Winterization of Chlorophyll

bez420

bez420

Well-Known Member
I'm working on a batch of QWET. Didn't use any dry ice this time. So I extracted at -15 F. Then I sunbathed it nearly all day. Now it's back to -15F. I'm wondering if my 3-5 micron buchner will separate the chlorophyll at this temp? Or do I need to get it down to -50C with dry ice to remove any chlorophyll?
 
bez420

bez420

Well-Known Member
Apparently -15 F is cold enough. My Buchner Funnel filtered out a lot of frozen stuff that it didn't the first time before sunbathing.
 
Fadedawg

Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
What typically precipitates out at -15F is the fats and plant waxes.

Exposure to UV deprotonates the polar green C-55 Chlorophyll into non-polar brown C-55 Pheophytin which would be less soluble in ethanol and might precipitate out if the temperature were low enough.

How long did you soak the QWET at what temperature, and what color did the solution start out at?
 
bez420

bez420

Well-Known Member
About 3 minutes at -15F. Slightly green if any. Mostly black and amber around the edges. I just wanted to remove any chlorophyll that I could.

But what you're saying is once it's in there, changing the color is about all you can do. But if I wash at -50C using dry ice, won't get chlorophyll to start with?
 
Fadedawg

Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
As the temperature falls, the essential oil molecules get less soluble, and the solvent becomes less able to hold a solute.

The trick is that the longer chain molecules become less soluble faster than the shorter ones, so we can soak longer with minimal pickup of the longer ones.

Monoterpenes are C-10 (10 carbon atoms), Sesquiterpenes C-15, Cannabinoids C-22, plant waxes about C-30, Carotene C-40, and both Chlorophyll and Pheophytin are C-55.
 
bez420

bez420

Well-Known Member
Fadedawg said:
As the temperature falls, the essential oil molecules get less soluble, and the solvent becomes less able to hold a solute.

The trick is that the longer chain molecules become less soluble faster than the shorter ones, so we can soak longer with minimal pickup of the longer ones.

Monoterpenes are C-10 (10 carbon atoms), Sesquiterpenes C-15, Cannabinoids C-22, plant waxes about C-30, Carotene C-40, and both Chlorophyll and Pheophytin are C-55.
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Does that mean that when I extract lower than C-22, some Cannabinoids won't be extracted into my solvent?
 
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