From:    Albertus Magnus                        Area: Magical Plants
To:      All                                    15 Apr 94 08:35:18
Subject: Mescaline extraction                   UpdReq 

From: poet@uclink.berkeley.edu (Yves Tanguy)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Mescaline Extraction (a culled guide)
Date: 21 May 1993 19:31:37 GMT
Message-ID: <1tjamp$4kk@agate.berkeley.edu>
 Care should be taken with solvents and strong acids and bases.  Out of
concern for safety I would advise the use of methylenechloride as a           
 safer alternative to chloroform or benzene as a non-polar solvent.
   From Edward F. Anderson's  _Peyote: The Divine Cactus_ (without permission):
     Several methods are available to isolate and identify mescaline
    within plant or animal tissue.  Extraction is accomplished by
    methanol; this initial stage is then completed by filtration of
    the extract and its evaporation to dryness.  The extract is then
    treated with chloroform and 0.05 N hydrochloric acid in a sep-  
    aratory funnel; the aqueous portion is retained after several         
    washings with chloroform.  Ammonia or sodium carbonate is added
    to the aqueous solution in sufficient quantities to produce a 
    slightly basic solution with a pH of about 8.  This is followed
    by further extraction with chloroform and chloroform-ethanol (3:1).
    After adjusting the pH to about 10 a final chloroform-ethanol
    extraction is made.  The chloroform extract which contains the
    alkaloids is then dried.  The alkaloids can be separated into
    phenolic and non-phenolic groups by passing the extract
    (redissolved in chloroform) through Amberlite IRA-400 (OH-)
    ion-exchange resin.  If thin layer chromatography is used for
    alkaloid separation and identification, several spray reagents
    are particularly useful.  For example, Flourescamine (4-phenyl-
    spiro [furan-2 (3H), 1'-phthalan]-3,3-dione) readily distinguishes
    phenethylamines from tetrahydroisoquinolones.  Mescaline may
    then be identified by comparison with known samples using 
    infra-red spectrophotometry.
     "Applied chemists" within the drug cult have devised ingenious
    methods of extracting pure mescaline from dried or fresh plant 
    material.  The basic process varies somewhat but a typical one
    is as follows: the plant material is first boiled to extract 
    the alkaloids; this extract is then made basic by the addition
    of sodium hydroxide (lye).  Next benzene (try methylenechloride)
    is added to further separate the alkaloids.  The aqueous and 
    benzene portions are allowed to separate following a gentle 
    shaking.  Dilute sulfuric acid (hydrochloric works as well) is
    next added in small quantitites to the benzene portion and the
    solution is again shaken.  The mixture is allowed to stand, and
    the process is repeated several more times with the addition of
    a more dilute acid every time.  A white precipitate will soon
    settle and can easily be dried.  This is mescaline sulfate (or
    hydrochloride) and further steps can make it quite pure.


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From:    The Cegorach                           Area: Magical Plants
To:      KAYLA BLOCK                            17 Apr 94 04:39:06
Subject: Amanita Muscaria                       UpdReq 

 -=> Quoting Kayla Block @1:102/943 Vi to All @666:231/0*93 <=-
     Re: Amanita Muscaria
 KB> has anyone out there ever tried amanita muscaria?  i'm curious about
 KB> what it's like, dosage, toxicity data, etc.  any info. would be greatly
 KB> appreciated!  thanx!
I'm afraid I can't be too helpful, re: data for you...but I can't let the 
opportunity pass to note that A. Muscaria are the little buggers w/red dome
w/white spots, and thus are in *every* bloody children's fairy-tale book
(and Smurf cartoon) I've ever seen.
Ya gotta laugh....
Larry
... FOR SYSOP USE ONLY - Do not write below this line.
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
                          VQWK 6.20 [Rev H - 04/04/94]


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