Sciencemadness Discussion Board

toluene storage

jamit - 7-4-2011 at 17:28

OTC toluene comes in metal can but would it be safe to store it in polyethylene plastic bottle?

There's got to be a good reason why most of the OTC solvents don't come in plastic or polyethylene bottle.

How do you guys store your purified toluene or acetone or xylene solvents?

[Edited on 8-4-2011 by jamit]

bfesser - 7-4-2011 at 17:46

Short term storage in polyethylene would probably be fine, but it may become brittle after long term storage.

Once I've purified mine, I prefer to keep them in glass with PTFE lined caps. Probably not necessary, but reassuring.

Magic Muzzlet - 7-4-2011 at 17:57

Best to go straight for the glass bottle. Cap does not matter so much as the vapors do not attack things very badly in my experience, and if you keep it upright it should not be an issue. PTFE is obviously the best cap lining, but PE or HDPE in the cap is good, but then I have not had a solvent in a bottle with this type of cap for more than roughly one year.

trb456 - 7-4-2011 at 18:19

I made the mistake of storing my bench toluene in a PP wash bottle. Degraded the bottle in a month. So glass for long-term storage, otherwise PFA or similar for a wash bottle. Don't seem to have the same problems with acetone or alcohols, where PP or PE seem to work fine. Cole-Parmer data more or less confirms this.

jamit - 7-4-2011 at 18:28

Thanks guys for all your answers. I think I'll go with glass bottles.

food - 7-4-2011 at 18:36

hopefully ok to upload this; don't remember where it came from

Attachment: plastics.pdf (345kB)
This file has been downloaded 2989 times

mr.crow - 8-4-2011 at 10:21

So toluene attacks PE bottles. I have a glass bottle with a polycone cap, will this be ok? Will the vapor slowly ruin the seal?

Wizzard - 8-4-2011 at 10:50

I use glass soda bottles (can withstand medium pressure!) and a plastic cap :)

smuv - 8-4-2011 at 11:33

After distilling, why not store it in the can it came in?

bfesser - 8-4-2011 at 14:04

They're prone to static discharge?

redox - 8-4-2011 at 17:16

I store all my solvents in metal cans, and nothing bad has ever happened.

grndpndr - 8-4-2011 at 18:52

maybe this is a bit far off topic but where are you fellas finding toluene.I kinda live in an isolated area devoid of many outlets of any kind.Last time I did see toluene was paint section of an ace hardware store.Only problem was minimum size was a gallon.Little more than I can use.

Any suggestions,also is it pretty near mandatory to distill hardware store solvents if any sort of purity is desired.

Magic Muzzlet - 8-4-2011 at 18:59

What are you saying?
Buy the gallon, costs like what twenty dollars, and you won't need to buy it again if you hardly use it. It will only get harder to find solvents anyway, it is best to buy in larger amounts and store them.
And yes, for reactions where purity is needed it must be distilled.

food - 9-4-2011 at 07:44

Quote: Originally posted by food  
hopefully ok to upload this; don't remember where it came from


the poverty of information in this hasty post ^^^ was haunting me

so: here is a pdf that summarizes the physical properties and chemical resistances of various plastics. I find the graphical examples of the different plastics and the table listing their resistance to a wide range of chemicals to be quite handy. pdf in original post

there I feel better already

peach - 9-4-2011 at 11:46

There are some simple 'look out for' rules regarding solvents and plastics.

If your plastic is halogenated, halogenated solvents are prone to interacting with it. If it's not, as PE isn't, none polar solvents are prone to interacting with it. As an example, PTFE is an extremely inert plastic but will swell up and leach around halogenated solvents like DCM.

Toluene, being none polar, is likely to interact with (leach / swell) none polar plastics like PE.

Keep it in metal or glass instead. Static shouldn't be much of an issue at all. Toluene is used in metal cans by a gigantic number of people without problems.

Either way, if you want it clean, distil it prior to using it; university labs will do this even after buying 'pure / dry' solvent.

I've received CP (commercially pure) cyclohexane (none polar) in HDPE bottles from account based lab suppliers. Leaching tends to be more of an issue for the guys who need technically pure and HPLC solvents; where trace impurities will show up on their spectrum.

[Edited on 9-4-2011 by peach]