A 1 L 2 neck flask was fitted with a glass stopper and 0-300c therm. Then was submerged in a salt ice water bath 294 grams of sulfuric acid and 120g of Nitric Acid was added with vigours stirring. Over approx 1 hour toluene was slowly added(5-10 ml / 100g total). The temp never climbed above 29c(EVEN WHEN REMOVED FROM THE BATH for more than 20 min) During the toluene addition a slight tint of yellow was noticed by the stir bar. This yellow eventually turned 'white'. The toluene addition has been finished for approx 1 hour. 3 hours of stirring left then time for seperation.
Swim's concerns:
According to cheapskate and others the mixture is susposed to be brown. It's a light milky color. Every now and then there seems to be a tad of yellow. However, swim feels this is just what his eyes want him to see(yellow). Swim assumes the yellow comes from the nitric acid, correct? Their fingers are still alittle stained(after several washes). Swim has been told even though he used less nitric acid than reccomended (120 instead of 149 - quaaludes ala cheapskate) this should not be a problem. Other than the fact yield may suffer. Swim's main concern is the color of this milky white liquid. On more than one occasion cheapskate references the color.
the acid layer will be yellow and the nitro layer will be lighter
Then after seperation he states
Stir in NaOH the water layer will turn yellow and the nitro toluene layer will be a bright yellow
Will swim's layers ever turn orange and yellow? Or should swim just break out a flash light & dildo to do the best seperations they can and not worry about comparing colors? Or after the 1st seperation will colorchanges take effect?