From: "Dorothea Pfeiffer" Newsgroups: alt.drugs.chemistry Subject: Re: Methadone Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 19:25:07 +0200 Paneful wrote: > > I apologize if this question has already been addressed. > Methodone given out at rehab dosing clinics is mixed with a small amount > of fruit juice syrup. I have been told this is to prevent IV usage. I have also > heard (although from fairly unreliable sources) that shooting methadone under > these circumstaces is extremely dangerous. Does anyone know if it really is > unsafe to inject methadone mixed with the syrup? And if not how can I isloate > the drug from the juice? > Thanks. Dear Paneful, same question I asked couple of months ago. First off all, I know I lot of people who injected it even with th syrup, and didn't have any problems, except that it fucked up their veins. Here are the answers I got: >> 2. If I had a solution from methadone-HCL, water, sugar (some kind of >> syrup) and food color, how could I separate the sugar and the color >> (maybe other ingredients I don't know of) from the methadone and the >> water? Destillation?? The problem is that there wouldn't be a lot of the >> solution, maybe 200 ml with 1% methadone, and I wouldn't want to waste >> any. And, since methadone-HCL is solid (right??), wouldn't first the >> water evaporate and then leave me with sugar and methadone?? >My gut reaction is that you are almost correct. The food coloring would also >be left behind after evaporation. The problem as I see it would be in making >sure the methadone doesn't harbor any biological nasties in it. And using >heat to destroy them may also destroy the methadone. Injecting sugar >(probably dextrose) would not be a problem, assuming your pancreas is in >working order. It will just send insulin out to metabolize the sugar. Food >coloring also is probably not a problem, since your body can also metabolize >that. Perhaps there is a suitable solvent that will "sterilize" the >methadone and act as a suitable extraction medium. That means that it will >kill bacteria and can selectively dissolve only the methadone. >Or >If methadone can withstand 100 deg C (212 deg F), then I would suggest >putting it in a double boiler (putting it in a clean glass container and >then putting that into much larger container of boiling water). There is nor >reason to believe it can't handle 100 deg C. Wait until the water then >evaporates from the methadone container (it shouldn't take long at 100C), >then dissolve it into some sterile water just like I outlined above. >> 3. I know people who already inject the methadone including sugar and >> everything. Do you think it's hazardous to their health? >It probably isn't a great idea. All kinds of bacteria and yeasts are >floating around in the air and most of them are much happier in a >sugar/water solution. This means that they will happily swim around in your >methadone solution and would be just as happy swimming around in your blood. >So injecting your methadone solution as is would be an invitation for >disaster. SECOND POSTING: Question: Assume I had 200ml of a solution (1% methadone HCL, destilled water, syrup and food coloring). How could I seperate the syrup (sugar or dextrose, or whatever) and the food coloring from the solution? What happens when I can't seperate the mixture and still inject it? Does it cause any problems in the human body, even when I haven't got a problem with my pancreas? Answer: methadon is an amin, which has been made water soluble with the help of HCL. After making the solution basic with NaOH (ph > 7 at least), methadone won't be water soluble any more, although with a concentration of 1%, you won't be able to see a methadone layer. Sugar (syrup) will stay water soluble, food coloring I don't know. The basic solution has to etherized now (unable to translate the chemical term for that). 100ml water can be etherized out with approximately 4 x 50ml diethylether. Put the ether extracts together, dry out with waterfree Natriumsulfat (nothing else, otherwise methadone will be destroyed). To dry it put Natriumsulfat in ether solution, it's dry when the Natriumsulfat doesn't sick together any more. Then filter it, wash the left overs from the filter again with fresh ethe. Then let the ether solution evaporate (heat it carefully just a little bit. DANGER: Highly inflammable, don't touch with open flame!) After this step, the methadone has to be destilled (destillation under vacuum). The food coloring should, if it hasn't disappeared until this step, vanish during destillation. CAVE: Since you won't have a huge amount of methadone solution, the resulting amount of pure methadone after destillation will be really small. I.e. you cannot take a normal retort, but need a micro destillation retort. THIRD POSTING: It is basically the same as the one above.. ANSWER: The standard answer for such separations is acid-base-seperation. Methadone is an organic base, a kind of alkaloid. It's been made water soluble by forming a salt together with an acid, in this case with the HCL. If you turn this process upside down, you'll receive the free base of methadone again, which is pretty unsoluble in water. "The free base (mp. 78C) is pptd from solns of pH >6." is written in the Merck Index (newest edition) To carry out the described steps, I'd suggest to concentrate the methadone solution under vacuum. Solubility of methadone in water: 12g/100ml. 1. Reduce the volume under vacuum to 1/8 - 1/10. Mix with NaOH or ammoniak until ph 8-10. The colorless base will fall out. Depending on the consistency, filter out the base immediately, or etherize with diethylether (in German it reads like "shake the base out with ether"), remove the ether, wash it two times with alkaline water and let it evaporate. After this you can solve the base in HCL (food grade), (The pH of a 1% aq soln: 4.5 - 5.6, Merck Index), make it isotonic with NaCl and sterilize it. Methadone isn't very heat sensitive. END OF TRANSLATION Please, don't mind the terrible translation and the many mistakes, since I'm neither a native speaker of English nor e chemist. I hope you 'll get a rough idea of the process. Take care Doro