paxx - 5-2-2009 at 00:01
Wondering if someone could part with a few tips on purifying industrial grade OTC solvents for lab use. Is a drying agents and distilling enough?
starman - 5-2-2009 at 03:34
You need to be more specific.Vogels(forum library) has a fair selection of purification methods for tech grade solvents.
DrP - 5-2-2009 at 04:13
Yea - it really does depend on what you are using and what you are using it for. If you're ultra sensitive about moisture and even trapped air/oxygen
then drying as you said with one of the powders or sodium wire, distillation and then degass by bubbling Nitrogen or even Argon through before
undertaking the reaction.
Klute - 5-2-2009 at 09:47
If you are talking about technical grade solvents, and not mixtures, than yes dessicant and distillation, or distillation over dessicant when
appropriate, furnishes solvents of pure enough grade for most reactions.
You can perform the distillation under inert atmosphere for obtaining deoxygenated solvents, but for most amateur applications this is more than
enough.
See Perrin's "Purification of Laboratory Chemicals" for details for each solvent, very good book availble on the forum (5th edition provided by
Fleaker IIRC).