Comment · Sat, August 15, 2020 · ND Owner
Question on this Product: Rhodiola Rosea Extract Powder | 60 Grams | 3% Salidroside
Original post in this thread
Staragox · 3 points
I ordered the product in the title line on Amazon from Nootropics Depot (you were the seller), and I noticed that you sell a different Rhodiola extract that does not have Rosavins.
I was wondering if the Rhodiola Rosea Extract Powder that is 3% Salidroside, does not have the Rosavins removed?
What they were answering
johnnycoconut · 1 points
Hey,
Since you mentioned methanol, I figured I'd necro this thread to ask a lab question since you might know something about this and you've been floating the idea of maybe eventually coming out with a multivitamin. It doesn't really feel like an important top-level ND question though, which is why I'm asking it here.
A Chinese lab might make thiamine HCl (a common form in supplements) from thiamine mononitrate using a methodology such as https://patents.google.com/patent/CN103387573A/en
The preparation process comprises the steps of heating concentrated hydrochloric acid, subjecting a desorbed hydrogen chloride gas to cooling, drying and dehydration to obtain a hydrogen chloride gas; introducing the dry hydrogen chloride gas to a methanol solution to obtain a hydrogen chloride-containing acid methanol solution; dropwise adding the acid methanol solution to a methanol solution of thiamine nitrate for reaction; and obtaining thiamine hydrochloride after filtering, washing and drying. The preparation process for thiamine hydrochloride can prevent use of highly toxic and dangerous chemical chlorosulfonic acid, so that environment risks can be reduced
So apparently methanol is used in order to avoid using a worse alternative (chlorosulfonic acid).
Is this just standard procedure for making thiamine HCl?
Now let's say…
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
Is this just standard procedure for making thiamine HCl?
Yeah, and as long as you run analysis that the residual methanol is below your limit, that is fine.
Now let's say a thiamine supplement prepared in this fashion is dosed at 100mg and contains 0.013% residual methanol according to the certificate of analysis. Assuming the CoA is credible, that's 13 mcg per dose. I'm not really worried about this since people consume much higher amounts of methanol in hard cider and apparently don't go blind.
USP limits for methanol in a botanical extract are 3,000ppm, or 0.3%. Methanol is a class 2 solvent. So more concern than class 3, but not as serious as class 1. Methanol's intake limit would be 30mg/day. Your 13mcg dose is perfectly fine.
My ultimate question is, then, would you consider this thiamine example an acceptable use of methanol in supplement manufacture as long as the residual methanol concentration is below a certain level?
Yes, as long as every batch is properly analyzed for the residual level. Sometimes you need to use a class 2 solvent to avoid a class 1 solvent. If properly done, that is not an issue. You just need more testing and verification on each batch.