Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Acetone

aga - 10-5-2014 at 16:02

Found 1l bottle of Acetone in a shop today.

Distilling it seems to show that it's 100% Acetone.

Miracles do happen !

EDIT: No they don't

[Edited on 11-5-2014 by aga]

numos - 10-5-2014 at 16:05

Isn't the acetone found at hardware stores pure acetone as well?

Burner - 10-5-2014 at 16:19

There are a number of processes to produce acetone. The type of contaminants observed will tell you which process was used. Needless to say, there are anyways some of these contaminants in even the purest of samples. Additionally many of the consumer samples of acetone have been deliberately bittered with either denatonium benzoate or denatonium saccharide to prevent accidental ingestion. While generally not listed on container it is listed on the MSDS from the company.

aga - 10-5-2014 at 16:25

I spoke too soon.

The Acetone was coming over at exactly 56 degrees +/- 0.1 then it started rising, so i swapped receiver bottles.

Now we got brown stuff forming in the RBF

A small amount, and this is in a water bath, but definitely brown

[Edited on 11-5-2014 by aga]

blogfast25 - 11-5-2014 at 05:41

Slightly more challenging would be to distil acetone from nail polish remover (caution: some NPRs don't contain acetone anymore!)

[Edited on 11-5-2014 by blogfast25]

Texium - 11-5-2014 at 06:19

Haha, yeah, I found some nail polish remover (before I learned to be suspicious of what labels claim) that was called "100% Pure Acetone." Upon reading the ingredients, it said "Acetone, Water, Fragrance, Bittering Agent." Hmm… 100% Pure indeed...

gdflp - 11-5-2014 at 08:04

Remember technically 99.5% = 100%, the companies love to play games with the numbers like that...

thesmug - 11-5-2014 at 08:37

Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25  
Slightly more challenging would be to distil acetone from nail polish remover (caution: some NPRs don't contain acetone anymore!)

[Edited on 11-5-2014 by blogfast25]

Sorry to drift off but has anyone extracted denatonium benzoate this way?

blogfast25 - 11-5-2014 at 09:27

Quote: Originally posted by thesmug  

Sorry to drift off but has anyone extracted denatonium benzoate this way?


Distilling a NPR once (I was desperate for acetone, I would normally buy it) I did obtain a solid residue in the boiler and remember thinking: "denatonium benzoate?" (it was listed as an ingredient)

The quantities in there are really small though (I think). And there's other stuff too...


[Edited on 11-5-2014 by blogfast25]

thesmug - 11-5-2014 at 09:38

Yeah, I'd assume there'd be milligram amounts. Also, I'm unable to look up this abbreviation NPR, what does it mean?
[EDIT] Oh wait nevermind...

[Edited on 5/11/14 by thesmug]

aga - 11-5-2014 at 15:53

NPR = Nail Polish Remover.

Nothing to do with Polish people removing nails.

denatonium benzoate (judging from the distillation flask) is present as a tiny tiny amount (if that is what it was).
I distilled a litre of acetone, and i estimate the Brown Stuff to be around 1 ml.

There may well be Other Thongs in there, so to make sure, i discarded any distillate < 55.6 C or > 56.3 C, (vapor temperature) of which there was about 200 ml, =20%.

[Edited on 11-5-2014 by aga]

Texium - 11-5-2014 at 15:59

Quote: Originally posted by aga  
NPR = Nail Polish Remover.

Nothing to do with Polish people removing nails.


Nope, that would be Polish Nail Remover

blogfast25 - 12-5-2014 at 05:03

Quote: Originally posted by aga  


denatonium benzoate (judging from the distillation flask) is present as a tiny tiny amount (if that is what it was).
I distilled a litre of acetone, and i estimate the Brown Stuff to be around 1 ml.

[Edited on 11-5-2014 by aga]


Did your starting product state it contained denatonium benzoate? Don't confuse NPR with commercial acetone, the former is quite heavily 'formulated'.

aga - 12-5-2014 at 11:10

The product label stated very little, apart from saying' Acetona' in big letters.

I followed up an EC code on the label, but that led nowhere apart from Safety data, such as do not distill ...

As there was no info, i chose to dump any distillate that was more than 0.2 C from the 56 C BP of acetone, losing about a quarter of a litre in the process.

What i ended up with is something that boils at 56 C, hopefully acetone.

[Edited on 12-5-2014 by aga]

Burner - 12-5-2014 at 11:33

If you haven't seen this (http://www.chromatographyonline.com/lcgc/Article/Investigati...), it does make for interesting reading.

elementcollector1 - 12-5-2014 at 11:45

When I distilled nail polish remover, I was left with an orange solution in the distilling flask. This was done at 1 atm, with pretty standard conditions (high heat, adequate cooling). Not really sure what it was, but I just thought I'd weigh in.

Burner - 12-5-2014 at 11:49

Quote: Originally posted by elementcollector1  
When I distilled nail polish remover, I was left with an orange solution in the distilling flask. This was done at 1 atm, with pretty standard conditions (high heat, adequate cooling). Not really sure what it was, but I just thought I'd weigh in.


I believe that you are seeing some oxidized phenol remaining in the pot.

Dr.Bob - 12-5-2014 at 11:53

The remaining stuff is more likely aldol condensation products from acetone, plus the crud that was in it to start. I don't know where "oxidized phenol" would come from in acetone or even what that would be unless you are starting with a hydroquinone.

Burner - 12-5-2014 at 11:57

Quote: Originally posted by Dr.Bob  
The remaining stuff is more likely aldol condensation products from acetone, plus the crud that was in it to start. I don't know where "oxidized phenol" would come from in acetone or even what that would be unless you are starting with a hydroquinone.


I believe that phenol is a fairly common impurity in most acetone samples.

Rogeryermaw - 12-5-2014 at 13:10

"In the cumene process benzene is alkylated with propene resulting in cumene (isopropylbenzene), which is subsequently oxidized to give phenol and acetone."

SOURCE: http://www.chromatographyonline.com/lcgc/Article/Investigati...

provided by Burner

Fantasma4500 - 13-5-2014 at 09:01

one could decide to take several litres of denatured spirits and distill most of it away, then let the more concentrated denatonium benzoate solution boil off..
dont recall hearing anything about they add other stuff to denatured alcohol, as in solids.. i have heard about MEK and IPA and ofcourse methanol