Question Using Diethyl ether in the Cocaine Synthesis.

[MisterAnonymous]

I am going to make cocaine but i know years ago they used Diethyl ether in the process of the synthesis because it makes it allot purer but they stopped doing that because its very dangerous but can someone explain how i can do this in a safe way? @GhostChemist

 

[Osmosis Vanderwaal]

The diethyl ether is just the extraction solvent they used. Use it in place of whatever nonpolar solvent they are using to extract the base cocaine from the reaction mixture. Also synthesizeing a drug is something else. You are just extracting and purifying a drug that was biosynthesized by a plant

 

[MisterAnonymous]

Yeah your right it's not a synthesis but an extraction and they are using acetone so i just replace it with Diethyl Ether?

 

[Osmosis Vanderwaal]

Acetone mixes with water and is tough to separate. Diethyl ether doesn't
Chloroform doesn't. Hexane heptane xylene toluene kerosene octane something that doesn't mix with water is what it is replacing. Cocaine HCL is barely soluble in acetone. Acetone is mixed in cocaine then filtered and the cocaine is in the filter and the acetone dissolved some adulterants, thereby removing them from the cocaine

 

[MisterAnonymous]

Yeah i ordered ether and chloroform gonna use the ether to extract the base cocaine and dry it and dissolve it again in chloroform and filter it that should get rid of impurities!

 

[William D.]

Work with chloroform carefully. For exp, it detonates when in contact with a strong alkali.

 

[Osmosis Vanderwaal]

I've ran my cocaine through chloroform a few times but I have never got much out. The best method I have came Up with is putting it in ice cold water and just letting it sit and settle and anything that you can see is not cocaine. You have to be careful with cocaine and heat. All of the cocaine I've ever seen in my life has some sort of sugar in it ( mannitol maybe) but if you get the cocaine hot it melts into something between clear laffy taffy and caramel syrup. It takes a lot of effort to fix it

 

[MisterAnonymous]

I know I have special precautions!

 

[SG1234]

How would you extract the cocaine from the water then? I'm planning on doing a purification process but it has been a good few years was looking at doing an "acetone wash" but IV been looking into the ethanol and ice cold water method.

 

[Osmosis Vanderwaal]

You can neutralize the hcl and precipitate it as freebase. That's the ONLY way I know of to get the cocaine out of the water. Definitely can't just evaporate it. After you have done an a/b extraction and then bubbled hcl through anhydrous acetone or your favorite ether, to precipitate the hcl, that can be evaporated

 

[SG1234]

I'm thinking of using anhydrous isopropyl alcohol or ethanol for recrystallization as they're easier to strain where I am.

 

[Tovenaar]

They do the crystallization with di-ethyl ether. Not the extraction

 

[MisterAnonymous]

Can you explain the process please?

 

[Tovenaar]

Cocaine Base to Hydrochloride Method , Hive Methods Discourse