Why is the reclaim purple?

So I’ve noticed occasionally my claim on crc oil will be purple-ish. I’ve had one person inquire about it and I think it’s most noticeable on a puffco because of the white ceramic element. I’ll have to see if I notice it on my banger. But just tried some new stuff that was very purple material, but crc’d it and the claim was purple. I tried to get a good photo but here’s what I got…

I have noticed this with regular non CRC mechanically separated thca . I think it has something to do with ph . I have also noticed this with certain CRC oil . Its always the reclaim after it goes through water not the stuff right below the banger . Also notice it more prominently on my puffco . My guess would be Ph or slight impurities that mess with color ( just like distillate) whenever i smoke pure thca in general of any kind i notice pink, red , or purple tinted reclaim not all the time but occasionally

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What is it about pH tho? Can you elaborate?

High pH = Alkaline = Purple

Low pH = Acidic = Pink

People are still arguing the exact mechanism behind this and whether or not this phenomenon exists in CBD or THC exclusively.

I’ve seen it in both thc heavy and cbd heavy distillate. Chances are this material was run through MagSil or media with comparable pH.

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I left a rig in the sun the other day while working in the greenhouse and I came back to my entire rig being purple…

Reclaim was normal colored before it was left in sun for a few hours (if that)

Note: I have smoked crc (b80 or w1 only) non crc, cbd and cbda dabs through this

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Most that have this issue use t41 at some point it would be the ph swing & not properly reducing it back to a neutral state. I wouldn’t smoke that oil, it’ll literally smoke purple if you pay close attention.

I see but if pH is the negative logarithm of hydronium ion concentration in water what is it exactly people are talking about when they mention pH of an extract?

Or if they talk about the pH of solvent?

Is this some industry specific vernacular not specific to an actual chemical definition or process?

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I forgot to mention the effects of pH aren’t noticeable until the extract is exposed to oxygen at higher temperatures.

I’ve had some disty in a short path, that was running clear, when I reintroduced atmosphere boom, purple everywhere.

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That’s just wrong son. T41 is acidic.

People create rose colored distillate with T41.

Purple is almost always MagSil because someone was trying to remediate pesticides.

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I’ve done it multiple times myself, I only speak from experience.

I understand the confusion—you are correct that pH doesn’t exist without the presence of water. However, in this context one can view it as how protonated/deprotonated compounds in the extract may be.

When you pass a mixture (without water) through a powder that exhibits alkalinity when suspended in water we claim that the mixture is becoming more alkaline or higher pH. What should really be stated is that molecules are exhibiting behavior that would be typically seen when they are exhibited to alkaline conditions.

Hope this is clear and helps.

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OK that does help to give it some context. In that regard if we consider CBD and look at the hydroxyl groups one of them is attached to a conjugated six carbon ring so perhaps a shift in color is due to a change in a hydroxyl group that’s attached to that conjugated ring.

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Is there any way to get rid of this purple, such that it does not return when re-exposed to air? Chromatoraphy methods? Shift the pH back to near neutral? Other?

Neutralize pH with water washes until the pH of the effluent water is at 7.0-7.1.

@rust the mechanism is unclear, but that’s definitely a good guess. Colors and conjugated pi bonds certainly go together. :sunglasses:

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Have you, or anyone you know, tried these neutralization water washes with an actual buffered solution (e.g., citrate-phosphate buffer) instead of just ~pH7 water?

Yes, do not attempt this with plain distilled water, you’ll lose your cannabinoid fraction to emulsion layers in no time at all.

Most folks around here tend to use NaCl-Citrate with varying degrees of success.

Edit: typically around 3-5% NaCl

Makes sense, but are you using an actual buffered solution?

For example, like one of these:
https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/life-science/core-bioreagents/biological-buffers/learning-center/buffer-reference-center.html#citric

This will happen with pure THCa crc or not. One way to tell it’s pure is there aren’t any yellow contaminants to color the purple red

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If you’re smart you’ll use a stoichometrically balanced buffer as you’ve linked here.

But, by and large, a lot of folks are not.

When using a buffered solution you prevent a lot of pH imbalance issues and other issues like salt-retention in the non-polar region.

Check the search bar, there’s a ton of info on the forum regarding acid-base extraction as it pertains to cannabis extracts.

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