smuv - 25-7-2012 at 16:33
I was at first dismayed when I saw MEK Substitute had replaced MEK at a local home depot, until I checked the product's msds. MEK substitute is 100%
ethyl acetate. To my knowledge no one has mentioned this as a source of ethyl acetate.
msds: http://www.wmbarr.com/ProductFiles/1636%20KS%20MEK%20Substit...
Product info:
http://www.wmbarr.com/product.aspx?catid=85&prodid=264
bbartlog - 25-7-2012 at 18:53
I brought it up a couple months ago: http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=17401#...
smuv - 26-7-2012 at 06:54
Stupid search engine. 
Like you I do wonder why mek needs to be substituted.
Possibly b/c of odor? Although EtOAc is certainly not odorless.
radagast - 14-8-2012 at 17:21
The MSDS states that "MEK Substitute" is 100% ethyl acetate, but based on my experience, that's not true.
After evaporating ~15 mL of MEK substitute on a watch glass, a substantial amount of gel-like residue remained on it. I distilled the MEK substitute,
which removed much of the gel, but it still left concentric rings of residue on the watch glass after evaporation.
I suspect the gel is an additive to prevent the MEK substitute from evaporating too quickly. Perhaps stirring with activated charcoal or fractional
distillation would help purify the ethyl actetate.