5-MeO-DMT is not very easy to extract. Somehow it gets destroyed easily. SWIM knows this for a fact. He's had highly active Virola theiodora resin, and attempted to extract the 5-MeO-DMT using many methods and nearly all failed to extract anything and yet the resin is highly active and obviously contains 5-meO-DMT.
So I would say the reason that they didn't find 5-MeO-DMT is because they destroyed it in their extraction process. The molecule seems to be very fragile.
The only method SWIM used that ever worked to extract 5-MeO-DMT from any plant is this:
Extract with water made pH 4 with citric acid. Filter. Bring the pH up to 9 with sodium carbonate. Extract with DCM.
NO OTHER METHOD WORKS FOR SWIM BUT THAT ONE. PERIOD. SWIM tried calcium hydroxide, it didn’t work. He tried sodium hydroxide, it didn’t work. He tried solvents like xylene, heptane, naphtha, d-limonene, they didn’t work. It's very hard to extract. The tech needs to be specifically designed to extract it, which is also true for bufotenine to a certain degree.
It’s a difficult alkaloid to extract. So I am not at all surprised by any of those ancient tests where they didn’t find it because they very likely destroyed the alkaloid in their extraction process.
You may remember me as 69Ron. I was suspended years ago for selling bunk products under false pretenses. I try to sneak back from time to time under different names, but unfortunately, the moderators of the DMT-Nexus are infinitely smarter than I am.
If you see me at the waterpark, please say hello. I'll be the delusional 50 something in the American flag Speedo, oiling up his monster guns while responding to imaginary requests for selfies from invisible teenage girls.