We've Moved! Visit our NEW FORUM to join the latest discussions. This is an archive of our previous conversations...

You can find the login page for the old forum here.
CHATPRIVACYDONATELOGINREGISTER
DMT-Nexus
FAQWIKIHEALTH & SAFETYARTATTITUDEACTIVE TOPICS
Reduction of Harmine with sodium metal/ethanol Options
 
Mindlusion
#1 Posted : 8/24/2016 6:35:31 PM

Chairman of the Celestial Divison

Extreme Chemical expertChemical expertSenior Member

Posts: 1393
Joined: 21-Jul-2010
Last visit: 19-Jan-2024
Location: the ancient cluster
Hello.

My reasons for trying this is mostly out of curiosity, sometimes in a harmala extraction you are stuck with lots of harmine, which is irreducible by Zn/AcOH. So I decided to give this a try, its easy and quick enough. Sodium metal isn't hard to obtain, and the reaction is as simple as dropping it in and watching it bubble. Lithium metal might work too, and it is more OTC.

Typically these reactions are done and much better yielding if done with a NaHg amalgam, to control the reactivity of the sodium. But mercury is toxic and lots of it is required, so its not worth it.

So here is 100mg of harmalas purified by A/B precipitation, it is actually mostly harmaline, I used up most of my harmine in previous experiments, but this will have to do for now. In the future I will test this again using pure harmine.



So dissolving in warm anhydrous ethanol, and adding 0.5g of sodium metal (large excess is needed, about 10 mol equivalent)





And here is the TLC (40:10:1) MeOH:EtOAc:10%aqNH3



The one on the left is the starting material, the right is post-reaction.

Not a whole lot seemed to happen, the harmine and the harmaline are mostly unchanged. The TLC is streaky so its hard to be definitive, the harmine spot is elongated but looks relatively unchanged, there is some dark streaks leading up to the harmaline, this could be some THH, but its impossible to be definitive.

Expect nothing, Receive everything.
"Experiment and extrapolation is the only means the organic chemists (humans) currrently have - in contrast to "God" (and possibly R. B. Woodward). "
He alone sees truly who sees the Absolute the same in every creature...seeing the same Absolute everywhere, he does not harm himself or others. - The Bhagavad Gita
"The most beautiful thing we can experience, is the mysterious. The source of all true art and science."
 

Live plants. Sustainable, ethically sourced, native American owned.
 
 
Users browsing this forum
Guest

DMT-Nexus theme created by The Traveler
This page was generated in 0.013 seconds.