I would like to know the relative risks of working around various solvents. Given that one would take every precaution to ventilate and minimize exposure anyways, what solvents might be best in terms of efficiency in performance but also being least toxic?

A hypothetical A/B extraction would require a defat NP, an extracting NP, and optionally IPA or another solvent besides h2o for the initial stew. I've heard of DCM being relatively non-toxic for being a moderately strong-pulling solvent (high xlogp), so I'm assuming DCM could be used as the extracting NP (if you wanted to include a wider spectrum of alkaloids). What would you consider to be a good, safe defat NP? Since Limonene has a high xlogp and can be food-grade, is this ideal for defatting? Toluene, Xylene, and Naphtha are all rather toxic, and chloroform cannot be obtained readily. The rest are probably too weak, no?

I stand firmly by acetone and limonene. Then naphtha, IPA and Ethanol are quite useful too and not too nasty to evap as long as you don't try to accelerate the process too much with heat. Xylene really stinks, but if you don't evap it and keep it sealed as much as you can in the process of using it you can minimse unwanted vapours.

I think it's more about the precautions you take rather than the solvent itself though. Eg. Limonene's all well and good but if you heat it in an unventilated area then it can really sting your eyes and throat which can be quite irratating.

When it comes down to it they're all good for different things. I do try to stay clear of Xylene these days as limonene is a very worthy substitute, but limonene can leave unwanted residues that you don't get as much with xylene. Actually Xylene does leaves residues but they are much easier to remove.

I'd recommend reading some MSDS for proper care to be taken with each individual substance.

Edit: Sorry, how could I have forgotten god ol' H2O. Probably the safest out there... just a bitch to evap

In order of toxicity more or less:

Toluene xylene Chloroform

Dichloromethane

hexane naptha

heptane is safer then hexane

ethanol acetone Isopropyl alcohol limonene



toluene xylene and chloroform are all potential carcinogens. they should only really be worked with in a WELL ventilated area or in a fume hood. if you smoke ciggerretes you are just as exposed to carcinogens however. SWIM tends not to worry about inhaling solvents because SWIM works with them all the time in the real world. but SWIM always take necessary precautions but even that you can't avoid inhaling some of them.

toluene and xylene are toxic for a similar reason as benzene (which is more toxic then both of them). its benzene --> toluene --> xylene. They can be epoxidized metabolically and their epoxides are reactive and can bind to DNA hence carcinogenicity.

chloroform is suspect that it might be carcinogenic same with DCM but to a lesser degree. although SWIM hasn't seen proof of either but SWIM avoids inhaling them if possible.

hexane and naptha just can't really be metabolized by your body so I think thats why they are dangerous.

the rest like acetone and IPA and ethanol are all toxic but only if you drink them in significant amounts. same with limonene although thats probably the safest.

Water, acetone, MEK, d-limonene, and ethanol are the safest. All can be ingested to a certain degree without causing harm. Acetone, MEK, and d-limonene are common in fruit and we ingest them all the time. Ethanol is the safest other than water of course.

Is d-lomonene a useful defat NP? It has a high xlogp so I'd assume so.

Yes it is great for defatting.

Oh I FORGOT DMSO! That's also a great safe solvent. Like d-limonene you can also ingest it in small amounts.

Okay, so Limonene is great for defat on a A/B since it has a very pleasantly high xlogp and can strip away a lot of crap easily.

However for the final NP solvent for the base extraction, one would want a smaller xlogp, so what would you suggest, assuming we're shooting for efficiency AND safety? Ether? Yes, but not readily available. MEK? DCM? Would limonene pollute the final product too much, or can you alleviate this issue by washing with acetone or something?

Also, DCM is worse than naphtha? DCM metabolizes into carbon monoxide, but if naphtha has trouble metabolizing, doesn't that make it worse?

SWIM votes water, limonene, acetone, ethanol, and IPA. All of them may serve several cross-purposes and are essential to the kit of the contemporary psychonaut. They are all reasonably safe in terms of health, hazard, and discretion when used appropriately. SWIM will probably never use naphtha, xylene, or toulene ever again; the smells linger far too much for comfort.

Also remember that Xylene and the sorts are also relative dangerous in the detection department, people can sniff it from miles away.

If you use Limonene people just think you have a nice air refresher.

I just g o o gled DMSO and there's an ad on top of the searchpage for a nutrition/health supplement store that sells 99.9*% pure product and they say



They also say that for most of uses one needs to dilute it 4:1 with demineralised water.

Is this the same thing you are talking about?

(edit) I just read on w i k i ped ia that it's a highly polar solvent, now I'm not a chem brain, but doesn't that render as useless for non-polar extraction?

Ah, it works for extraction purposes? People have been using it to pick up DMSO-soluble drugs through the skin. (DMSO apparently travels through it quite easy. Is this also possibly with DMT?)
It's apparently very safe though!

DMSO is relatively non-toxic and some people claim all sorts of health benefits from using it daily, just like d-limonene.

DMSO is very polar. It’s insoluble in xylene, heptane, and diethyl ether, and soluble in water, acetone, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol, IPA, methanol, MEK, and toluene.

It’s great for use as a storage liquid for sublingual or oral delivery of drugs. Many drugs are highly soluble in it. For example, you make a sublingual freebase LSA tincture out of it. It works quite well for that purpose.

What’s interesting about DMSO is that, despite it’s high polarity, a lot of freebase alkaloids which are insoluble in water are highly soluble in DMSO. For example, freebase DMT is highly soluble in it.

It’s got some unique uses that can be taken advantage of.

I wonder if it’s insoluble in d-limonene. Does anyone know?