# How is nicotine extracted for gums and patches?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-nicotine-extracted-for-gums-and-patches/401515>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 24, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-nicotine-extracted-for-gums-and-patches/401515 "2007-04-24T21:33:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-nicotine-extracted-for-gums-and-patches/401515/1 "2007-04-24T21:33:47Z")

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The title says it all.

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**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-nicotine-extracted-for-gums-and-patches/401515/2 "2007-04-24T21:50:11Z")

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Well, first they tell the patches how cool it is to smoke…  
Then they send them somewhere like here [http://www.islandcounty.net/health/nicotine.html](http://www.islandcounty.net/health/nicotine.html)

> [@](#):
>
> Nicotine is isolated from tobacco by a variety of methods, many of which can be found at the [US Patent Office](http://www.patentinformationdirectory.com/links.htm) Some of the most recent include supercritical CO2 extraction, where carbon dioxide is compressed to a supercritical state (between a liquid and a gas) under high pressure, thus becoming a non-polar solvent. When the extraction is done, the CO2 evaporates leaving behind nicotine.

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**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-nicotine-extracted-for-gums-and-patches/401515/3 "2007-04-24T21:52:58Z")

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While I’m not sure of the exact process used by most manufacturers, nicotine can be very easily removed from the tobacco leaves directly using a combination of solvents in a technique called, unsurprisingly, extraction. By changing the solvent (aqueous vs organic, polar vs non polar) and the pH of solutions (acid vs base) you can selectively remove nicotine from the other components in the leaves. There are chromatography/filtration methods that can help separate and purify the product.

[http://www.tifac.org.in/offer/tlbo/rep/st158.htm](http://www.tifac.org.in/offer/tlbo/rep/st158.htm)

Scroll down to the “Technologies for Nicotine based products” section, and one extraction method is described.

Anyone with access to the right chemicals can do it… though you’d need other instruments to prove you have obtained your nicotine at the end!

[http://www.chemsoc.org/pdf/LearnNet/rsc/Prog\_select.pdf](http://www.chemsoc.org/pdf/LearnNet/rsc/Prog_select.pdf) This PDF has an analytical method for extracting nicotine.