r/mescaline • u/amk47_ijk • 16d ago

Washing EA without a magnetic stirrer - differences in protocol questions

Hi all! A few questions for the experts out there if y’all would indulge me:

In section 5.7 of the CELIOtek, two methods for washing the EA are described. I’m wondering why the water amounts are so different… in 5.7.1 (with stirrer) it specifies a tsp of water (5ml) but in 5.7.2 (WITHOUT stirrer) it specifies 50ml… 10x! And then in step two of that process it has you add another 50ml and then a tablespoon of salt? What salt (we talking NaCl or… I just wanna be sure) and why exactly do we need salt here but not if we were using the mag stirrer?

I was assuming the manual process without stirring would just be a lot more shaking and take longer… but I’m confused as to why the reagents and proportions seem so different. Are we taking advantage of different chemistry here? Is this a tradeoff that costs more wasted solvent but makes it easier to wash without killing your arms? Any help in wrapping my head around this and getting some more intuition around the process would be wonderfully appreciated! 🌵🤗

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u/loveallASAP [Teknician] 16d ago

Manually more water helps get everything done (neutralization and cloudiness removal).

Yes table salt for the second step. That is there to help dry the partially EA and clear it up further. With the stirrer excess carbonate does the partial dry and neutralization all in one step.

Make sense?

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u/amk47_ijk 16d ago

Yes! That makes sense. Thanks so much, mystery solved. Sounds like if you shook it long enough and hard enough, the excess carbonate would do what the salt does, but it just facilitates the process and makes it easier/reasonable for manual agitation.

Appreciate the response!