home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The Unsorted BBS Collection
/
thegreatunsorted.tar
/
thegreatunsorted
/
texts
/
txtfiles_misc
/
harmala.inf
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-01-03
|
2KB
|
42 lines
O.K., for all the poor souls who had to ingest those horrible
seeds, here is an extraction than I think anyone on this newsgroup can
do in their kitchen without blowing themselves up.
From "The Alkaloids" Vol. II by Manske (p393). Printed without
permission.
ISOLATION OF HARMINE AND HARMALINE
"The crushed seeds of Peganum Harmala are covered with three times
their weight of water containing 30 g of acetic acid per liter of
water [white vinegar is about 50g / l or 5 %]. The seeds swell as they
absorb the liquid and form a thick dough which is pressed after 2-3
days. The pressed seeds are once more treated as above with twice
their weight of dilute acetic acid and, after maceration, the liquid is
again pressed out. To the combined liquors, sodium chloride [that's
table salt, man] (100g. / liter of liquid) is added to transform the
acetates of harmine and harmaline into the hydrochlorides which are
insoluble in cold sodium chloride solutions and are precipitated
during cooling. The supernatant liquid is siphoned off, the
crystalline residue filtered with suction and redissolved in hot
water. Addition of sodium chloride to the filtered solution causes the
precipitation of the hydrochlorides as a crystalline mush and this
process is repeated until the hydrochlorides have acquired a yellow
color (for the purposes of this newsgroup, once is enough). The final
product is then recovered by filtration."
The paper then goes on to describe the separation of harmine from
harmaline, but this procedure is slightly more complicated and not
necessary for most purposes.
Pierre St Hilaire
MIT Media Lab
P.S. While this procedure is legal in the U.S. (where harmine and
harmaline are currently unscheduled), it is illegal in Canada where
harmine and harmaline are Schedule I.
These are extremely potent alkaloids. Misuse of them can result in
serious, even fatal, consequences. Read the FAQ about MAO inhibitors.