So, 10g of isolate were dissolved in 150ml of ether and washed in a 1l separation funnel first with 300ml distilled water with 50g salt added and and 1g ascorbic acid with vigorous shaking for a few minutes and let settle for half an hour, then the process was repeated with 400ml water and 50g salt and 10g sodium bicarbonate, then 300ml distilled water and then 300ml saturated brine.
After this there was 100ml of ether cannabidiol solution left and it was dried with 5g calcium chloride pellets and filtered.
The ether was distilled off and the last bit of ether removed with a cheap ebay one stage vacuum pump rated at 5Pa.
Under vacuum the heat was increased to 120°C and then something peculiar happened. A steam developed in the boiling flask and condensed on the surface. It looked like water which it couldn’t be, and I wasn’t able to distill this off, so I let the boiling flask cool down and removed the vacuum.
When I sticked a finger into the boiling flask, it became clear that it is some sort of oil with a lower boiling point than cannabidiol. Maybe a synthetic cannabinoid.
Next I’m going to recrystalize the cbd in petrol ether and see if it gets rid of this contaminant.
