The methods found on most internet sites, such as that of Daniel Siebert, for extracting leaves give a product sometimes referred to as 'black wax'.
This product contains so much chlorophyll and related compounds that although green, looks black to the eye.
Trying to crystallise salvinorin A straight from blackwax is extremely difficult. The impurities which make up the bulk of the blackwax precipitate out of solution before the salvinorin A. If this doesn't occur another stumbling block must be overcome - the dissolved chlorophylls and other junk keeps the salvinorin in solution stopping any crystallisation.
To obtain salvinorin A in its pure form, from blackwax, chromatography is used. Good examples of the procedure can be found on Daniel Siebert's web page.
There is another method, which yields pure salvinorin A using only acetone and an alcohol. This method has not been published. It goes against the usual way which plant materials are extracted but gives surprisingly good results.
I won't give the method out step by step, but it involves
The salvinorin A content in leaves I have tested, ranged from 1.5mg/g for home grown plants, upto a massive 5.4 mg +/- 10% for mexican plants harvested during summer.
Sorry but the information has been temporarily removed. It may be replaced at a later date.
------------
