This post discussing all the steps for obtaining opium, beginning from the planting of poppies all the way to the extraction, start from whatever step you are at.
Planting Opium Poppies
Opium alkaloids (morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine ... are most abundant in the poppy kind 'papaver somniferum'. In most countries they ca be bought freely, since they are also often grown for their seeds, which are used in baking. If in you country it is not legal though, it is normally easy to import them from one of the neighboring countries, at least in Europe. If you intend to use seeds from a baking shop (which would be the last option), it is important to make sure they have not been salted or roasted or in other form processed, germination rates will usually be low.
When actually planting the poppies, you have two options, either you plant them in the early spring if you want them to flower the same year or you plant them the fall before so they flower the next year (they will flower earlier that year if you do that). You can strew them onto the soil where you want them to grow (flower soil works well). They don't grow well in pods normally because of how their roots are, you will also only hardly be able to replant them somewhere else once they are grown. This is why if they are growing too close to each other it is better to just thin them out. They need much sun, which is crucial for both growing them and for their internal alkaloid production. It should take maybe 3-4 weeks from sowing until they flower, and once the flowers are gone (which happens quite soon after they started flowering, it only takes a few days before you can start harvesting.
Harvesting Poppy Latex
The overwhealming majority of alkaloids is fond in the latex of the poppies, so you should not try to shred the whole plant and then extract from that, but instead you will want to slice open the seed pods (which form after the flower is gone) slightly, and wait for a white or brown liquid to come out (this is the latex). It can be more or less watery depending on how much water the poppies had, and colors range from white and mostly off-white t slightly brown or red-brown. You can either cut and then almsot immediately collect with a continaer or vial, or you can let it dry and scrape it off later, which often though leads to losses as some of it drips down. The same poppy can also be cut multiple times per harvesting season, every other day or even every day.
After harvesting the latex, whcih normally is a viscios liquid is left to dry. Naturalyl is will change in coler to a strong brown, which is due to oxidation (for example morphine can form an oxidative dimer in the presence of oxygen which is pseduomorphine and has a yellow-brown colour). After it's dried you can scrape it off whatever surface it is collected on, and fill it into the vessel you plan to use for the extraction. You could also already use this dired latex, which is essentially natural opium, it is about 20% alkaloids by weight. Smaller flakes will increase the efficiency of your extraction, so if you have rather big ones it is a good idea to split them into smaller ones.
If you plan to plant again, you can also collect the seeds, which form inside the seed pots. For this simply wait until the pods are well dried out, and cut them open. Otherwise they will eventually pop open and drop the seeds onto the ground, by which they somewhat also re-sow on their own already. Let the seeds dry for a bit and store them for whenever you need them, favorable in a not moisture tight bag but in a dry and cool place.
Alkaloid Extraction via A/B extraction.
Like many other alkaloids it is possible to extract opium alkaloids with an A/B extraction, as their natural form is free base. Their pKas are between 8.00-8.50.
Procedure:
1. A bit more than the minimum amount of distilled water to dissolve your approximate amount of alkaloids is measured out (Dried Latex is about 20% alkaloids by weight, about 17% of it morphine, which as sulfate salt has a high solubility in water, you can find it for the specific temperature in the place you want to do the extraction)
(Do more than the minimum amunt of distilled water, as you will also dissolve some other components besides the alkaloids, set it around 120-130% of the minimum amount)
2. Add concentrated sulphuric acid (you canaadd more dilute sulphuric acid too, just be sure to account for the extra water added) until you reach a pH of around 4.00.
3. Pour your solvent over the dried flakes of poppy latex , and stirr slightly at RT. 60-120 mintes should be sufficient, but it is not problematic to leave it in longer, the k for morphine hydrolysis at this pH is low. You can observe how the latex flakes swell and also slightly discolor to be more palid. You can observe a slight increase in pH as the basic alkaloids are dissolved.
4. Prepare a simple gravity filtration system, wetened filter paper, and beaker, consider using a glass rod when pouring the solution into the filter to prevent spills (gravity filtration is sufficient as the RM is at RT already).
5. After all of the solution has passed, discard the reidue on the filter, this is mostly plant matter and polymeres.
6. Dissolve KOH flakes in the minimum amount of water. Add dropwise (or if you are on big scale, by a bit more) in order to basify towatds a pH of 10.00-10.50. You should see white and off white flakes precipitate from solution, startign as early as pH of 8.00. The solution remains a saturated brown.
7. Filter they basified solution again, with gravity filtration. This time the liquid part can be discarded, and the residue on the filter is morphien free base (free base of codeine and thebaine etc. will also be part of it but in much smaller quantities).
8. Leave it to dry in air or over MgSO4 until it is full dried. It should be a light grey flaky and brittle powder.
From here on you can proceed with various other forms of processing this freebase. You can redissolve it in a minimum amount of acicidc water (pH 5.00-6.00 should be sufficient, but you can go lower). Then let the water evaporate in air or under reduced pressure. You can also proceed by seperating the morphien from the other alkaloids (there are procedures for this to eb found on this forum). You couldnalso purify by an organic extraction on the freebase, as the freebase will migrate from water to organic solvent as the pH is increased, while impurities stay back.
It is also noteworthy that you can do the whoel extraction also as an organic solvent extraction entirely, simply by dissolving in organic solvent and then filtering and letting the filtered solution evaporate. The amount and nature of imprurities will depend on how selective your solvent is for the alkaloids.
Planting Opium Poppies
Opium alkaloids (morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine ... are most abundant in the poppy kind 'papaver somniferum'. In most countries they ca be bought freely, since they are also often grown for their seeds, which are used in baking. If in you country it is not legal though, it is normally easy to import them from one of the neighboring countries, at least in Europe. If you intend to use seeds from a baking shop (which would be the last option), it is important to make sure they have not been salted or roasted or in other form processed, germination rates will usually be low.
When actually planting the poppies, you have two options, either you plant them in the early spring if you want them to flower the same year or you plant them the fall before so they flower the next year (they will flower earlier that year if you do that). You can strew them onto the soil where you want them to grow (flower soil works well). They don't grow well in pods normally because of how their roots are, you will also only hardly be able to replant them somewhere else once they are grown. This is why if they are growing too close to each other it is better to just thin them out. They need much sun, which is crucial for both growing them and for their internal alkaloid production. It should take maybe 3-4 weeks from sowing until they flower, and once the flowers are gone (which happens quite soon after they started flowering, it only takes a few days before you can start harvesting.
Harvesting Poppy Latex
The overwhealming majority of alkaloids is fond in the latex of the poppies, so you should not try to shred the whole plant and then extract from that, but instead you will want to slice open the seed pods (which form after the flower is gone) slightly, and wait for a white or brown liquid to come out (this is the latex). It can be more or less watery depending on how much water the poppies had, and colors range from white and mostly off-white t slightly brown or red-brown. You can either cut and then almsot immediately collect with a continaer or vial, or you can let it dry and scrape it off later, which often though leads to losses as some of it drips down. The same poppy can also be cut multiple times per harvesting season, every other day or even every day.
After harvesting the latex, whcih normally is a viscios liquid is left to dry. Naturalyl is will change in coler to a strong brown, which is due to oxidation (for example morphine can form an oxidative dimer in the presence of oxygen which is pseduomorphine and has a yellow-brown colour). After it's dried you can scrape it off whatever surface it is collected on, and fill it into the vessel you plan to use for the extraction. You could also already use this dired latex, which is essentially natural opium, it is about 20% alkaloids by weight. Smaller flakes will increase the efficiency of your extraction, so if you have rather big ones it is a good idea to split them into smaller ones.
If you plan to plant again, you can also collect the seeds, which form inside the seed pots. For this simply wait until the pods are well dried out, and cut them open. Otherwise they will eventually pop open and drop the seeds onto the ground, by which they somewhat also re-sow on their own already. Let the seeds dry for a bit and store them for whenever you need them, favorable in a not moisture tight bag but in a dry and cool place.
Alkaloid Extraction via A/B extraction.
Like many other alkaloids it is possible to extract opium alkaloids with an A/B extraction, as their natural form is free base. Their pKas are between 8.00-8.50.
Procedure:
1. A bit more than the minimum amount of distilled water to dissolve your approximate amount of alkaloids is measured out (Dried Latex is about 20% alkaloids by weight, about 17% of it morphine, which as sulfate salt has a high solubility in water, you can find it for the specific temperature in the place you want to do the extraction)
(Do more than the minimum amunt of distilled water, as you will also dissolve some other components besides the alkaloids, set it around 120-130% of the minimum amount)
2. Add concentrated sulphuric acid (you canaadd more dilute sulphuric acid too, just be sure to account for the extra water added) until you reach a pH of around 4.00.
3. Pour your solvent over the dried flakes of poppy latex , and stirr slightly at RT. 60-120 mintes should be sufficient, but it is not problematic to leave it in longer, the k for morphine hydrolysis at this pH is low. You can observe how the latex flakes swell and also slightly discolor to be more palid. You can observe a slight increase in pH as the basic alkaloids are dissolved.
4. Prepare a simple gravity filtration system, wetened filter paper, and beaker, consider using a glass rod when pouring the solution into the filter to prevent spills (gravity filtration is sufficient as the RM is at RT already).
5. After all of the solution has passed, discard the reidue on the filter, this is mostly plant matter and polymeres.
6. Dissolve KOH flakes in the minimum amount of water. Add dropwise (or if you are on big scale, by a bit more) in order to basify towatds a pH of 10.00-10.50. You should see white and off white flakes precipitate from solution, startign as early as pH of 8.00. The solution remains a saturated brown.
7. Filter they basified solution again, with gravity filtration. This time the liquid part can be discarded, and the residue on the filter is morphien free base (free base of codeine and thebaine etc. will also be part of it but in much smaller quantities).
8. Leave it to dry in air or over MgSO4 until it is full dried. It should be a light grey flaky and brittle powder.
From here on you can proceed with various other forms of processing this freebase. You can redissolve it in a minimum amount of acicidc water (pH 5.00-6.00 should be sufficient, but you can go lower). Then let the water evaporate in air or under reduced pressure. You can also proceed by seperating the morphien from the other alkaloids (there are procedures for this to eb found on this forum). You couldnalso purify by an organic extraction on the freebase, as the freebase will migrate from water to organic solvent as the pH is increased, while impurities stay back.
It is also noteworthy that you can do the whoel extraction also as an organic solvent extraction entirely, simply by dissolving in organic solvent and then filtering and letting the filtered solution evaporate. The amount and nature of imprurities will depend on how selective your solvent is for the alkaloids.