Hi,

So without further ado, I want to extract choline(bitartrate) from choline vitamin supplements. The capsules list containing choline bitartrate, magnesium stearate and silica. Upon inspection one capsule contains 900mg of matter, out of which 350mg should be choline (bitartrate). I think it's a lot of filler for these caps.

Since choline has a higher solubility in water of about 500mg/ml, and magnesium stearate has a lower solubility of about 0,03/4 mg/ml at room temperature. I tried dissolving some pills in cold water, running it through a coffee filter and then boiling off the water. Which yielded ~600 mg of soggy crystalline matter. Which has melted in an attempt to dry it out in the sun.

So it's still about 250 mg too much matter.

My question is twofold, is there a tech or filter I can use on this that's better?
Also, the pills have a very acidic taste, which reminds me only of ascorbic acid. Could it be a company like "expensive vitamins" put vitamin C in there and not list it on the package?

regards,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choline
https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Choline_bitartrate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_stearate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_dioxide

Coffee filters are not very clean, in that they give off some matter of their own. If you want to use coffee filters in the purification of substances, always flush them abundantly with boiling water before using them to filter the target substrate. BTW, cotton balls are much cleaner, simply plug some in the stem of a funnel (and flush it with boiling water for good measure anyway).

Has it occurred to you that choline bitartrate might be hygroscopic? If so, it will not simply dry to the air and you would need other measures to obtain a dry product, the weight of which is not compounded by water.

The acidic taste is explained by the fact that tartaric acid is a diprotic acid. While one of tartaric acid's carboxyl groups is bound to choline, the other carboxyl can still deprotonate (react acidic.)

The substance was more crystalline when I scraped it up. This morning it turned into jelly again. I did not cook it to bits tho, just to a bubbly paste. Maybe it will stay in solution? I can always give it another run in the newer better procedure.

Another source, http://www.chemicalbook....operty_US_CB1216550.aspx
So, yes it's hygroscopic. Problem solved, Thanks!

The image shows a little over 6 grams.