Sciencemadness Discussion Board

extract resorcinol from hair dye

otonel - 13-2-2011 at 04:16

In my country I don`t find some source of resorcinol and I want to extract resorcinol from hair dye where I read on dye leaflet to contain resorcinol, paint and another organic compound
I think if use difference solubility of chemicals can extract resorcinol , and until try this if somebody help me with some advice I be glad

Magpie - 13-2-2011 at 11:49

You are going to have to give us more information. Please provide, as far as possible, a list of all ingredients and their concentrations.

I would doubt if there is much resorcinol in a hair dye. Resorcinol is an irritant (if not worse) to the skin. However, it was previously used in low concentration to treat eczema, and may still be used in some medicines.

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Here's something interesting with 14% resorcinol:
http://www.platinumskincare.com/jessners-peel-2.aspx

Peels with 30% trichloracetic acid are also apparently available OTC.





[Edited on 14-2-2011 by Magpie]

otonel - 14-2-2011 at 07:48

I buy a hair dye, and that contains:ammonia, phenylenediamines and resorcinol
My search on common chemicals rich in resorcinol continue and I will try to extract resorcinol from hair dye using water

Magpie - 14-2-2011 at 08:43

You could possibly remove the ammonia by boiling the hair dye. Then convert the residual ammonia and the diamine to acid salts using HCl or H2SO4. The resorcinol could then be extracted from the water/salt solution using ether.

Hexagon - 14-2-2011 at 09:25

May be yo can extract with water the product, basify and precipitate calcium resorcinate witch sould be unsoluble.

not_important - 14-2-2011 at 16:29

Be aware that there are limits on the amounts of resorcinol and phenyldiamines, in most Western countries no more than 5% of each. A quick check of some commercial products shows that resorcinol seems to run about 1%.

I suspect the easiest way would to be to evaporate the water off under reduced pressure (just an aspirator) to first concentrate all the organics (and remove the ammonia). Extract the remaining goop with warm CHCl3, giving a chloroform solution of phenylenediamines and resorcinol.

Magpie - 14-2-2011 at 18:57

According to Wiki, resorcinol is not soluble in chloroform:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resorcinol

Based on that I'm assuming it is not soluble in dichloromethane either, as I wish it were. I presently have a water solution of resorcinol, NaCl, and NaSO4, awaiting extraction with ether. I don't like handling ether not only due to its smell but especially due to its fire hazard.

I prepared my resorcinol the hard but fun way, starting with benzene and SO3. There's also some phenol in my product that I'll have to remove by distillation. I know it's there because I can smell it.

[Edited on 15-2-2011 by Magpie]

quicksilver - 24-2-2011 at 11:34

I have never had difficulty in finding sources for Resorcinol. It's used in diverse products from acne treatments to polymers. If you find a source for MSDS on "high impact polymers" such as would be used in a wood treatment for a bowling ally or a indoor gym floor; you'll have a source of perhaps 34-40%. It's also a very easy chemical to purchase as it has no major restrictions. It is actually a very interesting material. Look here for a start:
http://www.indspec-chem.com/PRODUCTS/Resorcinol/Resorcinol_P...







[Edited on 24-2-2011 by quicksilver]

Nicodem - 24-2-2011 at 12:53

Quote: Originally posted by Magpie  
Based on that I'm assuming it is not soluble in dichloromethane either, as I wish it were. I presently have a water solution of resorcinol, NaCl, and NaSO4, awaiting extraction with ether. I don't like handling ether not only due to its smell but especially due to its fire hazard.

Instead of diethyl ether, you might want to use something that has a more favourable partitioning coefficient for something as polar as resorcinol. Ethyl acetate, n-butanol or 2-butanone (MEK) come to mind first. Given you say you have NaCl and Na2SO4 in the solution, you can use acetone or even isopropanol as they do not fully mix with salty solutions (logP should be very favourable as well, but they tend to carry over much water and even small amounts of salts, but since you intend to distil the extract, this is not really that important).

Magpie - 24-2-2011 at 14:06

Quote: Originally posted by Nicodem  

Instead of diethyl ether, you might want to use something that has a more favourable partitioning coefficient for something as polar as resorcinol. Ethyl acetate, n-butanol or 2-butanone (MEK) come to mind first. Given you say you have NaCl and Na2SO4 in the solution, you can use acetone or even isopropanol as they do not fully mix with salty solutions (logP should be very favourable as well, but they tend to carry over much water and even small amounts of salts, but since you intend to distil the extract, this is not really that important).


Yes, the paper recently retrieved for me by ayush shows that the distribution coefficient for resorcinol can be as high as 4.5 using a 40% n-butanol/60% n-butyl acetate mixed solvent.
But I only have a limited amount of the expensive n-butanol and no n-butyl acetate, whereas ether is readily available from starting fluid.

I still have not seen a reference giving the distribution coefficient for resorcinol in ether. I'm assuming it is ~3.