The Vespiary

The Hive => Newbee Forum => Topic started by: chiliuno on January 10, 2003, 03:28:00 PM

Title: emulsion?
Post by: chiliuno on January 10, 2003, 03:28:00 PM

i've been distilling bay leaves to get good at distillation...i'm set up properly, but my distillate is not seperating into distinct layers in the seperatory funnel...instead, i get one big layer of cloudy water with a very strong smell.
what would be the best way to isolate the oil?  i tried salting the mess, but now i just have salt at the bottom of the funnel.
any ideas?

Title: extraction
Post by: hCiLdOdUeDn on January 10, 2003, 04:05:00 PM

Extract with some DCM or other non-polar solvent and distill off the solvent to leave the oil.

Title: that's what i thought, but hearing it from an...
Post by: chiliuno on January 10, 2003, 04:20:00 PM

that's what i thought, but hearing it from an experienced chemist and reading it in a textbook are two diff things...thanks for the help!