shadow - 7-9-2011 at 03:20
I read some literature that says to remove trace elements of n-butanol (bp 117)from a compound, to mix with a little water(bp 100), and distill off
the alcohol, then crystilize the solid from the water.
This doesn't made sense to me as the water would come off first.
It seems that a solvent with a higher bp than butanol should be used, but then how would you know that the separation of the solid and the new solvent
was complete.
Calcium oxide in a dessicator would remove remove the butanol, would it not?
not_important - 7-9-2011 at 05:49
Water and n-butanol have an azeotrope that boils at 93 C, I think the split is around 45% water and 55% butanol.
Likely this should have been in the "short questions" thread.