Help with khat extraction.

[Batwing]

Im trying my hand at extracting cathinone/cathine from my fresh khat leafs and was wondering if anyone can let me know if im headed in the right direction or if its not going to work etc.

I started buy cutting about 40grams of fresh growth tips and leafs.

https://pasteboard.co/isbzkw7zA51s.jpg

Then chopped them up and put them into the blender with white vinegar and water (about 70% vinegar and 30% filtered tap water)

https://pasteboard.co/7d2AtawVT99r.jpg

I then put it all into a mason jar and sealed it and left it at room temperature over night to soak.

https://pasteboard.co/InGCtLpTXZCT.jpg

The following morning i filtered out the plant material with a strainer and was left with a green liquid.

https://pasteboard.co/f4WSbq63l3mC.jpg

Which i then put back into the washed mason jar and put it into the fridge for a few hours to settle and separate the remaining plant material.

https://pasteboard.co/GGSmtVl3kOu2.jpg

I then used a syringe to take off the top layer then filered the bottom layer with a coffee fitler to get the remaining liquid, what im left with is a nice red colours solution of what i can assume is the chathinone acetate and cathine acetate?

https://pasteboard.co/WvVip7ykpfBV.jpg

I poured half the solution into a glass and mixed some bicarb solution to neutralise the acid to consume and it lost its red colour and was left with a beer coloured liquid, i drank it and found i had a nice uplift a bit more than a couple of coffees.

My question is, what solvents and steps could i use to reduce it do just the salts and be left with dry cathinone acetate?

I found a guide online that was for separating the alkaloids in a lab for testing by the DEA and in their steps them mention the red hue when the solution is in the acidified state so i think im doing something right?

Could i wash the red solution with DCM then separate the layers then evaporate the DCM and dry acetone wash the salts to clean them up?

Im absolutely an amateur in chemistry so if someone can help me out that would be great.


Heres the TEK from Erowid that states the red hue i was talking about.

https://www.erowid.org/archive/rhodium/chemistry/cathinone.khat.html

 

[BlueDex]

Other people who messed with trying to get Propylhexedrine Acetate from Propylhexedrine freebase got a sticky crappy mess. HCl was better for Propylhexedrine HCl. Acetate is crap. Me and others got Propylhexedrine HCl from Propylhexedrine freebase after cleaning Propylhexedrine freebase with Charcoal Lighter Fluid (Hexanes) to get rid of Lavender oil and Menthol. Cathine and Norephedrine freebase can be turned into Cathine HCl and Norephedrine HCl. Then Iodine and Red Phosphorus reduction can give you Dextroamphetamine. Or Lithium metal shake and bake can give you Dextroamphetamine. The problem with making Cathinone HCl crystals is that it can dimerize into Dicathinone diimine or even oxidize further into an inactive product. But I suggest HCl acid (Muriatic acid) but not too much. You can evaporate it in a Bovado Borosilicate Glass cooking dish heat it to evaporate most of the water and add ethanol, then use a fan to evaporate the rest in 2 hours to 4 hours+. 3 hours or more. You might get Cathinone HCl crystals and Cathine HCl crystals and maybe diimine and oxidized dimerized side products.

One of the side products of Cathinone dimerization. Oxidation and dimerization to a Pyrazine.

You got to use HCl acid for crystals. Acetic acid doesn't work for crystals. Also, the condensation and oxidation with dimerization side products nay occur.

Propylhexedrine HCl damp crystals.

 

[BlueDex]

So for every 1L of water, 40ml of it is HCl. Because Cathinone HCl, Cathine HCl (Norpseudoephedrine HCl), and Norephedrine HCl is doable while Cathinone Acetate, Cathine Acetate, and Norephedrine Acetate is not doable.