Isomerization of CBD Isolate Using ZnCl2

I am interested in converting CBD into delta 9 THC using zinc chloride as written here: Isomerization Of Cbd To Thc - THCFarmer

CBD can also be converted into delta-9-THC with anhydrous ZnCl2 at 150° without solvent (perform reaction best in vacuum as product is sensitive to oxidation):
Heat 0.5g CBD with 0.09g anhydrous ZnCl2 under vacuum with stirring. After 2 hours 40 to 50% delta-9-THC have formed.

This is all the information I could find online about this prep. Has anyone here done this or know anything more about this?

Using ZnCl2 would probably be best for me because I already have some on hand. I’m also wondering how contaminated the product would be with ZnCl2… Theoretically I could just add water, filter, and collect my solid of THC and some CBD.

Thanks.

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@Kingofthekush420

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I’ll be attempting this with an organic chemist in a week or so

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Cool! Let us know how it goes.

You are going to run this neat? How do you expect to get the solids to mix together? A stir bar isn’t as effective without solvent.

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Yeah that’s another issue I’ll have to figure out…

Not sure how integral it is to stir.

I wonder how applicable sonication is to this problem. Would still require a lot of heat to lower the viscosity I’m sure.

Mortar and pestle, and stir bar stir after. run under nitrogen or argon gas vacuum is kinda silly

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Run it in toluene in a pressure tube.

Things can work neat though while both being powders. For scaling up especially in this low tech industry its rather optimal to limit separation and solvent recovery.

Yes running in toluene in hot tube may increase yields/conversion rates but at what expense for work up/scale up.

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CBD is a liquid at 150c

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I don’t have access to nitrogen or really any inert gases. Do you think vacuum/inert atmosphere is required? Is THC that oxygen sensitive?

these gasses are not dangerous just buy a tank of argon.

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Depends how much you care about quality and yields. I’ve always found it to be cheaper in the long run and save much more time to wait until you can do it the right way. Plus the argon will likely come in handy later anyway, and it’s really not that expensive considering the value of the products you’re making and the potential cost of fucking it up.

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How is it economical when wholesale THC and CBD are essentially the same price.

THC isn’t legal where I live.

The margins on CBD are higher in my experiences. So I can produce CBD isolate for cheaper and then convert.

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You would have to get near quantitative yields for it to be worthwhile. In a regulated market, Thc distillate is worth a bit more now but in the apples to apples comparison of unregulated CBD vs THC markets, Thc is the same price but cheaper to make.

wrong, I can produce CBD isolate at a fraction of the cost you can produce thc oil. I appreciate your concern but the cost of cbd flower is so cheap and scaling cbd isolation is cheap and easy.

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How though? THC only requires distillation and CBD requires an extra isolation step? CBD is worth 5k a kilo, how is CBD cheaper