*Disclaimer - Disappointed is not a fair statement as my results were slightly inconclusive. Even if the compound experienced 50% loss due to bad quality, the cost more than offsets this. *
Finally getting around to reviewing an old order. The product was received and had a very dark amber color to it. Obvious impurities, but par the course for most MDMA. I decided to take the time to recrystalize a sample and had disappointing results. Before I continue, please do not read too deep into this, the vendor obviously has endless positive feedback. I am however fairly familiar with this process and use high grade IPA when it is performed. In this particular instance I was a little short on patience and it may have had an effect on the amount reclaimed.
To 600mg MDMA was added 3mL room temperature IPA. The solution was set on a hot plate and allowed to boil. Upon reaching boiling 3 additional mL was added drop-wise until all MDMA was dissolved.
The solution was removed from heat and allowed to cool to room temperature. The solution was noted as having a strong amber color. Rather than continue to slowly cool the solution it was immediately placed in a cooling apparatus set to -10c. After approximately 40 minutes, crystals precipitated from the solution. The crystals were filtered from the solution and set aside to dry. The crystals where very fine and white with the expected shimmer. The filtered solvent was returned to the cooling apparatus. The dry crystals were weighed. From 600mg of material only 315mg of material was recovered. Typical loses for very high quality MDMA is in the 5% to 10% range. This may either be a result of a sloppy tech or very impure MDMA. Next time I will try a simpler acetone wash, rather than recryst.
I am curious as to what the impurities could be. The very last step of manufacturer is salting. mdma.freebase has a distinctly amber color and familiar anise scent. Perhaps the chemist did not gas the solvent long enough?
I am going to try to reclaim the material left over from the evaporated IPA and try to salt it. Perhaps the impurity is in fact mdma without an HCL?
edit: Further Research:
A small sample of the reclaimed IPA was tested with marquis reagent. The reagent certainly indicated positive for MDMA. This would indicate that some mdma is left in solution (expected) but may also help prove that the assumed impurities may be mdma.freebase anyway.
As a control to the marquis test a sample of clean IPA was tested and shown to have no reaction.
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