03-06-02 22:03
No 277979
Swim was reading over at the Lycaeum and ran acroos this method for cocaine freebase:
Mix about 1 g of coke in 10 ml of water in a small vial. Slowly add drops of ammonia to the solution. A white milky precipitate will form. Stop adding ammonia when additional drops no longer result in precipitation. Add 5 ml of ethyl ether, close vial, and shake. The precipitate (freebase) will dissolve in the ether. Siphon off the ether with a pipette (ether and water don't mix), and slowly drip it on a plate. As the ether evaporates, white crystals will form. This is the evil freebase. Crush the crystals and put under a heat lamp for at least 24 hrs to let the solvent evaporate.
Now swim is wondering is there anything that can be substituted for the ether in this synth?
We'll soon FIND OUT if I'm a chemist or not!
(Chief Bee)
03-07-02 03:06
No 278111
The ether is just acting as a non-polar solvent to extract the liberated freebase from the aqueous layer. Any water-immiscible solvent should work, but try to choose one with as low boiling point as possible, to make evaporation easier.
(Old P2P Cook)
03-07-02 04:05
No 278142
(Rated as: excellent)
Cocaine freebase, unlike methamphetamine freebase, is very soluble in petroleum ether.
(Greenhorn)
03-07-02 06:03
No 278201
thanks
We'll soon FIND OUT if I'm a chemist or not!
(Hive Bee)
03-07-02 11:32
No 278327
No need to even use non-polar solvent (although you could use toluene,DCM, as well as diethyl ether to separate base from water, since these are essentially non-miscible with water). Why? Cocaine base is non-soluble in alkaline water. Just filter it with cloth filter (don't use paper filter)--handkerchief is fine, squeeze out water and dry lump of white powder on glass plate under heat lamp, remembering that m.p. of cocaine base is WAY less than cocaine hydrochloride, so don't melt it, if you do there will be some degradation of product.
BTW, did the bee who said to dissolve cocaine base in petroleum ether actually try it?--I don't think so, because he or she would have been in for a surprise. People should never post what they absolutely don't know to be a fact--it just confuses the collective.
[Edit--Fuck! I didn't realize it was terbium who wrote that--hey buddy, you know how much I respect you, but are you absolutely sure?--I was once given petroleum ether when I ordered diethyl ether. Base did not dissolve. So is it my memory that is wrong, or your info? I believe I am right.]
Cocaine freebase is not very snortable, rubbing on gums is about only way to get it into your system, unless you smoke it. And brother! You do not want to go down that road!
The world of cocaine is divided into two camps: those who sniff the hydrochloride and those who smoke the sulfate or base. The sniffers are the ones who control the flow of product. The moment any of their peers is caught smoking the product, the smoker is marginalized. A sniffer can conduct business and lead a more or less normal life, a smoker quickly goes to hell. So it should be a warning to anybody thinking of smoking cocaine, that if in the actual commercial world sniffing among capos is tolerated and nobody even thinks twice, the moment a capo or jefe or even one of the trabajadores is seen to smoke, even once, that person is either deep sixed (depending on how much he knows) or completely marginalized from the business. Is this clear? Stay away from smoking it--smoking cocaine will quickly fuck up your life. Sniff hydrochloride, don't smoke base. Words of wisdom.
Regards
Argox
(Greenhorn)
03-07-02 16:32
No 278399
Thanks for the advice Argox. Swim isn't going to smoke it or snort it(Pickler don't really like cocaine)Swim and a friend were reading over the synth and he said you gotta use ether and Swim said no you don't, so we bet on it 100 bucks. So swimjust won a c-note, so thanks guys.
We'll soon FIND OUT if I'm a chemist or not!
(Old P2P Cook)
03-07-02 17:40
No 278421
(Rated as: excellent)
but are you absolutely sure?--I was once given petroleum ether when I ordered diethyl ether. Base did not dissolve.
Yes, absolutely certain that petroleum ether works. I have prepared quite a lot of cocaine freebase using petroleum ether. In the field, when preparing crude base from coca leaves, kerosene or gasoline is used to dissolve the base. The book Cocaine Handbook, an Essential Reference by David Lee has a number of great procedures and photographs covering preparation of freebase, crystallization of the hydrochloride, purity test etc. This book was originally published by AND/OR Press in 1981 but someone here recently said that it was still in print.
Cocaine Handbook: Post 253549 (not existing)
More on freebase: Post 184535 (Ballistic: "Freebase", Methods Discourse)
(Hive Bee)
03-07-02 19:10
No 278445
terbium:
In all things I defer to your wisdom. My memory must be shot. I've seen my fair share of cocaine base also, but nothing so exotic as petroleum ether ever made it to the Chapare. The one time I saw petroleum ether, I remember trying to extract wet base to speed water removal, like you do with diethyl ether and only getting a mush that would not dissolve the cocaine base and sink to bottom leaving the water and trash on top, like regular ether. But again, the memory must be faulty, damn I'm getting old.
Of course, in maceration pozos the muchachos use kerosene to extract base, then strip kerosene with strong sufuric acid solution and precipitate with bicarbonate. I've seen that more than a few times. Diesel fuel can be used in a pinch, although they prefer jet fuel. The guys once hijacked a tanker of jet fuel from LAB, and when I had the gold mine, we used to hide tankers of sulfuric from Chile in the adit (got paid good money for doing that favor), but those are stories left for another day.
Repeating, I defer to your vaster experience, terbium. My head is lowered, tail between legs, etc. Gonna go buy some memory pills, incipient Alzheimer's coming on.
Regards
Argox
(Chief Bee)
03-07-02 20:24
No 278473
You seem to have interesting stories to tell - please make some long posts about your experiences in the general forum sometime.
Exotic? The only difference between gas/diesel/jet fuel/kerosene and petroleum ether is the purity, and that the hydrocarbon chain length is generally shorter in the most commonly used variety of lab grade pet ether.
(Hive Bee)
03-07-02 22:29
No 278531
please make some long posts...in the general forum sometime.
Sorry, Boss. I get the hint. I'll keep it short and sweet here in Methods.
Is it possible terbium and I are both right? Are there different types of petroleum ether? Now that I wrack what is left of my brain, I recall that we were trying to crystallize cocaine using acetone and ether, as had been done many (many, many..add about 200 manys) times before, except that Fulano (Spanish for "a dude") showed up with bottles of "petroleum ether" instead of the usual stuff. I remember that it didn't dissolve the base or that it didn't mix with acetone, but somehow it didn't work, and everybody stopped work until Melgano (Spanish for "a second dude") could whip up some more diethyl ether with sulfuric and 'caiman' alcohol and lots of ice. Since I've never seen "petroleum ether" before or since, who knows what that shit was. But since terbium is never wrong, and I mean that most sincerely, whatever was given to us that day must not have been regular petroleum ether.
Sorry, Boss, for reminiscing--but you know how us old geezers get, sucking on our gums, and recalling the 'good ol days' when we were young and studly. Oh, what's that? They're calling me. Gotta go now kiddies. They're serving sloppy joes today. Then in the afteroon they're talking us into town to do a little shopping at the mall. Now where's that damn walker?
(Moderator)
03-07-02 22:52
No 278546
There are many types of petroleum ether (it's a fraction distilled from petroleum), the most common types are 30°-60° C, 60°-90° C and 90°-120° C. It's also known as ligroin, and it's very similar to naptha. The fraction boiling between 60°-70° C degrees is primarily hexane. Solvation properties vary between hydrocarbons, but all petroleum ethers that SWIL has seen will dissolve cocaine free base, it's just a matter of time
(Hive Bee)
03-07-02 22:59
No 278549
There are many types of petroleum ether
Are they all miscible in acetone?
BTW--the statute of limitations has certainly run out on the activities I describe above. I haven't been back to that country in a coon's age (and not likely to go back either). Now that I've settled into the retirement home, Argox stays strictly legit.
(Moderator)
03-07-02 23:04
No 278551
CRC states that pentane, hexane and heptane are miscible with acetone, perhaps what you had wasn't really petroleum ether
(Hive Bee)
03-07-02 23:11
No 278555
perhaps what you had wasn't really petroleum ether
Ohmigod! Somebody must have cheated us! Jeez, who woulda thought? Everybody there seemed so honest, too. Nice young fellas.. Well, that just goes to show ya...