Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Toluene

Turner - 12-12-2013 at 15:23

Has anyone found an OTC source of pure Toluene (or Toluene that can be extracted fairly easily)? It's not really sold as toluene like other solvents are: Acetone is or Xylene, but I am wondering if there are any hardware store chemicals that contain Toluene that can be reasonably extracted (distillation, boiling down etc.) to pure Toluene.

Thanks

[Edited on 12-12-2013 by Turner]

barley81 - 12-12-2013 at 15:26

Ace sells toluene, but it can be hard to find. https://www.premieracehardware.com/products/toluol-ace-gal%7...

BobD1001 - 12-12-2013 at 15:38

I got a gallon at a Local ACE hardware (they also carry Rooto drain opener, quite pure concentrated sulfuric acid for great prices). A gallon of Toluene is way more than Ill ever need. I wish they had the small quart sized can in stock, however for the purity and price you can't beat it. Also Sherwin Williams paint stores carry it. If you are in my region, I'll happily donate some of mine to your cause, as I have more than Ill ever need.

bfesser - 12-12-2013 at 15:41

If you're in the US, any reasonably well-stocked hardware store sells toluene, sometimes labeled as "Toluol". It doesn't seem that you've tried very hard to find it. There are plenty of existing posts on this subject, please search next time.

zed - 12-12-2013 at 17:19

Yup! I bought a quart a while back, and later returned it. Just wanted to see if I could buy it locally. I had to ask a clerk for it. Toluene is often kept in a back-room to restrict access to huffers. The clerk may ask you what you want it for, and if you are young and/or especially scruffy looking....refuse to sell it to you. A good reason to want it? " We are installing formica, we need toluene to thin the contact cement." Etc.

cyanureeves - 12-12-2013 at 17:27

toluene also helps when ketazine does not separate when making hydrazine sulfate. i got a gallon at ace and sodium hydroxide and ammonium hydroxide and sulfuric acid. ace is the place man!

[Edited on 12-13-2013 by cyanureeves]

Sedit - 12-12-2013 at 18:43

Quote: Originally posted by bfesser  
If you're in the US, any reasonably well-stocked hardware store sells toluene, sometimes labeled as "Toluol". It doesn't seem that you've tried very hard to find it. There are plenty of existing posts on this subject, please search next time.


The majors like Lowes or Homedepot do not carry it. I have only found a single SMALL hardware store that carries Toluene.

bfesser - 12-12-2013 at 21:32

Like I said, any reasonably well-stocked <em>hardware store</em>. Lowes and Home Depot are 'home improvement centers'.

Mailinmypocket - 14-12-2013 at 07:47

Quote: Originally posted by Sedit  
Quote: Originally posted by bfesser  
If you're in the US, any reasonably well-stocked hardware store sells toluene, sometimes labeled as "Toluol". It doesn't seem that you've tried very hard to find it. There are plenty of existing posts on this subject, please search next time.


The majors like Lowes or Homedepot do not carry it. I have only found a single SMALL hardware store that carries Toluene.


Home Depot indeed sells toluene, just not in my stupid province due to some "green initiative" thing. Every other province has it stocked, though. I had to buy mine via a local industrial chemical supplier, in a quantity larger than I needed....oh well :S

Steve_hi - 14-12-2013 at 08:03

I bought 2 gallons in a Sico paint store but I had to ask for it they now keep it in the back room away from casual shoppers.
I wouldn't be so quick to get rid of it. It may disappear altogether from hardware stores. I'm referring to Canada here.

Mailinmypocket - 14-12-2013 at 08:26

Ah....never thought of SICO - Now seems like the best time (as good as it will get moving forwards... ) to stock up on and hold onto precious solvents like this. In this case, the bigger, the better... to a certain extent obviously. On that note, I think today will be p-TsOH making day :)

roXefeller - 26-12-2013 at 20:57

Rustoleum sells a lacquer thinner by the gallon that has around 60% toluene mixed with lighter fractions like methanol and acetone. I see it at walmart. I figured in a pinch if I wanted toluene I could boil off these fractions.

macckone - 28-12-2013 at 00:55

There are two types of this one is low voc.
They have different amounts of toluene and acetone.
The low VOC is higher in acetone and lower in toluene.

Panache - 28-12-2013 at 04:25

In Australia, depending on the season, 98 RON petrol ('gas' for you weirdo Americans that enjoy referring to a ubiquitous liquid as a 'gas', perhaps it's a beatnik reference that I'm beyond), is generally around twenty percent toluene.

violet sin - 28-12-2013 at 04:53

gas as in gasoline, not its physical form as in solid/liquid...

wiki: " In North America, the term gasoline is often shortened in colloquial usage to gas"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline

[Edited on 28-12-2013 by violet sin]

macckone - 28-12-2013 at 08:35

Gasoline in the US is also 20 - 30 percent aromatics.
What they actually use is highly dependent on average daily
temperature. An example of composition before ethanol
and detergents are added is:

http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/waterworks/gasolinecomp.pdf

In theory you could separate gasoline into useful components,
but in reality it is probably more trouble than it is worth.
Of course no one is going to question someone buying 100 gallons
of gasoline while 5 gallons of toluene may raise some eyebrows.

Of course separating gasoline into useful components would be
a good exercise in distillation (don't blow yourself up) and separation techniques.

mr.crow - 28-12-2013 at 10:02

Quote: Originally posted by roXefeller  
Rustoleum sells a lacquer thinner by the gallon that has around 60% toluene mixed with lighter fractions like methanol and acetone. I see it at walmart. I figured in a pinch if I wanted toluene I could boil off these fractions.


Toluene/Acetone/Methanol probably form all kinds of azeotropes.

You can wash the lacquer thinner with water in a seperatory funnel, dry with lots of CaCl2, then distill your toluene with a fractionating column.

macckone - 28-12-2013 at 12:23

Quote: Originally posted by mr.crow  

Toluene/Acetone/Methanol probably form all kinds of azeotropes.

You can wash the lacquer thinner with water in a seperatory funnel, dry with lots of CaCl2, then distill your toluene with a fractionating column.


Methanol/Toluene BP 63.1C 31% toluene by vol
Methanol/Acetone BP 55.7C 87% acetone by vol
Methanol/Ethyl Acetate BP 62.3C 56% ethyl acetate by vol

For the regular version (70% toluene) the low boiling point stuff is
going to come over first leaving toluene. 35C differential is
sufficient for clean separation.

For the low VOC stuff, you only have 20% toluene max with the
majority acetone (70% max). Again the lower boiling acetone
azeotrope is going to come over first followed by a small
amount of methanol/toluene mix. With the low VOC version
you are definitely going to need to get rid of the acetone
before doing a water wash.

Adding acetone may actually improve the yield of toluene on the
low voc version. Because all of the methanol will be distilled
before the acetone. From all the data I have acetone does not
form an azeotrope with toluene nor are there ternary azeotropes.

Turner - 28-12-2013 at 12:46

I ended up buying 1 gallon of "Klean-Strip" Toluene at ACE HARDWARE

vmelkon - 29-12-2013 at 13:28

Quote: Originally posted by Steve_hi  
I bought 2 gallons in a Sico paint store but I had to ask for it they now keep it in the back room away from casual shoppers.
I wouldn't be so quick to get rid of it. It may disappear altogether from hardware stores. I'm referring to Canada here.


I'm in Quebec. I bought this Lacquer Thinner from Reno Depot
http://www.renodepot.com/en/thinner-lacquer-thinner-0263015

It is made by Recochem. I've seen this brand at Walmart and Canadian Tire and Home Depot and Rona. It is a Canadian company.

It also contains some 2-butanone which I extracted to make some hydrazine sulfate (see Nurdrage's video).
Most of it is toluene (80%), 10% methanol, 10% 2-butanone.

As we all know, 2-butanone (MEK) isn't sold in Canada.

nanobot-dnp - 30-12-2013 at 00:20


The only place round hear that sells it stopped a while ago... Basically its been pulled from all the shelves in CA... They also pulled all of the high concentration sulfuric acid. The only sulfuric acid they have now will completely burn off instead of just the organic matter... Pretty much limited to either driving across state line or ordering it online. I hardly even need it anyways but it would be pretty cool to have a lot of different solvents.

If anything you could make it yourself... Not me though because there is a high probability that something would go wrong an that I would severely injure myself... I would probably magically pass out thus enabling my experiment to explode and engulf me in flames... Why is it that I hallucinate every time I look at laboratory glass ware during experimentation or opening of dangerous reagents that it is exploding in my face? I don't know but I can hardly finish any experiments these days... I need a change... I think I'll move or something...