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Author: Subject: barrels of solvent, not many uses... any ideas?
AlbinoMoose308
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[*] posted on 2-6-2020 at 22:30
barrels of solvent, not many uses... any ideas?


So I happen to have access to +40 gallons of 2 different organic solvents and was wondering if there's anything interesting/useful I can do with them. The solvents are 1-Butoxy-2-Propanol and 2-Butoxyethanol. They work wonders for degreasing but surely those butyl groups are just begging to do something fun! :)



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Cou
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[*] posted on 2-6-2020 at 22:41


Make acetate esters by fischer esterification. see if they have an interesting smell.

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draculic acid69
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[*] posted on 3-6-2020 at 04:29


Can they be hydrolyzed like esters into there respective alcohols?
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njl
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[*] posted on 3-6-2020 at 04:45


Lucky! like drac suggested you could hydrolyze the ether to ethylene glycol and butanol (both useful in large quantities), and the ester to the acid and ether. I think you can selectively hydrolyze the ester with a strong base and then the ether with an acid after workup.
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Sulaiman
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[*] posted on 3-6-2020 at 06:09


I'd consider selling them in 1 litre bottles via eBay then use the cash to buy more interesting stuff :)



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draculic acid69
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[*] posted on 3-6-2020 at 18:20


Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman  
I'd consider selling them in 1 litre bottles via eBay then use the cash to buy more interesting stuff :)


I'd agree selling some or trading some is definitely a good idea. Also hydrolyzing some into other products to play with opens up possibilities as well.
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DraconicAcid
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[*] posted on 3-6-2020 at 18:27


Quote: Originally posted by draculic acid69  
Can they be hydrolyzed like esters into there respective alcohols?


I seem to recall that hydrolysis of an ether is pretty difficult. You may have better luck cleaving them into alkyl halides.




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[*] posted on 3-6-2020 at 20:27


Ethers can be hydrolyzed by HBr into alkyl halides. the products will be 1-bromobutane and 1,2-dibromoethane



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draculic acid69
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[*] posted on 4-6-2020 at 01:25


Am I right in guessing that hydrochloric acid might be too weak to make the chlorides
Anyway the alkyl halides sound more interesting and they further open up possibilities.
I think straight butanol or secbutanol can be used as a petrol substitute without modification of the car.

[Edited on 4-6-2020 by draculic acid69]
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Tsjerk
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[*] posted on 4-6-2020 at 01:27


Making the chlorides will just be very slow.
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draculic acid69
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[*] posted on 4-6-2020 at 01:30


Could it be helped along with zncl2 or something?
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