After months of preparatory reading, SWIM is ready to practice some of the basics involved. Wanting to start out on something easy, SWIM chose to practice drying of solvents and some basic purification techniques. After a trip to the colored roof’s, SWIM came across some pretty useful stuff and decided to do more research. This is what was found:
Xylene that is labeled 100% pure however according to the MSDS contains 80-85% Xylene and 15-20% Ethyl Benzene.
91% Isopropyl Alcohol, 9% water
Acetone labeled 100% pure, MSDS states 95-100% Acetone, 5% water assumed but not stated.
Now after some more research and several hours with TFSE, SWIM came to the conclusion that a great many bee could be using the same products, but no information was ever mentioned about if purification was possible or necessary. SWIM figured that Ethyl Benzene was probably not a good thing to have so he wanted to remove it via distillation. After getting the BP of both Xylene (140C, insoluble in H20) and Ethyl Benzene (136.2C, insoluble in H20), distillation was out of the question (BP’s are within 20 C of each other, can not use simple distillation SWIM read someplace). The bottom line is, does SWIM need to be concerned about the Ethyl Benzene present, or can he just dry the Xylene with MgS04 and be done with it.
If SWIM dries the Isopropyl with MgSO4, he assumes that should leave him with 98-99% Isopropyl
Please forgive the length of post for such a simple question. SWIM spent several hours with TFSE and GOOgLe that only left the above questions unanswered. SWIM understands that these materials are available in pure from chem suppliers, however, given the current state of the union, SWIM wants to avoid talking to anyone who doesn’t have a name tag with a major corporate logo on it.
Any suggestions of links to helpful information are appreciated!