Acetone extraction

[Duder]

I have a friend that made some Oil with acetone. Im now reading some conflicting opinions on about it leaving trace amounts of crap that shouldn't be ingested. It tastes great and it's really strong.
What does the farm think of this method? Is there a way of cleaning it up?
If it is ok for consumption, any suggestions to make it easier to work with? As it is, its almost impossible to work with without making a mess. Its a super thick black tar that has a nice amber color to it when it is thinned out. Its a little easier to work with right out of the freezer.
I searched but couldn't find anything definite.

 

[Graywolf]

I have a friend that made some Oil with acetone. Im now reading some conflicting opinions on about it leaving trace amounts of crap that shouldn't be ingested. It tastes great and it's really strong.
What does the farm think of this method? Is there a way of cleaning it up?
If it is ok for consumption, any suggestions to make it easier to work with? As it is, its almost impossible to work with without making a mess. Its a super thick black tar that has a nice amber color to it when it is thinned out. Its a little easier to work with right out of the freezer.
I searched but couldn't find anything definite.

You can clean it up some by redissolving it in hot ethanol and sticking it in the freezer for a couple of days, before filtering and evaporating off the ethanol.

That will get rid of some of the water solubles and remove any remaining acetone.

 

[squiggly]

Acetone can condense with phenolic hydroxyl groups, especially those alkylated at the ortho position.

THC possesses both of these characteristics.

Ketones (of which acetone is a member) are fairly reactive. For this reason acetone is used as a universal wash in most chemistry labs. Also acetone possesses both polar and non-polar character making it a good candidate for a wash--and a poor candidate for active cannabis compound selectivity (IE it pulls everything out, not just what you want).

We clean glassware by using first soap and water, then an acetone wash, then a splash of ethanol to remove traces of acetone and promote spotless drying.

Graywolf, normally you would be correct--and under certain circumstances you are. However, controlled conditions are required to ensure that acetone and ethanol do not react.

A catalytic amount of acid protons is all that is required for ethanol and acetone to yield a hemiketal. It is fairly likely that most oils possess such acidic conditions and the reaction will proceed as follows.

CH3-CO-CH3 (acetone) + CH3CH2OH (ethanol) → (CH3)2-C(OH)-OCH2CH3 (hemiketal)

Hemiketals derived from ethanol are also fairly unstable and will probably go on to further reactions.

In short--don't use acetone--it is not selective for the products you want anyway. There are better solvents.

 

[Graywolf]

Good point and thanks for the correction. I didn't consider the acid state of the oil.

We don't use acetone for the reasons you mention and get our most pristine extractions using an alkane and cleaning up with EtoH.

 

[squiggly]

Acetone can also be pyrolized into ketene under certain conditions--a VERY VERY toxic and bad substance (however, also an intermediate in the production of acetic annhydride).

 

[rusty]

I always wondered about acetone after reading about it in cannabis alchemy… but think i'll skip that experiment now, thanks for the info. I just might try that glassware wash on my bongs sometime tho ;)

 

[squiggly]

Best off using straight alcohol--I believe its cheaper.

Alcohol+Salt should do the trick.

For anything really tricky some dilute acid will work really well. If you have access to a sonicator--you can look up a recipe for micro-cleaning solution, and this will keep any glassware SUPER clean.

 

[Duder]

Acetone can also be pyrolized into ketene under certain conditions--a VERY VERY toxic and bad substance (however, also an intermediate in the production of acetic annhydride).

What conditions are these? The trim/acetone mixture soaked for about a week and It was dried out for another week in a chilly attic.
The stuff is pretty potent. The smallest piece gets me ripped for hours and its a very pleasant high. In short, I really like it. Its my first time making oil, so im sure the real deal is much better. I just hope its not going to make me go blind or kill me.
I had about 4 grams, reheated and mixed it with shake and kief to make it easier to work with. Considering how strong this stuff is, this amount is going to last me a very long time.
The only other solvent I can seem to find is iso 91%. Would it be a good idea to dissolve my ball of goodness(hopefully not poison;() in some iso and let it evaporate?

 

[squiggly]

Unfortunately, acetone is miscible with almost every solvent--and certainly with those available to you--any acetone which is there, is likely staying there.

Acetone can become ketene when it is pyrolized (burned) at certain temperatures/pressures.

 

[TreMastaDon]

What if you were to dewax crude oil with anhydrous acetone before distilling it off into clear? That's what I have been doing and I am gathering that is not the thing to do because of the bonding properties it has with those phenolic hydroxyl groups. I'm just curious if you have the anydrous acetone, and it is indeed in your product, if you went to wash it out with ethanol wouldn't you just create the conditions necessary for ketene to be created when you go to distill it off afterwards?

 

[EugeneOregon]

I have a friend that made some Oil with acetone. Im now reading some conflicting opinions on about it leaving trace amounts of crap that shouldn't be ingested. It tastes great and it's really strong.
What does the farm think of this method? Is there a way of cleaning it up?
If it is ok for consumption, any suggestions to make it easier to work with? As it is, its almost impossible to work with without making a mess. Its a super thick black tar that has a nice amber color to it when it is thinned out. Its a little easier to work with right out of the freezer.
I searched but couldn't find anything definite.

Acetone has been used for generations by little girls taking paint off of their toes and fingers. Of course it is labelled as nail polish remover. Acetone leaves no residue by itself however anything it touches will indeed contaminate it. Keep it off of most synthetic plastics and such. This would be the only residue you would find is if the acetone had been stored with some sort of polymere that is then disolved into it. The flavor would be foul and you would have no doubts of contamination. Pure acetone is routinely applied to human bodies in pure form with no harm at all.

The reason we do not see the kids and women or anyone else getting sick from nail polish remover contact is that the stuff evaporate so quickly at human body temps it just has no real time to cause much harm because it boils away almost instantly at body temp. Here is the key to nearly any solvent system used (I use them all from Hexane, to dichloromethane, to Ethyl Acetate and so forth) when personal exposure is possible. If you cannot taste or smell the solvent in question it means the concentrations present are lower than your detection threshhold. There is no solvent I am aware of that poses a serious health risk at exposures below the human detection level. Those chemicals that can hurt you without you detecting them are altered or not made available because of danger. They put "stink" into LPG so we can detect it as an example.

I personally have vaped tons of extract not purged well of isopropyl alcohol. It burns the throat a bit and is harsh but on the other hand it presents as one hell of a head rush too. The reason I never got too twisted about inhaling trace amounts of rubbing alcohol is that it is only poison if you drink a lot. Ounces in fact. Iso has been used for a long time in old medicine as an anesthetic and technically still can be when inhaled as a fume correctly but they don't do that anymore. I would call iso or acetone "poison" but unless fire is involved you are pretty safe.

Just take a look at commercial prescription Dronabil labels (medical grade THC pills) that list the ingredients. Among the inert ingredients present in each capsule is listed "isopropyl alcohol" as one of the ingredients you are ingesting. It would not be there if it hurt folks. Same with acetone or nail polish remover - if it had a hidden menace like an undetectable poison residue it would not be sold.

 

[EugeneOregon]

I always wondered about acetone after reading about it in cannabis alchemy… but think i'll skip that experiment now, thanks for the info. I just might try that glassware wash on my bongs sometime tho ;)

If you can take time for a soak you can clean the sticky residue off of just about anything when you soak it for a few hours in Natures Miracle Dog Urine Destroyer.

The stuff works by applying millions of bacteria that eat anything organic that it finds then when the food is gone it goes dormant and remains for the next time food is around. It is called enzyme action.

I create gobs of sticky test tubes and petri dishes and such in my seperations labs purifying these extracts into Delta 9 THC and other compounds. Everything gets sticky it seems. I hose done the table tops, all the glassware, and anything else that has that sticky feel that burns the eyes so bad if you touch them afterward. It does not remove the stain per se but two soakings a few hours apart and that burning sticky part is gone. I can then wipe the stuff off with a cotton rag and sparing use of soap and some alcohol then. After a few days you will notice a brighter look to all the areas treated like this because it really goes after anything "grungy" lol. It even makes cleaning a greasy stove easier used the same way.

If your embarrassed to squirt Urine Destroyer into your bong go to Kinkos and get a special label made up with a pot leaf on it. Call it Natures Miracle Green Gunk Bong Soak and your friends wont know any better....

 

[Graywolf]

A trick that works for getting sticky concentrate off our hands, is first rub them well with vegetable oil to remove the concentrate, and then wash off the vegetable oil with soap and water.

 

[odirt]

Back in the days I use to use acetone to make another product hard again after a quick microwave and freezer combination. When $ was fast and I was young and dumb. Always had that ticket fuel smell lol

 

[odirt]

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