Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Preventing peroxide formation in recovered ether

Boffis - 2-2-2020 at 09:52

I use ether fairly frequently and try to recover as much as possible by distillation. This is not difficult or dangerous if carried out with proper precautions and the right equipment. However, once distilled the stabilizing compound BHT (tert.-butylated hydroxytoluene?) is lost. Are there other suitable alternatives that are more readily available?

4-tert.-butyl catechol is available on ebay as is hydroquinone but are these suitable alternatives?

DavidJR - 2-2-2020 at 10:03

I got BHT from eBay a while ago. I also think that hydroquinone would do the job just fine.

unionised - 2-2-2020 at 10:49

The old school approach was to put copper gauze in the ether.
I have no idea if it worked...

karlosĀ³ - 2-2-2020 at 12:17

Use copper wire, I do it all the time and it works(if the ether is already peroxide free).

[Edited on 2-2-2020 by karlosĀ³]

Fery - 3-2-2020 at 14:23

This is not true ether stabilizer, but you can use FeSO4 to destroys peroxides before distillation and peroxides are dangerous at the end of distillation.