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Extraction Technique: The Full Turps Cure

posted by geezmeister

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The “Full Turps Cure:” (Placeboʼs technique restated.)

Materials required:
OTC pseudoephedrine tablets
Hotplate
Fan
Pyrex evaporation dish
Funnels, cotton balls, coffee filters
Stirring rod
Non-polar solvent of choice
Mineral turps
Acetone
Alcohol of choice (methanol, ethanol, etc.)
Beakers or collection jars.

Abstract of Procedure:
Turps soak
Non-polar solvent boils until clean
Acetone boils until clean
Dry
Extract 3x with alcohol of choice
Evaporate to near dry, acetone flash
Recrystallize

Statement of Procedure:

1. Grind pills thoroughly. Soak for twelve hours in mineral t

twelve hours in odorless mineral spirits, toluene, or xylen

2. Transfer pill mass to suitable shallow bowl or evaporatio

3. Cover to twice its depth in non-polar solvent of choice (

spirits). Place on heating element in a location with adeq
across the top of the container. Heat slowly with continu
a gentle boil; adjust heat to maintain a gentle boil, with c
Remove from heat. Decant solvent. Use “panning” motio
possible while retaining pill mass. Alternatively, filter the
coffee filters; retain pill mass, return to dish. Examine filt

4. Repeat mineral spirits boils until the mineral spirits are c

decanted mineral spirits by adding water; if anything pre
 water, repeat mineral spirits boil until the solvent is clean
to be necessary; dirtier pills or poor technique may requ

5. Cover the pill mass with three times its volume of dry ac
with constant stirring. Boil for five minutes, allow to settl
boils until the decanted acetone is clean. Test for contam
acetone and observing whether adulterants precipitate o
acetone until it decants clear without adulterant precipit
Expect three boils to be sufficient, depending on pill con

6. Allow pill mass to dry thoroughly.

7. Transfer pill mass to beaker or glass container of sufficie

least three times the pill massʼ volume of alcohol of choi
are recommended alcohol's. EtOH may be used if dried.
dried. Allow pill mass to soak with agitation or stirring fo

8. Prepare a funnel by placing cotton balls in the neck of th

three coffee filters. Decant alcohol from pill mass throug
drain into a clean glass container.

9. Return pill mass to beaker and repeat step 6, except the

to ten minutes. Decant as before.

10. Soak pill mass a third time as in step 6, except decant af

final yield is determined to be satisfactory).

11. Place collected alcohol in evaporating dish and evapora

dryer blowing across the surface until almost completely
acetone. Swirl acetone in dish, and scrape dish as neces
pseudoephedrine. Decant acetone (or filter through thre

12. Heat dried ISO alcohol to boiling. Add sufficient boiling a

alcohol to appear clear. Filter through three coffee filters
filter through three coffee filters and Charmin plug. Rins
alcohol. Reduce volume of alcohol in evaporation dish at
appear. Add just enough alcohol by drops to dissolve su
acetone, cover with air tight lid or saran wrap, place in re

13. Allow crystals to form; decant liquid and quickly rinse cr

acetone to remaining liquid and evaporate down to satu
crystals to form again. Rinse these.

14. Combine crystals. Re-dissolve in boiling alcohol and rep

crystals. Photograph with digital camera. Discard, as the
something illegal, and this board does not approve of or

Notes and Comments:

The Post is not original with the poster, who makes no claim
SWIG first used the process after reading Placeboʼs post co
literally hundreds of posts that concern variants of this met
extraction technique post to the Stimulants forum whose pu
concerning such techniques, provide as much as possible a
basic technique, and provide a thread for their discussion, n
exceptions.

1. As with all pill extraction, the finer the pills are ground, th
complete and successful.

2. Mineral turps as used by Placebo is a non- polar solvent

turpentine is not the same thing. Turpentine substitutes
with added turpenes are considered the equivalent of Pl
acknowledges the contributions of numerous bees who
spirits, xylene or toluene also work; SWIGʼs experience c
bees report boiling the solvent hastens the removal of th
the finding.

3. Boiling any flammable solvent is an extremely dangerous

solvent be heated oven an open flame or on any apparat
spark, and this includes defective or damaged electric h
required. This should not be done in a closed environme
and due to health concerns regarding inhalation of solve
be done without the constant use of a fan positioned to
disburse the vapor, reduce the risk of fire and explosion
of the solvent. The solvent should be heated to a gentle
the temperature should be reduced to maintain the boil.
the evaporation dish, the temperature is probably too hi
stirring is needed to keep the pill mass from sticking, bu
scraping the pill mass from the pan. Some solvents can
enough to caramelize the pill mass. Note the procedure
in turps. The unpleasant aroma of the turpenes is not th
turpentine substitutes have a boiling point high enough
forewarned. The temperature at which the solvent begin
purposes. The increased solubility at higher temperature
Dwarfer will readily advise, and not on an increase in tem
regarding boiling solvents should be heeded in particula
does not wish to experience what happens when you ign
boiling acetone.

4. Any solvent used should be dry. This is particularly true

before use. Most OTC acetone contains significant amou
Xylene rarely contain sufficient water to be a problem. T
than xylene; whether this presents a problem is outside
difficulty obtaining Toluene locally and has little practica

5. Testing the decanted solvent for dissolved gakks is only

clear. The poster notes that crashing the gakk with cool
work, and has never explored other methods aside from
also allows most gakks to precipitate to some degree. T
the solvent is still extracting trash is by no means exclus

6. Allowing the pill mass to dry thoroughly before extractin

many to improve yields. Poster has never verified this.

7. The recommended times for alcohol soaks will vary from

 recommend long soak times, other short soak times. Th
recommendation of this poster was observed in a series
extractable OTC decongestants which recorded the yiel
pseudoephedrine, and the presence of waxes, oils or oth
RP/I2 reaction. The notes were not retained, and were in
recommended soak times are based on SWIGʼs hands-o
dissolve more than pseudoephedrine from the tablets if
too little pseudo being left to dissolve or the alcohol give
substances which are not as readily soluble in the alcoh

percent extraction of pseudoephedrine by alcohol from

myth and misleading. The poster considers any alcohol
yielding 80% or more of the available pseudoephedrine
loaded with inerts from the pill mass.

8. Many report success with extractions with heated alcoh

containing stearates may have adverse impact on yield a
extracted. The increase in solvency of the alcohol cause
present in the pill mass more soluble in the alcohol. Hea
considered with regard to the ingredients in the pill mas

9. This technique does not list as a step placing the alcoho

waxes or gels. This is not to be considered a statement
process. SWIGʼs experiences with the “full turps cure” h
glycol that survives the soaks and repeated solvent boils
the extracted pseudoephedrine. If you believe a cold en
product, you should follow your instinct. Freezing the alc
provide a benefit.

10. Evaporation of the alcohol should be done over low heat

across the dish. There are a number of variants for dryin
heatlamps under glass. You can burn the pseudo with to
away from you very quickly. Do not walk off while the ps
invitation to its destruction by heat.

11. Acetone flashing with dry acetone when the alcohol nea
step” for evaporation and will help remove some impurit
Crashing" (Stimulants)] for this posterʼs suggestions on

12. Recrystallizing the pseudo ephedrine will help isolate an

sneak through, and will help isolate and remove various
been extracted with the pseudoephedrine. Dry ISO alco
this purpose. Some of the potential gakks are highly wat
alcohol used in this process is a great benefit.

13. The poster has never included a TCE wash as part of thi
knowledge of the benefits or detriments of such a step,
would be beneficial or detrimental to the process.

Advantages and Disadvantages:

The near-universality of this procedure is its great advantag
pills available OTC. Properly done, the full turps cure yields
for the purposes generally discussed here. This method is a
unfamiliar or uncomfortable with A/B extraction techniques.

The process does use a volume of solvents, is dangerous to

serious risk of fire and explosion if not properly done, can s
that can damage the pseudoephedrine sought to be extrac
odor capable of being detected. It is rather time consuming

Known to be effective with:

most pills.
Tested by this poster on pills containing the following ingred

Pseudoephedrine HCl 60 mg
Tripolidine 2.5 mg
Corn starch
Flavor
Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose
Lactose
Magnesium Stearate
Polyethylene glycol
Potato starch
Povidone
Sucrose
Titanium dioxide
(See US patent 5098715)
Pseudoephedrine HCl 60 mg
Tripolidine 2.5 mg
Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose
Magnesium Stearate
Polyethylene glycol
Starch
Titanium dioxide

may also contain:

Cellulose
Dioctyl Sodium Sulfosuccinate
Hydroxypropyl cellulose
lactose
Polysorbate 80
Povidone

Powdered cellulose
Pregelatinized starch
Silica gel
Silicon dioxide
Sodium starch glycolate
Stearic acid

Pseudoephedrine HCl 60 mg
Tripolidine 2.5 mg
Carnuba wax
Corn starch
 Flavor
Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose
Lactose
Magnesium Stearate
Polyethylene glycol
Povidone
Sucrose

Pseudoephedrine HCl 120 mg

Candellia Wax
Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose
Magnesium Stearate
Microcrystalline Cellulose
Polyethylene glycol
Povidone
Titanium dioxide
Pseudoephedrine HCl 240 mg
Candellia Wax
Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose
Magnesium Stearate
Microcrystalline Cellulose
Polyethylene glycol
Povidone
Titanium dioxide

Also red hots, generic and name brand.

Additional data posted by geezmeister

1) Pseudoephedrine hydrochloride is not soluble in non-

are hot. It also is not partiuclarly soluble in dry acetone (
altogether). It is therefore an essentially safe assumption
pseudo from the pill mass.

2) I know the cure works with red hots because SWIG di

list the ingredients. The pills SWIG pulls from are ususal
time release type. He had some of those boxes still arou

3) Minimalist approach is three alcohol soaks and take w

an acetone boil and a mineral spirits boil, with alcohol ex
why? If this is worth doing, it is worth doing right. There
extraction if you are going to do an RP/I2 or hypo cook. C
out. The Birch reduction is more gakk tolerant. That doe
not yield purer product. As to whether it is known what a
problems, the answer to that question is yes. (I'm not re
Povidone is a yield killer, as is polyethylene glycol. Waxe
the yield, can infect the final product. Cellulose fillers do
the product (dilute it). Anithistamines can carry through
smokers. Some adulterants are there to foil extraction, s
impact the extraction. SWIG has not dealt with them all.
them.

Regarding the turps soak:

The point of the turps soak is to remove povidone, and i
reference current wisdom that soaking the pill mass in m
povidone. Foxy2 states a strong case for the use of odo
removed by the initial non-polar solvent soak. Polyethyle
time.
I have not taken the time this morning to reread Placebo
technique. I do recall there was the "cure" which came t
then there was the "full turps cure" which addressed the
not familiar with his work on steam distillation. I am awar
having done the "lesser cure," which is why the "full turp
at the time. The terminology about the "the cure," "the le
evolved after the posts themselves. I believe this may ex
concerning Placebo's posts.
This post merely restates the "full turps cure" in a forma
threads. If you check, you will find that I make no claim t
modification. I do not even advocate its use, as IMHO wa

yield superior product with less effort. I merely restate w

consensus about the technique in response to a reques

"Turps" (aka Mineral Turpentine and Turpentine Substitu

turpentine substitute sold by the big retailer is basically
things tossed in. "Mineral turps" as described by Placeb
substitute for gum spirits of turpentine, and is most usua
other solvents, alcohol, acetone, and turpenes. Gum spi
altogether. "Mineral Turps" as described by Placebo is n

Current thinking is that a long soak in any suitable aroma

mass of povidone. Xylene and Tolulene will, as will odorl
this information are credible and have no motive to post
That said, be advised that the "turps cure" involves a so
consisting of aromatic non-polar solvents and turpenes.
removed of povidone without the use of turpenes indica
this purpose. The fact that gum spirits of turpentine fail
that turpenes themselves are not the active agent in dis
comments section discusses the use of solvents other t

It is very difficult, however, to restate the "full turps cure

in the "cure" in fact is. This issue has been beaten to de
and need not be restated further.