Problems extracting a barrel of ephedrine

[dephreak69]

my friend has a barrel of ephedrine, but its been cut with something, i'm not sure what, i think its a kind of novacaine, but its could be anything,
the person who owns the barrel, doesnt speak english so its hard get any info about it, but he told me that it was 40% ephedrine
any ideas on how to do this

dephreak

[Nahbus]

Kind of hard to say if you don't know what else is in it.
I suppose you could do various extraction techniques on it with various solvents, etc etc.
It'll be a waste, but should work.
SWIM doesn't see why it wouldn't.
Just try as many extractions as you could find?
What does SWIY mean by a "barrel"? What was it used for, maybe this will help narrow down what else is in it.

[dephreak69]

meaning a barrell full of ephedrine
i know the stuff does base so its is all a salt

[Pondlife]

Here are the properties of Ephedrine from ChemFinder, which may be of some help when planning extractions:

The base

Properties: Waxy solid, crystals or granules. Gradually dec on exposure to light. Anhydr material is hygroscopic, mp 38.1°. Also occurs as the hemihydrate, mp 40°. bp(745) 260°. Sol in water, alcohol, chloroform, ether.

Hydrochloride salt

Properties: Fine, white, odorless crystals or powder, affected by light, mp 217-220°. [a]D25 -33 to -35.5° (c = 5). Freely sol in water; sol in alcohol. Practically insol in ether

Sulphate salt

Properties: Fine, white, odorless crystals or powder. Darkens on exposure to light. mp 245° (dec). [a]D25 -30 to -32.5° (c = 5). Freely sol in water; sparingly sol in alcohol.

[Nahbus]

well, yeah, but we're kind of looking for the properties of everything else.

[FrenchFries]

just try taking small samples and running various extractions. An A/B extraction might be impractical, or a last resort type of solution. See if you can dissolve it in a mixture of naphtha and alcohol. The ephedrine will dissolve, and essentially all commercial type pill filling material will stay behind. However, you'll have to boil the alcohol out of solution to precipitate the E. Try melting some on a sheet of aluminum foil and seeing what the crack back or recrystallization looks like, if the shit even will melt. Research novocaine, (you mentioned that you thought it might be cut with this) see if you've got a commercial solvent available that novocaine is soluble in but E isn't or vice versa. Try and extract some with water, see if the solution gels up. Unless you can find out exactly what it is cut with your going to have to write off a few grams of it just to work out a functioning extraction procedure so don't be shy about experimenting.

[kyzie]

acetone