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Can hydroxychloroquine be made by boiling grapefruit and lemon peels in water?

By Alexis Tereszcuk
NO

A video on a YouTube channel spends almost six minutes purporting to show viewers how to make their own hydroxychloroquine at home by boiling citrus peels.

This is not possible, according to a professor of chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences at Howard University.

It is made by chemical synthesis in a laboratory and is not a natural product found in the peel of citrus fruits.

What you would be doing is releasing molecules called terpenes, such as limonene, an ingredient in Mr. Clean.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
PubChem (National Institutes of Health) Hydroxychloroquine
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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