Auxin

Waterdragon: I didnt say that what you said was bad, I just didn't want to be accused of more than my share. I know you didnt mean any offense. Anyone: Back me up, Please. Maby I'm socially blind, maby its that culture barrier thing, but I really dont think I said anything that inflamatory. But I do know when I'm beaten (and way off topic) so I'll stay quiet on this topic for a while. And we are a bit off topic, perhaps this could be continued in the chill space under the heading 'Veronica dont go!' I'll probably still be beaten, but at least I'll be on topic. Again, someone please back me up or at least tell me what was so bad that it would prompt such agression. Its not like I meant to scare someone off.

"Veronica, don't stop posting because of Auxin."- theobromos Hey, dont blame it all on me. The comment that seemed to push her over the edge was made by waterdragon, and she said it was not because of any single comment by any single person that put her off, but rather a trend of people jumping on every one of her posts. Also, as far as me frequently bein' wrong goes- everyone is frequently wrong, what matters is that I try my damndest to be right most of the time for the benefit of others. ( Funny thing is, when people say I am wrong half the time they are talkin' about one of my opinions, not one of my facts. I am of the sort that thinks opinions are never wrong, as long as they are stated as opinions. ) Veronica, incase your reading this I really didn't mean any offence. Sorry if it seemed otherwise. I dont think anyone here meant any real offence, and I really dont think anyone meant to push you out.

Recrystalization would boost the purity of some, but loss would be signifigant and if you tried to recover some of the loss then that fraction would end up bein even less pure. And still recrystalization would not get it pure. Remember your trying to remove compounds very similar to the target compound, whats best for that is column chromotography. If your wealthy, jobless, patient, and somewhere where its legal you should do that instead.

"What happens if I eat heaps of MAOI foods before, during and after while on taking Entheogen plants??"- Warped Astro You only need to do the MAOI diet if syrian rue or B. cappi are involved (they contain the MAOIs in question.) No special diet for just peyote, mushrooms, etc. If you do take syrian rue while ignoring the diet there is allot of stuff that can go wrong including hypertensive crisis (way high blood pressure), dizziness, vomiting, and death in the most extreme cases. "Is avoiding MAOI foods is designed to increase or decrease entheogen plants's effects??" The diet just keeps you out of the hospital, ingesting syrian rue does increase and alter the experience. Traditionally it is mainly only done with DMT containing plants. Other combos have been experimented with but some of them are questionable or dangerous and some are just plain funny (syrian rue does not boost compounds lacking amines, so combining it with salvia or cannabis is a waste.) Take my advice: before taking syrian rue or B. cappi with anything (or by themselves) do lots of research and read all the info out there, it really is important.

"This website has instructions how to extract pure mescaline: http://peyote.com/jonstef/peyote.htm#Anchor3 "- WarpedAstro That process does not make pure mescaline, its a (dangerous) alkaloid extraction that only removes SOME of the non-mescaline alkaloids. Also, avoid any instructions involving benzene (toluene can be used instead, benzene is just too damned toxic.)

"I dont need a lecture on what I write." I didn't mean to give a lecture, I guess my light-hearted talk is very different than most peoples! Its probably that opinionated thing- you were probably right about that. If it ever sounds like I'm preaching (or angry), try to remember that I don't mean it that way! I just have an almost unlimited thirst for accurate scientific data- speculation and generalization makes my head hurt but pure factual data puts me into a state of deep spiritual ecstasy. Thats just the way I am. Freaky? Yes Painful? Yes Inconvenient? Yes True? Yes, so what can I do.

"Does anyone know which extraction would give relatively pure mescaline?" That depends on your definition of relatively. If you mean that the product would be a mixture of 85%+ various alkaloids then most methods would work. If you mean which method would give you a product that is 90% mescaline or better, then none of them! I have never seen a procedure on the internet that removes the majority of other alkaloids, but thats OK because such procedures are usually beyond the ability of non-chemists (too much lab work, too much costly materials, not to mention the environmental impact of improper disposal of waste) A few chemists have done it way back in the olden days but nowadays if a chemist wants pure mescaline he synthesizes it- it is a simple compound. Of course they can also buy it legally from Sigma - pure synthetic mescaline hydrochloride 0.100g for $23.65 USD, its just too bad you need the DEAs OK to buy it.

"I think we can add this one to the myth list "- Veronica Not so fast! You shouldn't even think of writing things off as myths until you find and review all available scientific data, and so far noone here has done that. Things that people wrote off as myths at one time or another include: Bacteria Viruses AIDS (before and after it was found to be viral) The world is round Atoms Molecules Other worlds Honest politicians (they are rare, but a few DO exist) etc... You shouldn't discount information just because you find it to be inconvenient or unlikely. Fact is there ARE bacteria that produce hepatotoxins, therefore it is not unthinkable that such bacteria could live somewhere where they could be eaten.

Dont know if its true or not, but it sounds like a good reason to pasteurize and dry your mushrooms. Even if it is scare tactics that kinda stuff CAN still happen. Ya only got one liver and a new one is VERY EXPENSIVE! And thats if you live long enough to make it to the top of the liver transplant list.

"Isnt the active ingredient Muscimol whilst muscarine is the undesirable toxin"- reville Oops left that out, yes muscimol is the prime active ingredient and its an alkaloid, but not only is it not that stable to strong acids or bases but it is also quite polar thus making a/b extraction hard with the normal 'non-polar' solvents available to home experimenters (even ether wouldn't be that effective, especially with the tiny amount that would be in pee, even if you salted the pee most of the freebase alkaloid would probably stay in the aqueous layer), it is also highly toxic in pure form. Also while muscarine may be a undesirable toxin by itself, in combo with muscimol one mans toxin is another mans entheogen spice. Just like the peyote ritual where the 'toxins' cause you to through up, many find that to be an integral part of the experience. "Drinking Pee after tripping on Psilocybian mushrooms does work."- reville Interesting! I wouldn't have expected that. Any idea what percent goes through unaltered? Does your gnome get a full strength trip off pee from a full strength trip or is the potency notably diminished? Anyways, in regards to purifying a single compound out of pee, no mater what you were after (aside from urea) youd need many liters of pee and the process would no doubt involve multiple extractions, ion exchange resins, column chromotography, maby activated carbon, vaccum dessication/sublimation/distilation, forming chemical derivatives to aid purification, then regenerating the original product, heavy metals, etc, etc... Technically possible (has been done many times in professional labs mostly with the pee steroids) but HARD, costly, and time consuming.

A. muscaria has Muscarine which is a quaternary amine, and it has the alpha amino acid (zwitterionic) Muscazone. Remember they were talkin 'bout feeding 'em to raindeer and milking the urine. I dont know how active muscazone is or if it would get through unaltered, but muscarine does so thats why people drink the pee of people trippin on A. muscaria. And your right, as soon as psilocybin (zwitterionic, non-CHCl3 sol.) hits the stomach its converted to psilocin (of course its probably a mute point because it would probably be metabolized at least to 4-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid before bein peed out, and that aint a entheogen [but it could be an active auxin])

H2O2 is not just a fungicide, its a biocide! It kills all living tissue. With larger (or more well protected) seeds it is possible to use a breif treatment with 1% or less and not kill too many. Any H2O2 will kill cacti seedling roots. Real fungicide is best.

Been watching this topic and my feelings can be summed up into two words: WHAT THE? -Recovery would be more costly than just buying more. -Why pass the A. muscaria through an animal, why not just use it, or extract it as is? -You would run into more toxic metabolites than desired product. -Some of the suggested materials contain quaternary amines as the only amine, or they are monobasic & monoacidic zwitterionic substances. Neither can be extracted by A/B methods or standard 'non-polar' solvents. -If your gonna play with pee, why not make pheromones out of it? The potential result is much more pleasant and you would have an interesting story to tell any resulting children ("How did I meet 'mommy'? I met her by smearing my body with chemically modified urine concentrates!")

I have heard conflicting reports concerning the combo, so proceed with caution. If one were to do such a study it would be important to use pure synthetic mescaline rather than the cacti-derived stuff. Most cacti-derived 'mescaline' actually has many other alkaloids mixed in which could alter the effect. Also important would be to use a greatly reduced dose at first just in case of extreme potentiation, or any toxic effects. Also remember that many commercial sources coat syrian rue seed with poison to 'deter' people from using their product as a drug (the bastards would rather send a person to the hospital than allow them to practice their religious or recreational rites.) And of course all the MAOI rules apply. No tryptamine containing foods, no alkaloid containing foods, etc... And of course the standard disclaimers: IM NOT A DOCTOR EXPERIMENT AT YOUR OUN RISK EXPERIMENT ONLY WHERE LEGAL ETC...

Genetic engeneering of plants can be a good thing. Many asian babies would get sick and go blind because ordinary rice has a harmful protein in it. The genetic engeneers steped in and stoped the rice from producing that harmful protein, and they made the rice produce beta carotene. This 'golden rice' is now good for your vision! GM plants can also be made to produce valuable drugs, for this they currently normally use animals or E. coli (the good kind) instead, but plants are much easier- no sterile bacterial culture, no damn cows, just plant a feild and watch the medicine grow. Of course, like anything, it has its dangers. Genetic engeneering is like a scalpel, in the hands of a fool it can only do damage. But in the hands of a well trained person it can save lives, but of course now and then even the well trained person can slip and do more harm than good. Maby we have enough food now, but what about when we pass the population 10 billion mark? Its not to far off. Also what about space food? If (when) we build colonies in outer space we will need crops that produce a maximum of nutrition and oxygen with a minimum of space and water. As with any advanced technology there is a initial fumbeling around stage. Thats where we are now. We can not yet write new genes, we can only find them. As the technology gets more advanced we will be able to properly engeneer plants to do many important functions and save many lives, but the technology cannot get more advanced if it is abandoned just because of a few mistakes, or even worse- because of simple fear. The first people to research radioactive materials died from it and many wanted to abandon research right then, but now radiation is used routinely in the worlds hospitals to save lives (not to mention in dentists offices to save teeth, in airports to stop bombs, etc.)

"as soon as you tell ppl you work in a scientific field the conversation falters and they run away. You get that?" OH Yeah, I get that static. Thats why I now talk to beakers, test tubes, plants, etc. more than I talk to people. But then you get emotionally attached to the beakers and its hell when they go away. I lost one of my favorite girls just a few days ago, a sweet old half liter graduated HEAVY walled pyrex beauty that graced me with her service for the last four years of her life. Dead at the tender age of eight to ten! She will be missed. At least my Vigreaux columns haven't left me yet, now That would hurt.

"And what do they adjust the pH of TTC with?" Glad you asked, the buffer adjusts the TTC to a final sol'n pH of about 4.9 Check this out: http://www.agro.agri.umn.edu/plant-tc/list...1/msg00048.html I presume that the buffer is to optimize the TTC test by making sure that the test reagent is not so acidic as to kill off more sensitive cells. Remember, this specific test was engeneered for microscopic (post cryo) cell culture testing, maby the buffer is not used in seed tests because seeds have so many cells that even if the TTC kills some cells in a viable seed, it wont kill 'em all, so you still get a positive result. Or maby the dudes were just aiming for the pH of a specific ringer sol'n or something and that info later got filtered out somehow. The plant-tc archive has a fair amount of info on TTC tests if you have the time to go through it.

I dont really think your liver alarm is going off (be advised I'M NOT A DOCTOR). What I think is that your body was habituated to a certain level of caffeine and then you reduced the amount and after a little while your body adjusted to the change. Then when you had lots more than usual everything above your current habituation level (everything past the first few cups) caused the (over?)stimulating effect. On the subject of funky livers, have you got into milk thistle seed? Its got several odd-ball flavones in it that do wonders for the liver. I use it as a preventative measure because I'm a chemist and some of those common solvents and reagents cause damage to the liver (why do the GOOOOD smelling solvents have to be hepatotoxic? Now OSHA wont let me roll around naked in my chem lab smearing isooctane and naphthalene all over my body- damn that sounds good. Mmmmm Naphthalene Sweeeet Isooctane Now you see why I'm on a computer and not out on a date. Organic chemistry is a Very Rare fetish and it scares alot of people off.

YEAH, I do the 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) test on some of my seeds. Works great. In my experience you DO NOT want to slice up the embryo. If the seeds are small and white (like capsicum seed) you can use the whole seed, but if the seed coat is a dark color (like watermelon seed) you should cautiously remove the seed coat and do it that way (removing the coat before the test makes the test go faster. But scaring the coat before the test, and removing the coat after the test (after the seeds swell, don't use non-swollen seeds) is far more accurate because it minimizes pretest stress and false positives due to physical damage and bacteria. If you REALLY want to you can use just the embryo, but the embryo must not be exposed to air for more than a minute before placing in the TTC solution. I use 0.1 to 0.25% TTC for my simple seed tests. Some dudes use a 0.05 M phosphate buffer at pH 5.80 with upto 1% TTC for cell culture testing. And if your testing pollen viability under a microscope I have been told it is required to use a filter sterilized sucrose/TTC solution with some incubation to activate pollen. Also, some alternatives to TTC have been developed. One more common one is MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2-)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide] This is often used for the above mentioned pollen test. I have never used MTT, so don't ask me how well it works. Any questions?

"I can only find refs to it being a tonic."- Torsten Phlorizin: "Formerly [used] as antimalarial"- Merck Index 8th ed. "Suggested as a test for kidney function and has also been used as an antiperiodic, but it is more dangerous than valuable"- The Dispensatory of the United States of America 1960 Edition

To get rid of the cats you could cover the area with chili powder (not to much at the very base of the cacti though, that could promote rotting.)

Ashoka, I tried to respond to your email concerning fatalii seed, but the mail was returned as undeliverable (probably just an AOL foulup, that happens sometimes) so I thought I would post my response here: I've only saved two dozen seeds so far (from the first harvest i.e. lower viability) because I have not yet got around to protecting them from crossbreeding with my other peppers, so those seeds may well be a cross between fatalii and chinchi uchu (or maybe caribbean red or something else but chinchi uchu is the heavy pollen producer). So if you like gambling, sure I'll be willing to trade. However, if you want a set of genetically pure seeds you can buy them here: http://www.reimerseeds.com/item.jhtml?UCID...619&PRID=346790 Oh... If you do start growing fatalii, heres some useful fatalii trivia. About 200 years ago some slaves were repatriated and before leaving the americas they stuffed their pockets with some hot pepper seeds. Some of the seeds miraculously made it through the long sea voyage and were planted in three or four african countries. The seeds that were planted in the area that is now the central african republic evolved into the modern fatalii. So now you know- something good actually did come out of slavery! [This message has been edited by Auxin (edited 28 May 2002).]

If you've got lots of that mixed oil you could purify it by saponification. The goodies are in the non-saponifiable fraction. Butane extraction is very dangerous, and so is the product if your not careful. As a wise man once said: "It can easily kill you."

Are there any Capsicum species native to Australia? If so, are there any good hot rare ones that you know of? If so, where would I find the seeds? I want to breed a hybrid that represents every continent on earth (except Antarctica of course), so far I have ones from Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Asia will be easy, but i've never heard of Australian ones. Any info will be helpful. Red ones are best (more vitamin A & C). Thanks Ok, I'm told I mis-spoke. There are no truly native species anywhere but in the americas, it is an introduced plant everywhere else. What I want is a purely australian variety of C. chinese (prefered), C. annuum, or C. baccatum. I am also told that my best bet would be New South Wales. [This message has been edited by Auxin (edited 20 May 2002).]

I posted this elsewhere but some people just dont go into bushfoods I guess. Im looking for AUSTRALIAN VARIETIES of Capsicum sp. Do you know of any? If so, where would I find the seeds? I want to breed a hybrid that represents every continent on earth (except Antarctica of course), so far I have ones from Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Asia will be easy, but i've never heard of Australian ones. Y'all grow 36,000 tons of commercial peppers, so surely a new 'Australian' variety has popped up by now. Any info will be helpful. Red ones are best (more vitamin A & C). I want to rejoin all races of hot peppers, a truly globalized pepper for a globalized world. Peppers of the world unite and revel in a glorious future of mouth burning, brain melting pepperdom, free yourself from the confines of racial pepper preferance and move into a new millenium of pepper equality and cooperation. If your master is forcing you to breed with your own kind against your will, jump in the mail and come to the USA- Land Of The Free, And Home Of Pepper Equality. Once peppers unite the world may follow, long live the pepper revolution! Thanks