I was wondering if anyone knew if using distillation as a method to extract mescaline out of San Pedro or peyote would work? I know that many oils from plants can be easily extracted by simple distillation. Eg. the extraction of essential oils from jasmine flowers by soaking flowers in alcohol, and then distill the solution.

Any thoughts?

I don't think so... mescaline can in general not be extracted as an oil, but rather as a solid.

I dunno...

Assuming the boiling point of mescaline is ~180oC (which I think is correct, although a quick search didn't pull up any "proper" sources), and assuming that it doesn't decompose, you could distill it - it may be safer to do so under reduced pressure though...

However, I reckon you would almost certainly have to perform the standard extractive procedure first - it would not be as simple as "soaking in alcohol" as you would have to free the compound from the organic matrix first...

So, whether it would be any easier than typical extraction/recryst etc. is debatable - give it a go...?

guess won't know for sure unless :P thanks guys

guess won't know for sure unless :P thanks guys

Indeed.

End of day - it's not gonna be much easier than any other extraction process, as you will need to perform the same initial steps to get material which you could distill.