1. Why salt? I feel like that's probably an obvious question, and I've tried to find the answer but I can't. I'm aware that acidifying the solution forms a DMT-salt, which is soluble. Given this is done by the acid, I'm scratching my head at what the salt is doing.

2. To heat or not to heat? I've seen teks that are done completely room temp, except for freezing for crystilisation. What are the advantages of heating/not heating at the various stages, and why do some people seem to not heat? For example, during the inital acid bath, is it nessecary to heat the mixture? Does your non-polar solvent need to be cool, room temp or hot, and why?

Thanks

1. Mainly to get it in a water-soluble form, in case you want to defat. in the acidic form, the alkaloids will be soluble in water, and adding a nonpolar solvent will pull plant lipids. the end product will be cleaner. Mimosa root bark isn't very fatty, so many people opt for the STB (straight to base) method.

2. Heating is generally optional, but it is done to accelerate solvation in the acidic phase, and free base migration into the solvent. People sometimes simmer the raw plant material in acidic phase, to help lyse the cell walls. Depending on what solvent you use, it may be helpful to warm it to enhance solubility. DCM, ethyl acetate, and xylene don't need heating at all, because DMT is already very soluble in them. Heating naphtha is sometimes suggested.

"Salting" is an ambiguous term here. Sometimes it is used in the context of adding common salt - sodium chloride - to an aqueous solution in order to increase the amount of non-polar substances that can be extracted from that aqueous solution into a non-polar solvent. The thinking is that by adding salt to the basic aqueous phase more DMT will be recovered in each pull.

It may also improve the separation of the non-polar solvent from the base soup.


Regarding heating, several experiments have shown that warm naphtha pulls better (higher yields and whiter product) than hot (boiling) naphtha. The hotter the naphtha gets, the quicker it evaporates. Less naphtha = lower yields.