The suggestion was raised by our friend, fourthripley, that a possible source of powdered zinc was from a pyrotechnic supplier. As this is not a chemical supply company per se, this might be a less watched supplier. However, it is my understanding that this would be a less pure form of zinc and would likely contain contaminants such as lead and arsenic.

Upon reflection of the conversion technique used in reducing the n-oxide, (in acidic solution followed by freebasing the resultant dmt and extracting in a non-polar solvent) , I am wondering if any contaminants would be able to pass into the non-polar solvent? If this is the case, there would be no problem in using this less pure source of zinc powder, and would result in a more secure route of purchase.

Opinions please?

OF

This is a total shot in the dark, but I'd venture that lead could be soluble in an organic solvent, given it's use as an additive in gasoline. Personally I would steer clear of anything that could contain it.

Okay, I'm very curious about what exactly (meaning a specific technique, specific amounts, etc.) one would do to reduce oxides prior to basification. Is there anyone that uses zinc powder as a step in their normal a/b tek?

Yes I did this on my last extraction with old MHRB on purpose but my experiment failed because my scales died and I have been smoking and not measuring. Things worked out well a successful extraction but I was not able to measure the total yield. I could speculate on the results but since the results were inconclusive and the data not measured it means nothing so I will not.

I will say this I sampled some dirty yellow/redish spice from the last few pulls and it tasted a lot smoother than it normally does in fact I found it to be smokable. It looked real ugly and harsh but was not to bad at all. I always clean till transparency however.

I compared it to some red crystals I had that grew on there own in jars reddish/brown goup and it was far superior. The red crystals from the goup were very potent but taste TERRIBLE and effected my lungs for the next hour. No more red crystals from old jars for me it is just to nasty.

I cooked the acid stage in crock pot with distilled water at ph 4 using sulfuric acid (from pet store aquarium ph down) I used 3grams of 99% elemental zinc to 32oz water 100grams of 2year old MHRB. Pulled with naptha. basified with sodium hydroxide.

My electronic scale is dead so results are inconclusive. I am curious to try a A/B with zinc using just some yellow red gooo(removed during re xtal) I normally discard. If I can get transparent xtals from the goop there will be little doubt the tek works. I am self taught but even with my limited understanding of chemistry. It should most surly work just like Ron said it would so Thanks for that Ron

Original Face
do not use it Arsenic is BAD NEWS. I used to work in semiconductor manufacturing we were growing thin films of Gallium Arsenide(sp?) on silicon wafers I had to piss in a Jug ALL WEEKEND every month to test for arsenic in the body. Not one piss test but a entire weekend of pissing. They gave us 3gallon jugs. I was young and stupid and found it quite a hassel so I would piss a few times and dilute with water luckily there was no toxic level of arsenic in my body it was a STUPID thing for me to do.

It was a bit amusing when my friends would visit. They would say who ready for a beer? I say grab me one. Friend get beer and WTF why do you have two gallons of piss in you refrigerator?

I got my zinc from a friend who works in a university laboratory.

Hey Noman
I recall you stating you has YEARS of goop lying around. Maybe you are the guy who will do Another experiment that will benefit the NEXUS. Your STB has truly given DMT to the masses.

PEACE
MV

I dont think oxides occur during basification.. I think they are either already there (formed during the storage of mimosa, specially of course if its old and pre powdered), or they form in the later steps of evaporation.

I dont think mixing with zinc in the acidic step would prevent oxide forming but would rather reconvert back any existing oxides to dmt (so useful specially for old bark)..

To prevent oxides from forming, the way imo to go is freeze precipitation or slow evap.., no fan/heat on evapping..

The zinc that I have originally came from a fireworks supply guy on ebay. I was sketched out so I had a friend buy it for me. It came as a compressed pellet of zinc powder wrapped in what looks like 50 layers of plastic wrap.... covered with hazardous material labels. It came with a glass jar but honestly... I haven't even opened up the plastic wrap. I don't know the procedure details like what type of filters to use (I don't have a filtering apparatus so I was planning on using coffee filters) In the end, I guess I have given up on the idea for another day.

I'm aware of this. I've just never heard of someone including zinc during the acidic phase of their normal a/b tek, in order to convert any oxides which might be present as a result of being old or pre-powdered or whatever. My question is would adding zinc prior to basification lead to an increased or cleaner yield, and if so, how exactly would one go about it?

How useful is zinc as a reducing agent in general? Is it commonly used for this function? (just curious)

After doing some further research, it seems that the main contaminants in commercial zinc are lead (less than 1%) and cadmium (less than 0.08%).

In gasoline (before it was banned for enviromental reasons) tetraethyl-lead or tetramethyl-lead was used as an anti knock additive and was made from an ethylated (or methylated) aluminum compound. I don't think that these nonpolar soluble compounds are liable to be spontaneously formed in an polar acid environment.

Additionally lead acetate ( a polar soluble compound) was routinely used for nondestructive separation of tannins for analysis. If acetic acid were used for a n-oxide reduction then the following freebase stage would precipitate highly insoluble lead carbonate, which would not dissolve in the nonpolar solvent used to pull the nn-dmt.

Based on this I don't believe there would be any lead contamination using commercial grade pyrotechnic zinc dust for n-oxide reduction.

BUT:

Experts please comment on my naive chemistry understanding.

OF

Simple Solution: wash the zinc with SWIY's organic solvent, eg. naptha, before you use it. That will remove any possible contaminants that could end up in SWIY's spice. SWIY could even do a test wash and evap the naptha. If there's any residue, you have impurities.