encipher
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Limonene isolation
Hi,
I have a question on how to determine the purity of Limonene extracted from orange peel via steam distillation. I'm looking for a method that will not
require a IR/refraction index or a gc.
any help is appreciated.
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Sauron
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Thin layer chromatography sounds like a solution for you.
If you get more than one spot developing, then your distillate is a mixture.
Column chromatography will seperate the fractions.
You might want to see the website of Florida Chemical Company for information about d-limonene and other citrus terpenes, because they manufacture and
sell those products from exactly those sources. I posted the link to that site in the thread on a-pinene just a few days ago.
In that thread one of the members was talking about synthesizing limonene or its racemate dipentene from a-pinene.
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encipher
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Sauron,
Any idea what carrier I might need?
For TLC I got the following only:
Silica Gel IB
Silica Gel GF 250 micron
Thanks.
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Sauron
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No clue, sorry.
The lit ought to be out there. The steam distilled limonene is technical grade by definition so likely does contain other citrus terpenes. Food grade
limonene is the oil that floats on top of the expressed juice and that is MUCH purer.
Both of these and other grades are readily commercially available.
Google on tlc d-limonene or chromatography d-limonene and you ought to get all the details: stationary phase, solvent etc.
Also how to develop the chromatogram so you can see the spot(s)
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