[limpet chicken]

I am attempting drying out of the fruit bodies of Amanita Muscaria, but am a little unsure as to the conditions that the decarboxylation of ibotenic acid to muscimol will occur.

Is simple dehydration of the fruiting bodies sufficient? or is prolonged heating nescessary to ensure full decarboxylation?

Thanks.

[movies]

I'm not familiar with the chemical structures, but some decarboxylations are very difficult and require prolonged heating.  It all depends on the substrate molecule though.

[AWK]

Fortunately, decarboxylation of ibotenic acid (alpha aminoacid) is not  easy and during heating probably the isooxazole part will decompose.
Structure can be find, eg, in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibotenic_acid)

[limpet chicken]

Ibotenic acid will decarboxylate definately on heating, to form muscimol, I was asking wether mere drying of the carpophore would also prove enough for decarboxylation to occur, as it is desired.

I might as well post this picture I just took, such a lovely specimen, it seems quite a shame to actually uproot this fruiting body, I found it only today, and it weighs roughly 3/4 of a pound, probably the biggest I have ever seen