Capsaicin(oids) Extraction, Chilli growing

[Swany]

Well, I have, and am myself, humbled people with the power of this amazingly primal chemical. Essentially, it equals pain. Nothing else to really say about it. So, we move to extraction.

 

Pure capsaicin is a white powder that must be handled in overpressure suits, and is essentially a neurotoxin of doom.

For hotness scale, it is roughly 16,000,000 scoville units.

Pepper spray: 2,000,000

Habenaro peppers: 300,000

Jalepenos: 50-80,000 (I think)

 

So, as you can see, it is very potent. Contact with anything, eyes, hands, balls, nose, will result in burning/blistering. It is recommended to wear gloves during the extraction of the capsaicinoids and handling thereof. I have personally nonchalantly rubbed my nuts, nose, and eyes while handling (and after) this stuff, I was NEVER in direct contact. IT WAS THE WORST PAIN I HAVE EVER BEEN IN!!!

 

Well, it couldve been. Thankfully, the amounts were so trace I could not see them. If your into that kinda stuff, I touched my 'thing' when I was taking a piss and noticed it was warm. Well, yeah, I figured... hmm not bad, kinda feels goo-OH MAH GOODNESS!!!!

 

Play with fire and you get burnt.

 

So, anyhow, onto extraction. Capsaicin(oids) are all non-polar, so I opted to use denat. alch. for extraction. Chopped habenaros, placed in a dehydrator for a day, and they were crispy and dry. Placed in 600ml beaker, (forgot to weigh dry product, started with 1lb of wet), This was crushed with a spoon, mostly, it was like not-so crushed charcoal. Meshes of all sorts, for an analogy. I covered it with the denat. alch, then stirred it hard for a few minutes, covered it, and left it at STP for the weekend while I went to play hockey. Upon returning, I warmed it to sort of reflux, and then filtered it all. Recieved about 120mls of bright orange/red liquid, and this was slowly boiled to about 3mls. At the end, it was starting to seperate from the alch, and was very dark. Pictures are coming.

 

It was great fun. I plan to re-extract the saved filtrate.

[justanotherpyro]

Capsaicin and similar substances have interested me for some time. I did a lot of reading on the extraction, but I never did attempt one because I couldn't find habeneros, and didn't want to waste my time with jalapenos. Where did you get yours from Swany?

 

A precipitate of pure capsaicin is unbelievably dangerous! It can cause very serious harm if you breathe any of it in. Do you have an estimate as to how strong your liquid was?

[Swany]

Found 2 sources. Super-Walmart had them for 12$ per lb, or I could order them through the grocery store for 5$ per lb. Just ask around, they will find them for you.

[justanotherpyro]

I think it may be regional. I just had a great idea though. There is a mexican market down the road that may have them.

[Draco_Aster]

I an definitely interested in making some. I don't know how I will go about finding habenaros in Australia so I may see if using powdered and ground cayenne pepper (generally rated at 30,000 to 50,000) is worth using. Just how much is needed to produce a gram of pure(ish) capsaicin?

 

Acetone seems to be the route I will be taking with solvents....or metho might be cheaper

 

I read somewhere that 1g of pure capsaicin is worth over $5000 But that might just some kind be internet based misconception.

 

Found this on wikipedia - (trans-8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide)

 

EDIT: by comparing at the 'hotness' in pure capcaicin and the peppers I would need 200g to get 1g of pure....but I doubt that is accurate

[TheSidewinder]

Draco,

 

Given your location, if you can get them easier there's a couple of varieties of Thai peppers that are considerably "hotter" than habaneros. There's a variety that looks like an immature purple string bean I once made the mistake of trying. I can take straight habanero, but when I tried this one I thought I was going to DIE.

 

I'm assuming the hotter the pepper, the more capsaicin? If so, that one was just plain nuclear.....

 

M

[Swany]

You don't want pure capsaicin. Fluffy powders that get everywhere and cause extreme pain/death are not good.

 

For practical purposes, this works well. It is easily handled(warm when you want it to flow, cool when you don't), and looks like a warning sign.

 

Your extraction will not be 100% either. The whole expirement cost me $5, so it wasn't life or death...

[asilentbob]

I have been curious about this for a while... Did you find a chart with the various capsaicin levels in foods? If so id be grateful for the link, im currently googling, but my computer is being a douche and failing to load the pages 75% of the time.

 

If/when i do a little extraction ill probably use either black pepper or i think i have some powdered cayanne...

[justanotherpyro]

The main reason I wanted capsaicin was to be used as a practical joke. Drip a small drop into someones mashed potatoes or something. Granted it could be dangerous but with some calculation it would be decently safe. My problem was extracting it and putting it in solution that was ingestable. Like ethanol. But I have none.

[aquaman]

So a couple drops of capsaicin will make someones food like a hundred habenaros? That souds like a good prank but is a couple of drops deadly or seriously hurt them? Tells us when somebody gets the amount of this stuff correct.

[asilentbob]

I would think that perhaps the extract of a lb of habeneros (s.p) in about 500mls of ethanol would be ok. Anyone care to try? If i had a lb around id do it. I mean, that a drop of around that concentration would be pretty strong, but not dangerous. Obviously, starting at a higher dilution, just in case and besides the point that it would hurt like hell either way.

 

Oh, and for a pretty good chart, check wikipedia's article on the Scoville scale.

[BigBang]

From my recent conversation with Swany, he has already pulled a practical joke with his. He dipped toothpicks into it and said it was cinnimon. Aperantly he told one what it was, but the guy thought he was man enough to handle it. This guy chewed on it, said it was fucking hot, ran out of class, and came back with a bunch of water, which doesn't do a thing.

[Draco_Aster]

That would be another thing to consider....antidote. Something to ease the pain. I have heard that some chilli antidotes include any dairy products, milk, ice cream, cheese etc. I have used olive oil when I was dared to eat 1/2 tablespoon of dried cayene (sp?) pepper.....ohhhh that was not nice

 

BTW- Red Savin habanero - over 577,000is hotter than a habanero.

[justanotherpyro]

It is a simple acid base reaction. If your mouth burns, add some NaHCO3 to cup of water and use it as a mouth rinse.

[Swany]

Not really, I am nearly positive it isn't acidic. Rather, it mimics the action of heat, like menthol does cold. It locks into pain receptors and acts like any other drug, IIRC.

[Douchermann]

Sodium bicarbonate can have a nasty taste though, but I guess its better than the burning "sensation" left by peppers

[justanotherpyro]

My chemistry teacher let me in on that tip, and it works well for tobasco. You're right about the menthol aspect though. Drinking milk after a mint hurts really really bad. Although its one of those things you just can't stop doing for some reason..like tonguing a sore spot in your mouth.

[Rooster]

The reason dairy products and the like is often used to take away "hot taste", or the burning sensation, is that it contains fat. Capsaicin will dissolve in fat, so the milk, cream, yoghurt (used with a lot of indian food to ease the burning), olive oil or any other oil you can ingest will take away SOME of the burning. Some capsaicin will already have seeped in through your skin though, so of course it is not 100% effective.

 

Capsaicin and its derivatives is also soluble in alcohol, so taking a shot of bacardi 151 right after eating a red savin habanero will ease the burning from the habanero. It might induce its own burning though

[_Po_]

I was listening to a science segment on the radio last year some time. The guy said cold butter is the best thing to stop the burning. The fat content and low temperature of cold butter helps a lot in relieving the burning sensation.

[Swany]

Nothing quite like a glass of warm olive oil though... no?

 

I suggest getting the concentrated stuff, using the chop, dry, powder, denat. alch extraction method. The stuff is amazingly hot, and I would reason I could dope at 1000 toothpicks, perhaps more. Probably more.

 

Watch for allergic reactions though.

 

Thus-so-far, I have:

1) Given it freely

2) Tested the pain reliving effects of marajuana with it(not me, but it was directed by me, and is very scientific)

3) Rubbed it on pencil parts that people inadvertantly chew on

4) Placed it on brass instruments mouthpieces

 

Note that I did not 'directly' apply it to these, as those concentrations would be insane. Rather, I took a doped toothpick, and rubbed a wet finger on it, and applied with that. Applying directly from the bottle would be pure hell.

 

You have to wash your hands perpetually when working with it, or the next time you rub anything of yours it will burn badly.

 

Friend of mine applied it to his balls via the finger method. That was amusing. A solid 8 on the pain scale for about 15 minutes, and not even visible that he put it on. Basically he looked like he was being perpetually kicked in the balls for 15 minutes.... Think indvisible icyhot, for those who are familiar with that sensation.

[Douchermann]

HAHAHAHAHAHA nice swany. I bet you could dissolve the capsaicin in some medical grade acetone, then put a couple drops of that on someones food. The acetone would evaporate quickly as long as they weren't currently eating it.

[justanotherpyro]

I'm having a hard time getting a hold of Habeneros and I want to have some fun with people I don't care for at school.

 

Walmart doesn't have any, neither does albertsons. I think I may try a substitute with fresh jalpenos.

[Mumbles]

I probably wouldn't use acetone. Perhaps something less toxic, like say ethanol? The tiny amount of solvent could not be detected by the consumer.

[Rogue Chemist]

I'm having a hard time getting a hold of Habeneros and I want to have some fun with people I don't care for at school.

 

Walmart doesn't have any, neither does albertsons. I think I may try a substitute with fresh jalpenos.

Ive done it with Jalapenos justanotherpyro, due to just how far this stuff goes, even two peppers can go a long way...

[Douchermann]

Yeah, why didn't I think of ethanol. You can use jalepenos, you just need more.