Further to my first post regarding CWE, I've upped the starting materials (SM) to 250 ct T1, as well as using Chromic's CWE and removal of caffeine. Methodology is the same as before, except further refining of extract included heating roughly 500mL extract to boiling temperature to super-saturate the resulting solution at roughly 150mL mark and cooling to precipitate and recover caffeine as crystals. Bottle used revealed a nice crust of what appears to be caffeine on the bottom. Chromic describes further reducing the solution to 50mL and recrystallizing the remaining caffeine to nearly 85% removal however this author is worries about decomposition and did not do this. Trial included reduction of extract to 50mL however recrystallization was not achieved due to browning of the solution. Solution after 50mL reduction visually resembled that of very very light tea, however it was still visible. Research indicates this colouration is due to the Acetaminophen or binders, however, this author cannot confirm. Solution diluted to 200mL to obtain a maximum of 10mg/mL, however this author expects far less due to losses and decomposition. Unfortunately due to lack of foresight, this author as usual took 2 Actifed Cold/Allergy for sleep which masks any favorable effect the extract has. However, effects do seem to be appearing at the moment, as some dry mouth is indeed forming. Visibility is not impaired, however, with the pseudoephedrine dose, it is difficult to tell. It does seem that the extract has some effect, however to whatever degree it is difficult to tell.
The extract does indeed taste similarly to the extract obtained previously in the 100 ct extraction, however appears to be purer in clarity. Initial procedural experimentation indicates clarity is due in part to filter strength (this author used several generic grade coffee filters this time for filtration, it is unknown as to whether or not this caused the colouration of final product) as well as amount of caffeine dissolved in the product. It appears that the caffeine precipitated out of solution indeed makes the product far clearer than no caffeine treatment. Further plans to extract with same grade filters as well as lab grade filters are planned.
Concern over the colouration was of surprise, as the colour was certainly not expected, it will be interesting to see what the colouration can be due to, and for this purpose, this author will use 222 (acetylsalicylate, caffeine, codeine) as a comparison using the same method as to see where the colouration is coming from. Research does indicate that boiling the extract to powder does leave brown coloured powder, however, it is not known where the colouration comes from. Reports from other experiments indicates that no colouration exists from using Ibuprofen or Acetylsalicylic Acid preparations. These reports utilize simple CWE with no treatment for caffeine. Initial hypotheses could be that the colouration is due to decomposition of Acetaminophen or codeine or side reactions of the codeine with the acetaminophen. It is not expected that the caffeine has any side reactions as it is resilient. Side reactions might be due to the free hydroxyl group of the codeine at the 6 position of the morphinan attacking via nucleophillic attack to the amide bond of the acetaminophen, causing release of the free p-hydroxyaniline and acetic ester bonded to the 6 position of codeine. This author doubts that this reaction occurs due to the strength of the amide bond.
Brown colouration will be observed for increase in intensity over the period of 24 hours. If the colouration does not increase, it should prove that the colouration does not have anything to do with amounts of solutes present given no treatment. If colouration does intensify, it could signify active decomposition by metabolites or biologicals. If indeed the latter, treating caffeine by heating would be fruitless if contaminated by biologicals that could harm the host.
It is noted that within the roughly 30 minutes to this point from the last mentioned effect felt by this author, the feeling has decreased quite significantly, however, it is impossible to determine the reason for change. However, this author has been prescribed Co-Actifed and the initial feeling is indeed the same. Impossibility to determine exact amounts of codeine content renders the ability to establish a relative response based on relative codeine dosages impossible. If, however, assuming no loss and exact stoichiometric amounts of codeine in the extract, that being 10mg/mL, the amount would be roughly 250mg codeine versus a roughly 20-25mg dosage, a 10 times increase yields roughly the same feeling. It should be noted, however, that triprolidine is absent in the variant of Actifed this author ingested.
In the conclusion of the trial of Chromic's caffeine removal treatment, the following can be confirmed :
- Indeed quite a significant amount of caffeine crystals have been removed, however, due to lack of materials, a mass was not obtained.
- Codeine was indeed present in the purified extract, however, how much loss due to heat decomposition cannot be verified. It might be interesting to run a gas chromatograph to obtain relative amounts.
- Brown colouration in the final extract was observed, however, the source of such discolouration is deviant of the expected colourless extract. Reports do show brown colouration but do not indicate intensity. It is not known the source of such colouration
- Follow up experiments are planned: Extraction and caffeine removal technique using Aspirin as source painkiller to determine if acetaminophen is the source of brown colouration, extraction and caffeine removal by Activated Carbon to determine relative effectiveness of caffeine removal and removal of any desired product if present, and possible use of Gas Chromatograph to establish presence and relative amounts of substances in final extract in both non-caffeine treated and caffeine treated solutions.
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