Sciencemadness Discussion Board

nicotine sulfate

masema - 16-8-2006 at 21:42

I have been looking how to extract nicotine from tobacco, and have found some useful information on this site. However, I have found a supplier for nicotine sulfate. My experience with chemistry is limited, and I have found conflicting answers to my question. Is there a difference between nicotine sulfate, nicotine HCl, and nicotine bitartrate? I am interested in making my own nasal spray and I know that nicotine bitartrate is what is used in the commercial nasal spray, and that the sulfate is an insecticide (and the MSDS was worrying). Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

not_important - 16-8-2006 at 22:28

They are all salts of the organic base nicotine. Toxicity comes from the nicotine, not the acid although the tartaric acid will be less irritating to skin/mucous membranes.

Nicotine is pretty toxic, not much less than simple cyanides. The sprays have something like 10 milligrams per milliliter in them, this is 10 to 15% of the lethal dose. The carrier fluid may be important.

Insecticide grade nicotine is most likely not very pure nicotine sulfate. I think that you are going to want to purify it, if you really want to go through with your plan. Note that nicotine, especially as the free base, is absorbed through the skin

nicotine toxicty
http://www.cdc.gov/Tobacco/sgr/sgr_1988/1988SGR-Appendix%20B...

edit - must learn to tpey and spul.


[Edited on 17-8-2006 by not_important]

Thank you

masema - 17-8-2006 at 17:09

Thank you for your help not important, and the link was very informative. I wonder if you can help me out just a little bit more and check my math. It is a 40% aqueous solution (not the insecticide) which I believe works out to 400mg/ml of nicotine sulfate. If I take one milliliter of solution and mix it with 99ml of water this should make a concentration of 4mg/ml, am I correct? From here I plan on using a sprayer that meters out .125ml per spray and I believe this should equal .5mg nicotine per spray.

As well, do you know if it is possible to find the (i'm not sure if I have the right term here) atomic half-life of nicotine; I will have relatively a lot of solution here and I am concerned about how long it will last before degrading noticably. Thank you for your help.

[Edited on 18-8-2006 by masema]

not_important - 27-8-2006 at 22:44

Quote:
Originally posted by masema

As well, do you know if it is possible to find the (i'm not sure if I have the right term here) atomic half-life of nicotine; I will have relatively a lot of solution here and I am concerned about how long it will last before degrading noticably. Thank you for your help.

[Edited on 18-8-2006 by masema]


Sorry to be slow, missed the update and it dropped off the radar.

The math sounds OK to me, pre-breakfast.

If you mean "how long will it hang around in solution?", I believe it to be pretty stable. Might be worth inhibiting bacteria, use isotonic saline instead of ordinary water, a bit of zinc sulfate - as in the zinc sprays for treating colds. Perhaps preservatives as used in the spray you are attempting to duplicate. Boil the solution after making it up, autoclave would be better.

edit - isotonic, not normal.


[Edited on 28-8-2006 by not_important]

unionised - 28-8-2006 at 02:27

This reference
http://library.thinkquest.org/C007974/1_1tob.htm
seems to indicate that nicotine is stable for a good long while.