Posted by blackjack on June 24, 2001, at 12:01:15
In reply to ephedrine??, posted by Victor on June 22, 2001, at 16:13:15
> HI , whats the difrence between epherdine alkaloids and EPHEDRINE SULFATE ??
>"Alkaloid" is the term for the naturally occuring base chemicals found in plants. In the case of the heeb Ma Huang, it contains several ephedrine alkaloids, including ephedrine and its chemical cousins pseudoephedrine, and norspeudoephedrine. Ephedrine sulfate is the salt which is produced when the ephedrine alkaloid is combined with sulfuric acid. Likewise, ephedrine hydrocloride is the salt produced with hydrochloric acid. The reason that pharaceutical products are usually in the form of hydrochloride or sulfate salts is that they are more stable in that form, but will disolve in your stomach acid into the original base alkaliod.
If you've ever heard someone talk about "free basing" cocaine, the free base is the cocaine alkaloid, while the snorted poweder is cocaine hydrochloride, the salt.
So, in short, you are geting the same basic chemical once the salt disolves. The main difference is that with the herbal version, you are probably getting pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) and norpseudoephedrine in the mix as well, and the compounds are in a less stable form, so exact dosage and purity are questionable.
poster:blackjack
thread:67504
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010618/msgs/67665.html