried it but sounds like it would work. On page 22, there is methods of isolating pure thc but it requires some advanced chemistry techniques.
     
  11. LSDMIKE

    LSDMIKE Member

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    why are you so hellbent on doing this with alcohol it's old school
    doing this with any other chemical other than butane is just f88in bumb
    sure that water thing you said would work but there is no need. honey oil
    is very very pure... [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]

    [edit] Manufacturing

    Honey oil is made by separating the resins of a cannabis plant from the plant material using one of a number of solvents. Ethanol is a common solvent used in the preparation of honey oil, but other solvents may include: methanol, isopropyl alcohol, various highly volatile non-polar liquid solvents (e.g. hexane, toluene, xylene, naphtha) and butane. Solvents are selected based on their ability to dissolve cannabis resins and volatility, leaving minimal chemical residue.
    Note.......... Oil produced from solvents other than Butane are considered to be Hash Oil or Cannabis Oil. Honey Oil refers specificaly to the butane extraction process. The butane extraction produces an oil of golden color, similar to honey, because due to the very low temperature of liquid butane only the cannabidoids which are fat molecules will not freeze and will disolve in the butane. Also the butane is extremely volatile at room temperature and will evaporate quickly leaving almost no residual traces. Other solvents like ethanol or naphtha will disolve more than cannabidoids, they will collect a large quantity of other plant chemicals such as chlorophyll. This will produce an oil with a much darker color. Sometimes even black as tar when multiple solvent washing of the plant material is done to increase yield. Naphtha based oil notoriously contains amounts of residual naphtha enough to influence the smell, taste and effects of the product. Many users report feeling sick or having headaches when smoking naphtha extracted oil hence it is generally accepted that the product poses a greater health risk than with butane extracted oil. Alcohol extracted oil also contains plant sugars, which caramelize when smoked to produce a harsh taste.
    Generally the whole cannabis plant can be used to produce oil. Some will use only the flowers of the cannabis plant to improve yield since they contain more cannabidoids. This gives an advantage only when using other solvents than butane because it will improve the ratio of cannabidoids to other plant chemicals. With the butane extraction it will also increase the yield a little bit since there are more cannabidoids to collect but it will not improve the quality and purity of the oil. Also cannabis flowers are much more expensive than other plant material such as leaves and stems so in the end you get more product but it costs more to produce.

    [edit] Effects

    Main article: Health issues and the effects of cannabis#Effects

    [edit] Physical effects

    The effects of extracted resin are comparable to smoking the same plant from which it was extracted, but often intensified due to its much higher potency. In the case of Honey Oil, several small drops can produce effects comparable to a much greater amount of plant material. This can sometimes cause overwhelming effects if the extract's high concentration of cannabinoids is not taken into account.
     
  12. codemeister3

    codemeister3 Banned

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    This one is to easy!!! I can't believe no one has given a real answer. I think if you don't know don't post! Be productive!!

    Anyways, you will need to first extract the essential oil "hemp oil" then do a fractional distillation. several washes which you seem to be on the ball about, and you will have a pretty potent "extract". If you wanted to extract pure THC, good luck. Scientists have been trying for ages to get pure chemicals out of plants.

    For the oil, http://www.depression-guide.com/essential-oil-extraction.htm
    After you get that (which would be pretty potent in itself) you will need to buy a fractional distillation kit. After washing with your polar/nonpolar solvents, fractionally distill all sub-boiling points of THC. Then distill your THC from what is left at the temp THC boils (200°C (392°F)). Then evaporate and you will have THC oil, freebase. If you want to stabilize it in a salt form, then bubble with HCL gas!

    It would be the same thing as isolating safrole from sassafrass for X. Just look up that, substituting the various solvents and boiling points.
     
  13. ghost of rat

    ghost of rat Senior Member

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    The reason im not going down the honey oil path is because I find the end product so difficult to deal with. Even after you have smoked all the honey oil you know there is still about 4 or 5 more doses left of goo, clinging to whatever container you have stored it in, but is very awkward and messy to scrape out.

    What I like about alcohol extracts is that they have an infinite shelf life, are a liquid and not goo- and are so easier to deal with, and also can be either taken orally, or evaporated and smoked.

    Its not that I insist on using alcohol, infact I believe acetone wold work even better. I am just looking for a cleaner extaction method I can perform and refine.
    Also, I think an alcohol or acetone extract can potentialy be even more potent than honey oil.

    Anyhow thankyou for the contibuting to the discussion.

    Perhaps there is someway in which a honey oil extraction can be combined with an alcohol(or other solvent) extraction for an ultra ultra pure product. something to ponder.
     
  14. LSDMIKE

    LSDMIKE Member

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    ok but is thc in the oil the only with a BP of 200C? and doing it by fractional distillation
    would be one big mess. and would never make it to the RBF.

    And you said that H oil is to difficult to deal with thats coz the oil must be diluted with ethanol not much but some. even if you get that BP on it's own it will be to difficult
    in dealing with coz it's so pure . if the difficutey is your only problem then make BHO and dilute it.
    not everyone knows you need to dilut the oil to make it easy to smoke .
     
  15. LSDMIKE

    LSDMIKE Member

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    wtf hemp there is no THC in hemp
     
  16. LSDMIKE

    LSDMIKE Member

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    I just raed what you said on BASS SALT

    THC is not an amine and cannot be turned into a salt or freebase.

    TRY AND BE PRODUCVTIVE
     
  17. codemeister3

    codemeister3 Banned

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    Definition of hemp, any member of the cannabis family:
    http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hemp

    As for your "bass" salt, there is an article I would like for you to read;
    http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080275237

    Specifically;
    Preparation of (-)-Δ9-6a,10a-trans-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC)

    [0054]A) Preparation of (-)-9-chloro-6a,10a-trans-hexahydrocannabinol <LO:DOK!> (THC HCl): </:D LOOK! (more underneath)>

    [0055]2.90 g of zinc chloride and 95 g of cold 30% HCl in ethyl acetate are added to 10.7 g of the (-)-Δ8-6a,10a-trans-tetrahydrocannabinol prepared in Example 2 and the mixture is warmed to RT, with vigorous stirring. After 36 hours, 100 ml of ethyl acetate and 200 ml of ice-water are added and the organic phase is washed with 200 ml of water and 7 ml of saturated sodium bicarbonate solution and with 100 ml of water and saturated NaCl solution. Drying (Na2SO4) and concentration/co-evaporation with 3 times 15 ml of MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) yields THC-HCl (12.42 g) as a dark oil.

    B) Preparation of (-)-Δ9-6a,10a-trans-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC)

    [0056]5.74 g of the product prepared in section A), (-)-9-chloro-6a,10a-trans-hexahydro-cannabinol (THC-HCl), in 50 ml of MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) are added dropwise under argon at RT to 25 ml of a 1.7 N solution of K tert-pentylate (in toluene) in 30 ml of MTBE. After a total of one hour, the mixture is refluxed for 20-25 minutes and then cooled, 100 ml of MTBE are added and the mixture is extracted by shaking with 100 ml of saturated sodium bicarbonate solution and 2 ml of glacial acetic acid. The organic phase is washed with 100 ml of saturated NaCl solution, dried over Na2SO4 and concentrated to give 4.85 g of an amber-colored oil of the following composition [gas chromatographic analysis (GC)]: Δ9-THC: 87.6%, Δ8-THC: 4.7%, iso-THC: 5.4%.
     
  18. LSDMIKE

    LSDMIKE Member

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    That is a direct isomerization that is about converting cannibidiols into more potent THC analog> 9THC LOW% yeilds..That is not what you think it is you can only do that with
    an isomerization and then making a salt by removeing hydroxyl from the aromatic ring
    to end up with a salt..THIS is not what this is about this is a synthesis of 9THC
    not THC you cant do what you said befor and end up with a SALT..


    [​IMG]9THC


    [​IMG]THC
     
  19. codemeister3

    codemeister3 Banned

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    Ah I see now. Thank you. I guess I was just wrong. I am only an amateur after all. I would have looked it up if I was going to actually try it. That just means that it would be less work! I just remember reading something like that and thinking that you could make it a salt. I am happy that I learned something today though! None the less, everything else still applies.

    How did you know that? Are you and amateur too? Or, have you actually taken organic chem?

    Now THAT is productive! :)
     
  20. LSDMIKE

    LSDMIKE Member

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    it's all good i think we both fuckt up somewhere along the line.
    lets call it a draw :cheers2:
     

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