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A chemist friend has suggested the following possible solvent systems:

Pure warm anhydrous:

• hexane
• ethyl acetate
• EtOH and ethyl acetate
• H2O and acetone

Will have to try this out and report back.

Yes, synthetically sourced 5-MeO-DMT is not extracted from any plants, but rather synthesized from tryptophan or melatonin, as Flux said.

And I would say that at this point, producing 5-MeO-DMT synthetically is perhaps the most viable way of sourcing this material compared to known plant sources.

Really exciting to have you here. What you've described is one of the main reasons that we have brought this forum into being: to unite people from all over the world of all different walks of life to talk about their experiences and to support a collective endeavor of investigation.

Looking forward to reading about your experiences in the experience report section

Welcome to the Five Hive!

Just wondering if any chemistry-type people here might have some ideas on how to best do a recrystallization of 5-MeO-DMT HCl in order to remove impurities that might be present.

I have searched the web for this but haven't been able to find anything specifically about this topic.

Thanks in advance!

Welcome CelestiOwl!

Really excited for your contributions to this community and for what you bring with your experiences in your work.

Blessings,
HumbleVoyager

Welcome MedicineMan,

This Erowid report might be of some interest to you:

https://erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=64707

When I was in Brazil I became quite familiar with Anadenanthera colubrina and have used it orally, sublingually, and by vaporizing it. After initially playing around with the powdered beans, I realized I needed to find a way to make an extract from these if I was going to experience their full effects. While in Brazil, I started to do many experimental extractions.

I tried many A/B extractions based on DMT, using naphtha, as the non-polar solvent, and it failed completely. I tried it with xylene, then heptane, and still no results! It turns out that bufotenine, the active chemical in the beans, is too polar for a typical A/B extraction to be of much use. Eventually I tried a more polar A/B extraction based on Jonathan Ott's A/B extraction technique. It was the first one of several I tried that actually worked.

Here's what worked. I soaked the powdered beans in isopropyl alcohol (made pH 3 with hydrochloric acid) for 1 day in a flask with a mixing bar constantly mixing the beans. I then filtered out the beans and evaporated most of the alcohol. Then I added 2 parts water. I used dichloromethane as a safer alternative to chloroform to de-fat the seeds. It took 10 de-fats! It was horribly inefficient and would form emulsions easily if shaken too much. Then I adjusted the pH to 8.5 using ammonia creating free base bufotenine.

Then I extracted free base bufotenine, and quite a bit of other stuff, into dichloromethane (instead of chloroform). It took 10 extractions to get all the free base bufotenine. Again, very inefficient. After evaporating the dichloromethane, I had an amber waxy oily substance that I could easily vaporize. It smelled like peanut oil. To my disappointment, I found the extract not that strong. It took 25 mg to equal a 10 mg dose of free base bufotenine. I did skip the re-crystallization steps done by Ott, so my extract was not pure free base bufotenine. I hate doing re-crystallization, it is so time consuming.

Not being at all satisfied with Jonathan Ott's technique I played around with the free base bufotenine extract to find out which solvents it was soluble in, in hopes of finding a better extraction technique. I found free base bufotenine was soluble in water, acetone, isopropyl alcohol, dichloromethane, methyl ethyl ketone, and not soluble in xylene, naphtha and heptane. At pH 8-9 it was less soluble in water and more soluble in dichloromethane, however at a higher or lower pH, it was much more soluble in water! This made a typical A/B extraction inefficient because even at pH 8.5, free base bufotenine was still somewhat soluble in water!

So I played around quite a bit and finally invented my own very extraction technique. Here's how it's done. Boil the powdered beans in water made pH 3 with hydrochloric acid for about an hour, and then filter out the beans, and repeat 2 more times with new water, also made pH 3 with hydrochloric acid. Concentrate the combined water extracts down and evaporate to leave some solid brownish gunk. Weigh this gunk and measure out an equal portion of calcium hydroxide (the same pickling lime used to make Yopo and Vilca snuff!).

Dissolve the gunk in a small amount of isopropyl alcohol, just enough to make it a thick syrupy liquid, then add an equal portion of water, then mix in the calcium hydroxide. Mix it very well. You don't want any clumps. It should be the consistency of thick pea soup. Let it sit for about 6 hours for the calcium hydroxide to react with the bufotenine, creating the basic salt calcium bufotenate. Now evaporate it (you can use an oven at 300 F for this step). Once it's evaporated completely add a generous portion of acetone. Mix it well. The acetone won't dissolve any of the calcium hydroxide, or much else, but will easily dissolve the calcium bufotenate. Let it sit an hour or more for the non-soluble particles to sink to the bottom, once the acetone takes on a clear dark amber color, poor your mix through a filter to obtain the acetone.

You can repeat the acetone extraction with new acetone a few more times until its clear. Evaporate the combined acetone to get an extremely potent extract that is nearly 90% pure calcium bufotenine, which is one of the most potent forms of bufotenine. It's the form found in properly make Yopo and Vilca snuff that has been used for thousands of years in South America. It's more psychoactive than free-base bufotenine and much more psychoactive than the acidic salt form found in the unprocessed beans.

When I first tested the extract in Brazil I didn't know it was nearly 90% pure bufotenine. I assumed it was maybe 30% bufotenine. Sitting at my desk, I measured 15 mg of the extract weighed using an accurate digital scale. I placed it in the bottom of a glass test tube. I put a 2-hole rubber stopper into the top of the test tube. I attached a rubber hose to one hole, and then I attached a long glass tube to the other whole. The glass tube extended down into the bottom of test tube to allow fresh air into the test tube near the extract. The rubber tube was placed in my mouth. I lit a candle. I placed the bottom of the test tube directly over the candle flame, but not touching it. This way the candle flame was directly under the glass in the test tube were the extract was sitting.

Within 20 seconds the extract started to boil and began vaporizing. With the rubber tube in my mouth I began to slowly inhale the vapor. The vapor was hot but easy on the lungs. I inhaled all of the vapor with one long slow inhalation. I held the vapor in my lungs for 30 seconds. Before exhaling, the effect began. After exhaling, I put the test tube back on its rack and I blew out the candle. Initially there was a bit of a hot tingling felt in the back of my head, then an uneasy feeling in the stomach was felt. Within 30 seconds intense visual effects were noticed. The visuals were getting stronger by the second. After about 1 minute the uneasy feeling in the stomach was completely gone. The tingling in the back of the head moved to the front part of my head and became much more pleasant.

After about 2 minutes into it I started sweating. I felt a little bit nervous but mentally focused. The visual effects were extremely intense. Everything around me appeared to be swirling. The opened eyed visuals were seen in 3-dimensions, something I've never experienced, even from high doses of DMT. They were morphing and twisting all around me. I felt quite sweaty, so I looked at my arm to see if there was much sweat. I could not see any actual sweat. My skin looked normal, but there were swirling patterns all over my arm. The hairs on my arm were bending and twisting like little snakes. Everything in the room was swirling.

After about 5 minutes the sweating stopped, and I felt much more relaxed. The visuals were still extremely intense. I could also hear faint voices and sounds from all around that weren't actually there. I decided to close my eyes, I suddenly started seeing all sorts of fantastic complex morphing shapes pulsating and changing all at a really intense speed. They were more intense and faster moving that previous experiences with DMT. I could hear unusual hypnotic rhythmic sounds playing in my mind. My body disappeared and I was floating engulfed in the most amazing visual experience I had ever had. Colorful neon lights were zooming past me. Fantastic 3-dimensional shape shifting objects were dancing all around me. I felt like I was traveling through a sea of visual data. Everything was pulsating and moving at an incredible speed. This continued for a good ten minutes.

At this point I became aware of my body again. I could feel the tingling sensation all over my body. It was a little alarming. I wasn't sure what to make of it. My pulse was fine, my breathing was fine, I felt completely relaxed and mentally very clear, so I decided to ignore the tingling sensation. It was actually quite pleasurable. I got up out of my chair and walked around a bit. It was a little tricky to walk. I felt a little twitchy. My movements were a little bit jerky. Everything looked as if it was made of liquid. I saw patterns all over the walls and furniture. If I gazed at anything for a few moments, 3-dimenional images of faces would appear superimposed on the objects around me. This lasted for about 1 hour and slowly faded until after about 2 hours when the effects were completely gone.

After playing around with the acetone extract, I found vaporizing 10 mg to be a very good visual experience. Vaporizing 2 mg was enough to experience the first level of visuals, which were mostly a shimmering effect. Vaporizing 5 mg was enough to have true visuals seeing 2-dimensional patterns. Vaporizing 10 mg was enough to produce 3-dimensional visuals as well as closed eyed visuals. Vaporizing 15 mg is a little too intense and causes a short-lived speedy feeling that makes me feel a little sweaty for the first few minuets. To date I've not intentionally gone past 15 mg. For me 15 mg is enough to have intense out of body experiences more intense than anything I've experienced from DMT, LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca, mescaline, or LSA.

I've read other reports of people getting nausea and vomiting from Anadenanthera colubrina beans. This is most likely do to the acid salt forms of bufotenine. The bufotenine in the beans needs to either be converted to free base bufotenine or calcium bufotenate or the effects are not as enjoyable. I experimented with different forms of bufotenine. I found the most unpleasant forms were acid salt forms and the most pleasant form was the calcium based basic salt form of it. For example, bufotenine hydrochloride can be made my dissolving calcium bufotenate (a basic salt form) in dilute hydrochloric acid.

In one test I took 10 mg of calcium bufotenate, a very strong visual dose for this form, and I converted it to bufotenine hydrochloride inside a test tube. After the liquid evaporated, I vaporized it. The effects are dramatically different. 10 mg of this acidic salt form produces very slight visual shimmering, no actual shapes or patterns are seen, I feel pressure in the head and body, and unpleasant nausea is felt for 2 hours straight! However, there is more euphoria felt. The pressure and nausea ruin the experience.

I also tried vaporizing 5 mg of bufotenine hydrochloride along with equal portions of calcium bufotenate. The effects are very synergistic. Producing an LSD like experience, without the unpleasant mental effects of LSD. At this dose of bufotenine hydrochloride there is not much nausea felt, mostly euphoria and a pleasant excited feeling felt in the body with improved sense of touch.

I also played around with free base bufotenine. This is more psychoactive than the acidic salt versions, and almost like calcium bufotenate, but not quite as visual, and produces a little nausea sometimes. I found that calcium bufotenate produces the strongest visuals and the least nausea of them all, if any. However, not as much euphoria is felt.

When calcium bufotenate is vaporized, even at high doses, at most I might feel a little uneasy in the stomach for about 1 minute. That's it. The remaining 2 hours are purely enjoyable. I've never felt actual nausea from vaporizing calcium bufotenate. I've also used it sublingually. Sublingually the effect is more like psilocybin or LSD, with a deeper psychedelic experience that is not as visual as when vaporized. Again, I've not felt any actual nausea from using it this way.

Bufotenine is rather stable, even samples of snuff several thousand years old still contain quite a bit of bufotenine in them. When I came back to the US, I had left some calcium bufotenate sitting on my desk in the open air back in the humid hot Brazilian summer climate for many months. When I returned to Brazil, the calcium bufotenate had become a sticky goo, but when I tested it I found no noticeable loss of potency.

I've had an accidental over dose once from old left over bufotenine melting and then vaporizing along with my newly added bufotenine causing me to experience a trip equivalent to approximately 30 mg of bufotenine. For the first three minutes my stomach felt very uneasy, on the verge of feeling nausea, and I felt very nervous and sweaty, I was pacing back and forth and couldn't enjoy it much. After about 3 minutes into it these bad effects started to fade, at the peak I had a long out of body experience, after that I had a hard time walking around. I kept forgetting what I was doing, my bodily movements were very clumsy. The effects from such a large dose lasted about least 3 hours. At such a dose, visual effects are longer lasting but not any more intense than a 15 mg dose, however annoying side effects start to really kick in.

All in all, I found calcium bufotinate, extracted from Anandenanthera colubrina, to be one of the best psychedelics. It doesn't have the unpleasant mental effects of LSD. It doesn't last as long as LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, or ayahuasca, so it's easier to integrate into a busy lifestyle. It's neither a stimulant nor a sedative, so it doesn't make me stay up all night like LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin, and it doesn't make me drowsy or mentally clouded like LSA. If fact I feel completely normal and clear headed. I can easily sleep during the effects if I like. I've done this and had amazing dreams from it. Or I can easily do something that takes an alert mind.

The only other psychedelic I know of that has some of the qualities of calcium bufotinate is vaporized DMT. Vaporized DMT is nice, but it doesn't last long enough. As soon as I start to enjoy it, it's beginning to fade away. Vaporized calcium bufotinate does have more tingling effects than DMT, the visual effects are a little different, but these are not negatives. The tingling felt in the body is quite pleasant after a few minutes. The onset of the effects is much slower, which allows me more time to get comfortable with the experience. And of course it lasts much longer so I have time to really enjoy it. I find DMT is more dreamy in its visual effects, producing softer smoother looking visual effects, while calcium bufotinate produces sharper more defined patterns that are more rapidly changing. Both produce colorful visions. The visual effects of calcium bufotinate are a little more chaotic. But both DMT and calcium bufotinate can bring me to the same place, with only minor differences. When I combine calcium bufotinate with peganum harmala, the effects are stronger and more DMT-like producing very dreamy, more meaningful visual effects. However, I find this combination a little bit sedating.

Welcome god squad, great to have you here with us

This is a beautifully written article. It speaks to the great potential this medicine has for the good of others when used appropriately. Thank you for sharing Bancopuma!

Gooday fine people,
Ive found sub-threshold doses, particularly, when done in succession ie: directly, one after the other, can bring about some profound cathartic releases.
It takes some getting used to, and can take some courage and determination particularly if its done alone. Perhaps because of working alone, the releases , Ive found personally can be very deep.
I don't know that I could have as easily let go in front of other people though.........especially during two sessions in particular. Both occasions were pretty messy in various ways and the fact that no one else was there to hear me wail and cry or to see me on my hands and knees purging was releaving, I didn't have to be on guard presenting an image. it was just one thing that didn't have to be worried about so I was able to go deeper and let go of more.
So I think that sub-threshold doses are great for doing release work and are a very valid and helpful way to use the medicine

This is great and validating to hear, Truth. This is a way of working with the medicine that I have been suggesting for a little while and have actually had great success with. I have been developing a detailed way to work with the medicine in this way and hope to release that information once it has been polished and reviewed by peers.

Welcome to the forum!

Feel free to use the Questions section if you have specific questions you'd like answered.

Great to have you here.

So for me, it begs the question... what is the evolutionary advantage that producing 5-MeO-DMT confers to the I. Alvarius toad? To which much to my surprise my biologist friend answered: "Is there an advantage or is it a coincidence"?

As you stated in your comment, I. Alvarius may "not need" to include 5-MeO-DMT in its venom for protection... is it possible here we may have an example of interspecies "altruistic behavior"? Another wild thought to ponder... All speculation.

Shy Violet, in response to this part I am inclined to think that 5-MeO-DMT is a byproduct of the same metabolic process that produces bufotenin (5-HO-DMT). We know that both of these compounds produce increased heart rates in humans and in high enough doses can cause animals to forget to breathe and/or cause myocardial infarction and thus die (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bufotenin#Uptake_and_elimination). It is possible that the venom was partially developed as a natural selection process that came from a need to incapacitate predators in order to get away. It is very possible that the enzymes that produce these compounds appeared around the same time on the evolutionary timeline.

I would also argue that these types of toxins are actually evolutionarily advantageous because they are such simple compounds that are ubiquitous in nature. Serotonin, being the basic building block of both bufotenin and 5-MeO-DMT, is a neurotransmitter found in just about all living organisms, INCLUDING single-celled organisms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin#Comparative_biology_and_evolution). That being said, this would be an obvious choice for Mother Nature as a means to ward off predators. The mechanisms to create these compounds are known to Nature in a variety of ways. Human beings produce it, several plants produce it (albeit in trace amounts), and so it would make sense that it would find its way into venom.

When these toads were originally evolving in the Sonoran desert, I highly doubt that humans were anywhere near their list of potential predators. So their venom was meant for smaller animals such as coyotes. We know that the toad venom is deadly to dogs, so they succeeded in their evolutionary mission: to survive and ward off potential predators. As such, the levels of toxins in the venom would not need to be sufficient to kill a human being. It is true that the venom will create a very unpleasant reaction in humans if squirted in the mucous membrane of the eye, swallowed, or otherwise ingested without the typical vaporization techniques used today. But I don't think that the dose would be deadly to a healthy human being.

As such, I would suggest that the I. Alvarius toad evolved to produce potent, short-acting neurochemicals which were similar to neurotransmitters present in all species of plant and animal life in order to ward off predators. Psychoactive compounds represent keys to the locks of neural receptors, and what better deterrent than a key which fits the locks on all animals?

It is not until recent times of modern man that one constituent compound, 5-MeO-DMT has become valuable. To the untrained mind, the experience would be absolutely terrifying and would essentially result in the same end game as the venom did with other animals. However, mankind has an interesting brain. Though it first may have an experience that sends it reeling in terror, it is often overcome by curiosity and returns again and again. See for example nicotine, which was developed by plants as a natural insecticide. Human beings may have initially been poisoned by it but then later on sought out its effects and found that it was quite useful as a stimulant, relaxant, and otherwise dopaminergic agent.

A similar thing has happened here with 5-MeO-DMT. Its effects were initially described as terrifying and dissociating. People lacked the language to describe the potentially profound effects this molecule was having on their psyche. However, as time went on mankind continued to return to this experience because there was something to be gained. And now we are in a stage of human-molecule relationship where the information being gained could potentially unify the species as an agent for natural survival. That is a big leap, but with the overwhelming number of reports suggesting that there IS an objective reality which, in turn, suggests that all consciousness is one being experiencing itself subjectively, then the leap seems smaller.

For me, the mystery lies not in why the molecule was put in the toad. That can easily be explained by evolution and biology. For me the mystery lies in WHY this molecule is so potent and why it produces the experience that it does in human beings. I am also curious about what this molecule has to offer the human organism in terms of evolutionary potential. Will it be able to be used in a productive manner? Or will it merely be an ineffable buzz that produces long soliloquys by bards that have nothing more to contribute to the human action. Will the human mind be able to integrate the concepts elicited by such a molecule into discernible change?

Only time will tell. We (humans) have claimed to have found the Holy Grail many times. I would argue that we will never find it. The Holy Grail is essentially what the Quest for the Holy Grail elicits in the human system. The Holy Grail is compassion, empathy, fortitude, vulnerability, and the transmutation of all shadow within the human vessel. We will only find what we seek when we surrender to ourselves.

These molecules are incredible agents of change. They can shift a perception wildly. But I would argue that they are worthless on their own. They do not necessitate change. A man can smoke toad venom or eat LSD every day or every week for years and STILL lack empathy for other beings. He can still be a fragile ego, always on the lookout for those who might threaten his sense of self. He can still manipulate others, he can still do what he will to serve the body-mind that runs his existence. It is not until a human being takes responsibility for its own operating system and makes the change in behavior, however hard it may be, that evolution can occur.

And that process is very slow indeed.

Welcome Alauma,

It's wonderful to have you here with us.

Blessings.

Welcome Stauphpher!

I trust that this site will be a wealth of knowledge for you as you will find many individuals that can share their wisdom with you.

Plant sources of 5-MeO-DMT are still very much up for debate, and a topic we hope to work on in the Science section of this forum. It's very possible that the cebil seeds contain 5-MeO-DMT but further analysis is needed. Which bufotenin-containing plants have you had experience with?

Wonderful to hear you have experience with psilocin! The correct chemical nomenclature for that one would be 4-HO-DMT

Thanks for being here!

I think a lot of Eastern mysticism really hits the nail on the head. However, I have found similarities in Christian mysticism as well, as I have been studying the work of St. Teresa of Avila...check this out:

The fourth, Devotion of Ecstasy, is where the consciousness of being in the body disappears. Sense activity ceases; memory and imagination are also absorbed in God or intoxicated. Body and spirit are in the throes of a sweet, happy pain, alternating between a fearful fiery glow, a complete impotence and unconsciousness, and a spell of strangulation, sometimes by such an ecstatic flight that the body is literally lifted into space.[citation needed] This after half an hour is followed by a reactionary relaxation of a few hours in a swoon-like weakness, attended by a negation of all the faculties in the union with God. The subject awakens from this in tears; it is the climax of mystical experience, producing a trance. Indeed, she was said to have been observed levitating during Mass on more than one occasion.

Doesn't that sound like a 5-MeO-DMT experience?

"And see sun. He's a friend of the whole world. He doesn't say, "I am your enemy, I cannot come to your house." Even though you are an enemy, you are a friend. He comes to everyone. Just like that - we should also be. Showing brightness to everyone."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEbRw7J8PZo

Full documentary:
https://youtu.be/JB7kfnDKPEw