I am reviewing this paper

http://entheogen.ru/wiki/files/lsa_extraction.pdf

1. Ground seeds were washed with 50 ml of
a 1:1 mixture of 10% sodium bicarbonate and
ethyl acetate. The solvent fraction was removed
from the seeds and dried. The residue
was treated with 50 ml of a 1:1 mixture of
dicthyl ether and 1% tartaric acid. The alkaloids
were present in the lower layer (Taber ct
al.. 1963).


So why the wash with sodium bicarb to start. The ergine is only going to precipitate out in tartaric acid. What molecules are they trying to wash out. Is it equivalent to defatting, but for polar molecules?

Well aren't they drying out the bicarb and ethyl acetate mixture? Ethyl acetate is a pretty potent solvent and is both polar and non-polar. I think the main purpose of the bicarb and EtOAc is to remove the exciting chemicals from the seeds, but leave behind all the useless bits of seed husk and whatnot.

Also the LSA doesn't necessarily *precipitate* out of the tartaric acid. It is just dissolved in the tartaric acid layer. If it precipitated out there would be chunks of LSA tartrate just falling out of solution. Ahhhh, if only it did.