Posted by There are several modern industrial methods of extracting kratom alkaloids. Whether they use dried and powdered kratom dried whole leaves, their results vary. Real Botanicals has a revolutionary method that doesn’t compare to anything else behind the processing of kratom products today.
That method involves using ChromaPure. It’s Real Botanicals’ proprietary advanced technology for kratom alkaloid extraction that preserves the integrity of the targeted alkaloids.
However, it doesn’t have to remain a mystery. Here’s an explanation of the patented process — get a breakdown of how it results in the purest kratom extracts and helps in the creation of their unique, premium-quality products.
Common Modern Industrial Kratom Extraction Methods
There are two main ways to extract kratom alkaloids:
- Acid-base purging protocol (liquid-to-liquid extraction): Here, whole kratom leaves get a soaking in a polar solvent mixed with a dilute acid. It changes the pH and turns the kratom alkaloids into water-soluble salts. It gets a hexane defatting wash and a base goes into the clean water layer to raise the pH and return the mitragynine to a hydrophobic free base. A final hexane pull separates the mitragynine from the water and boiling removes the hexane. 40-55% purity unless the kratom leaves get a non-polar wash before acidification, the acid-base free-base residue gets a silica filtering, or it undergoes forcible crystallization, increasing purity from 94 to 99%.
- Sequential solid-phase column chromatography: The kratom leaves get blasted with hexane to remove surface fats, then methanol to collect the alkaloids. It creates a paste which is then put into a silica gel chromatography column. The paste gets flushed with a graduated solvent mixture of n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and liquid ammonia. 86% purity.
As you can tell, both of these methods are messy, and there are many parts and processes.
Modern Industrial Kratom Extraction Method Issues
Typical kratom processes where concentrated alkaloid extracts result in a dry powder or resin often have problems that make the resulting extracts weak and/or contaminated:
- High-grade purification or high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) forces plant material through a solid medium (such as silica beads). The alkaloids degrade, stick, or get lost, causing a decrease in quality and potency.
- Chemical polar solvents (such as chloroform, pure methanol, or ethanol), then boiling to concentrate the alkaloids and remove most of the solvents, is not a problem-free process. It leaves behind residue and the heat degrades the alkaloids.
- Acid-base washes (acetic acid, citric acid, or dilute hydrochloric acid) extract alkaloid salts, Then, defatting drains away the organic unwanted plant matter, a chemical base (ammonium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, or potassium hydroxide) pulls the alkaloids out of the water-based solution, and the alkaloids dry into a powder. This can result in stubborn emulsions for defatting, low yields from poor alkaloid ionization (mitragynine is hydrophobic and must become water-soluble), and thermal degradation without troubleshooting to find the issues and use known fixes.
- Standardized greener extraction techniques are alternatives that use Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) and Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction (UAE) and pair them with bio-solvents like d-limonene, but the resulting extracts aren’t necessarily safer. The high boiling point risks thermal degradation, d-limonene is thick and sluggish to separate during agitation, and anything other than the highest-purity d-limonene results in extraction amplification of residual extraction chemicals and any agricultural pesticides and pre-existing heavy metals.
There may be fixes for most of the issues, but they present their own challenges. Time and cost are two of them, and since many vendors prioritize quick bulk kratom extraction, they want to minimize costly, time-consuming fixes.
What Is ChromaPure?
ChromaPure is Real Botanicals’ solution to solvent residue, contamination, heat degradation, inconsistent alkaloid ratios, and all other issues from modern industrial kratom alkaloid extraction methods. There’s no quick bulk-processing of kratom. Instead, it uses Centrifugal Partition Chromatography (CPC) technology, a form of liquid-to-liquid partitioning – specifically, RotaChrom CPC.
How Does ChromaPure Work?
ChromaPure features:
- No silica, so there’s no solid phase to deal with and fragile silica degradation, unlike HPLC;
- Centrifugal force, where high pressure forces a mobile crude kratom extract liquid through a stationary liquid inside the machine’s rotor; and
- Separation by partition coefficients, in which each alkaloid separates depending on their solubility profile, or the liquid phase they dissolve in.
Kratom alkaloids are lipophilic (fat-loving) and hydrophobic (water-repelling) to varying degrees. Mitragynine, paynantheine, speciogynine, and speciocillatine are highly hydrophobic and 7-hydroxymitragynine is ambiphilic or less hydrophobic, having both water-loving and oil-loving tendencies.
How does the process separate the alkaloids from the plant matter, then?
Personnel injects crude kratom extract into the system. The hydrophobic alkaloids want to escape the polar carrier fluid (the mobile phase) and dissolve into the non-polar stationary liquid (the trap). 7-hydroxymitragynine goes into its own fraction collectors. The carrier fluid attracts the plant matter, allowing it to pass through the system and exit immediately. Vacuum evaporation yields crystalline alkaloid powder.
Yes, both the carrier and the trap fluids contain solvents. But they are pharmaceutical-grade, gentle, eco-friendly solvents that satisfy FDA and GMP requirements. There are no synthetic contaminants, and the process allows for 90% solvent reclamation – meaning recycling of the solvents and blending them into the exact ratios necessary for the next injection cycle.
Benefits of ChromaPure
ChromaPure filters out plant matter, eliminating impurities that contribute to a bitter flavor. RotaChrom CPC technology does “pesticide remediation” or removal of pesticides, removing the risk of ingesting them. Also, it’s a cold, purely mechanical process that keeps alkaloids intact, since there is no boiling involved.
The result is high purity and high yield concentration from converting the raw plant matter into isolated kratom alkaloid extracts. A 99% purity level, in fact, and over 98% for 7-hydroxymitragynine. It’s important for precise formulations, such as the exact proportions of Acend tablets with elevated kratom alkaloids.
Final Thoughts
The name “ChromaPure” refers to the isolation of individual kratom alkaloids. Pre-existing pharmaceutical-grade RotaChrom CPC technology builds the basis for this process. It results in the cleanest concentrations because it does dual-duty with extraction and purification; plus, it’s sustainable.
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