bfesser
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Removing "Mixed Tocopherols" from Mineral Oil
I purchased a bottle of mineral oil today, and on the back of the label it's listed as 99.9% with "mixed tocopherols added as a stabilizer". Is there
a convenient or even feasible way to remove the tocopherols (assumed to be approximately 0.1%)? If not, will heating the mineral oil or using it in
contact with reaction solutions have any ill effects?
[I searched around the forum for around 15 minutes, and couldn't find anything on this topic, so please excuse me if it's already been discussed.]
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smuv
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Are you doing this just for fun? vitamin E is readily available and not very expensive; it would be a great source of tocopherols.
I suspect a very small amount is added as a radical trap to avoid radical degradation of alkenes present in the mineral oil. Trying to extract the
tocopherols from the mineral oil would be like attempting to extract BHT from ether.
If you want to just give it a try though; maybe shaking the mineral oil with a solution of aqueous base (to deprotonate the phenol and pull the
phenoxide into the aqueous phase) would yield something. After extraction make the solution acidic (say ph 5) and extract with a suitable organic
solvent. Although I really think it is a waste of time.
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pantone159
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I think bfesser is trying to be rid of the tocopherols, not trying to extract them. I have also wondered if they could cause problems, e.g. in using
the oil to store Na and such.
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BromicAcid
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Although the bottle may state that it is 99.9% that may not be the case. There could be >0.01% tocopherols. For some reason with additives like
that they assume them to be part of that 99.9% that the company states is there. A common example is ethanol, you can find 200 proof denatured
ethanol, but with 200 proof it should be, by definition, 100% ethanol, so where does the denaturant fit in there? Actually the proof is notably lower
depending on the denaturant, one of which is 5% toluene which brings the actual proof down to 190 but the bottle will still say 200 proof.
Anyway, the point is... although I didn't say it explicitly, you probably would be better off just not worrying about it. If it is in fact 99.9%
mineral oil and only .01% other crap, that is still an excellent grade material. I've never had a problem using store bought mineral oil in my oil
baths, but I never checked for adulterants such as tocopherols. I just figured mineral oil was mineral oil, it's a mixture of things anyway.
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smuv
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Ah! Of course; I suppose the word REMOVE should have given me a hint.
P.S. Anyone know why they are using Tocopherols as a stabilizer; seems like a much more expensive choice than BHT.
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bfesser
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It's meant to be taken orally as a laxative. That may have something to do with the choice of Tocopherols as a stabilizer.
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