Mescaline extraction

Recent studies have demonstrated mescaline extract toxicity in mouse and human leukocyte models of immune systems. 

Ephedrine, widely used as a decongestant, was a known drug in China over 2000 years ago. Indians in Mexico and the Southwest have used the hallucinogen mescaline, extracted from the peyote cactus, for centuries. 

Both of the alkaloids anhalamine (62) from l ophophora williamsii and lophocerine (63) from l ophocereus schotti were isolated (after the properties of purified mescaline had been noted) in the search for materials of similar behavior. Interestingly, lophocerine, isolated as its methyl ether, after dia2omethane treatment of the alkaU-soluble fraction of total plant extract, is racemic. It is not known if the alkaloid in the plant is also racemic or if the isolation procedure causes racemization. 

Mescaline and related alkaloids are found in varying amounts in cacti of the genera Lophophora, Gymnacalycium, Stensonia, Mammillaria, Ariocarpus, Opuntia, Trichocereus, Pelecyphora, and probably others. Members of the Native American Church do quite well with the dried cactus, but extraction of mescaline is desirable since the pure compound seems to produce fewer unpleasant side effects (e.g., nausea). For an excellent review on the occurrence and chemistry of the mescaline type compounds, see JPS 59,1699(1970) (cf. JPS 60,655(1971)). Various species of these cacti occur in southwestern U.S. as well as Central and South America and have been used by the Aztecs and others for millennia. For a good review of peyote see Lloydia 36,1-58(1973). 

Extraction of Mescaline from Cactus JACS 88,4218(1966), Lloydia 29,318(1966)... 

This is a rapid, convenient procedure. If trimethoxybenzyl alcohol is used in place of p-anisyl alcohol, mescaline will result. Shake 100 g p-anisyl alcohol (or 0.72 moles analog) with 500 ml concentrated HCI for 2 minutes. Wash the organic phase with water, 5% NaHC03 and water, and then add over 40 minutes to a stirred slurry of 49 g NaCN in 400 ml dimethylsulfoxide with ice water cooling to keep temperature at 35-40°. After completing addition, remove cooling bath, stir for 90 minutes and then add to 300 ml water. Separate the small upper layer and extract the aqueous-DMSO layer... 

Figure 5. An example of protoalkaloids. Mescaline is the alkaloid derived from L-tyrosine and extracted from the Peyote cactns (Lophophora williamsii) belonging to the Cactns family (Cactaceae). MescaUne has strong psychoactive and haUncinogenic properties. Peyote cactns grows in the desert areas of northern Mexico and the sonthern parts of the USA. This plant was nsed in Pre-Colnmhian America in the shamanic practice of local tribes.

The transmethylation hypothesis depended on the psychosis of mescaline as an example of how methylated compounds similar in structure to the monoamine neurotransmitters could be psychotogenic, and demonstrated how methionine, the precursor of the methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine, could exacerbate the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia in patients. This theory was fed by studies of the now notorious pink spot, an amine found in paper chromatography of urine extracts from schizophrenics and thought to be 3,4-dimethoxyphenylethylamine (i.e., O-methylated dopamine). Subsequent studies eventually identified this as another compound or compounds, primarily of dietary origin. Another methylated derivative erroneously proposed to be found in higher quantities in schizophrenia was dimethyltryptamine. This compound is similar in structure to LSD, the hallucinogenic nature of which was the key to the serotonin deficiency hypothesis, which proposed that the known antagonism of serotonin (5-HT) by LSD indicated that psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia may result from a hypofunction of 5-HT. 

Another naturally occurring drug that is similar to amphetamine can be found in the cactus Lophophora williamsii. Extracts are used to prepare a drink called peyote that contains 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl-ethylamine(the meth and phenyl point to a molecule that is quite lipid soluble). Known as mescaline, this compound is structurally similar to the catecholamines dopamine and norepinephrine but seems to act more directly upon serotonin receptors because of the presence of the meth-oxy groups on the molecule. This feature of the compound s structure would make the compound more fat-soluble and therefore better able to enter the brain quickly and may explain... 

Today though, in academic literature as well as street usage, the drug is referred to as both mescaline and peyote (regardless from which cactus it is actually extracted), often with both words having the same meaning. However, in the strictest sense, mescaline refers to the hallucinogenic crystalline extract of the peyote cactus, a form that is rare. 

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the usual dose of mescaline that will produce hallucinations is about 0.3-0.5 g, which is the equivalent of about 5 g of dried peyote. The effect of the drug lasts about 12 hours. Mescaline can be extracted from peyote or produced synthetically. 

Use of peyote or mescaline carries the same fines and punishments as any other Schedule I substance, which can include imprisonment. NAC members who use peyote outside the religious ceremony are not exempt from the consequences for illegal use. The federal guidelines refer specifically to the peyote cactus, L. williamsii. However, any other psychoactive cactus bought and used with the express intent of extracting the mescaline content will carry the same consequences under the law as using the more common form of the peyote cactus. 

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, mescaline could be purchased from several chemical supply houses in the form of sulfate or hydrochloride crystals. In 1970, mescaline and peyote were "scheduled as part of a Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, which established penalties for possession, manufacture or distribution "a term of imprisonment of not more than 15 years, a fine of not more than 25,000, or both. Title 21 proscribes possession of "all parts of the plant presently classified as Lophophora williamsii, whether growing or not, the seeds thereof, any extract from any part of such a plant, every compound, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of such a plant, its seeds or extracts. ... 

Peyote can be eaten fresh or in its dried state, or it can be made into a tea by boiling. It can be extracted from the dried or fresh state and made into a tar that can be taken in capsule form by boiling the ground or blended material and filtering away the roughage. A coffee filter or even a stocking can be used, with the liquid being evaporated afterward Mescaline is soluable in chloroform it is one of the few freebase compounds that isn t soluable in ether. 

This is a rapid technique which can be used to determine whether mescaline might be present in a sample [2]. An extract is prepared from the plant material by powdering the latter and then repeatedly extracting this into methanol/880... 

The ammonia in the solvent system will convert the mescaline present into its free base form, thus resulting in a more efficient extraction. Ether and methanol are immiscible, with the lipids being more soluble in the former. They are thus removed from the sample, so maintaining the drug component in the methanol (in which it is more soluble) as its free base form. 

Morphine, cocaine, and mescaline are all examples of drugs that occur in plants but are commonly available in refined form as white powders, sold both legally and illegally. Some of them, such as mescaline, can easily be synthesized in laboratories, but even when they are, we can still call them natural drugs because the molecules already exist in nature. Others, such as cocaine and morphine, have more complex molecular structures. Chemists can make them in laboratories, but it is not cost efficient to do so. All the cocaine and morphine on the black market and in pharmacies arc extracted from coca leaves and opium poppies. 

Peyote is ingested in various forms, including dried buttons, tincture of peyote (70% alcohol), and panpeyote (chloroform extract of ground peyote). Synthetic mescaline has been administered orally, intravenously, subcutaneously, and intramusculary. 

Our peyote experiments have been a resounding success, we have sent capsules of our extract to several aficionados of psychedelic preparations, and received very positive reports comparing the natural alkaloidal blend favorably with both synthesized mescaline and other psychedelics. Institutional researchers would of course immediately dismiss our results as anecdotal and subjective, and we... 

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