i have seen many different ways to extract, i was wondering what youre opinoins on the best way to extract from MHRB were. i was also wondering if you could share your experiances and result numbers if you have tried these methods
often the bark would be extracted and filtered first, before being basified. sothe link you provided is an interesting variation in that regard. I think it calls for far more lye than is necessary. one should be able to use a low enough pH so that any fatty material does not become saponified. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but they would be greater than 8 yet less than 10-12. pH paper won't likely work for this due to interference by the endogenous indicators. I have always avoided ammonia when extracting anything that may have alkaloids, though it might work well in this case (due to the structure). and recrystalizations with heptane...nasty. if you have to use heptane use the smallest amount necessary and proper ventilation.
In a normal A/B, yes, this would be a ridiculous amount of lye. However, where you're skipping the acid step, you don't have much to break down the bark and get the DMT out. This is where the extra lye comes into play. You don't have to use heptane. Naptha works just fine.
