CaptainOfSmug - 26-7-2012 at 19:13
I am very new to chemistry so please forgive me for my ignorance before hand 
Anywho while at work today I was using a paint stripper "dad's easy spray" which works wonders. I looked on the bottle and it contains methylene
chloride. Upon looking up the MSDS on the paint stripper it contains <13% methanol and apx. 6% ethylene glycol butyl ether.
My question is, is it possible to just do a simple distillation to collect the methylene chloride because it has such a lower boiling point then the
other ingredients? Or would I need to do a simple then fractional if this is even possible at all? Thanks for any help in advance!
jamit - 26-7-2012 at 20:56
UTFSE!!! type, "dichloromethane" or "paint stripper" or "methylene chloride"
This subject has been dealt with many times and doing the re-search will in the end be more
profitable for your chemistry learning. Good luck.
MrHomeScientist - 27-7-2012 at 06:20
I distilled DCM from Klean-Strip paint stripper using simple distillation, which worked out quite well and was very easy.
I have a video on it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3ppYMTAqWM&list=UUZOxhZo...
I also have a video on purifying the collected DCM - to sum that one up: just shake it with water. If you want to then dry it, shake it with a drying
agent like CaCl2. Not sure how I managed to make that into a 12 minute video 
DDTea - 27-7-2012 at 12:02
Both methanol and 2-butoxyethanol (ethylene glycol butyl ether) are miscible with water. Dichloromethane (DCM) is not. A simple wash may suffice and
you may not even have to distill anything.
Mixing your paint thinner with water first, shaking to allow equilibration, and then discarding the aqueous phase should clean up your DCM quite a
bit. Your DCM can then be dried using magnesium sulfate ("Epsom Salt").
To do the drying, first bake your magnesium sulfate at ~115 C in an oven for an hour or two. Then, add scoops of it to your solvent with stirring.
When the magnesium sulfate no longer looks clumpy but instead starts freely floating in the DCM, like a snow globe, your solvent is dry.
If this is insufficient for purifying your DCM, you can move on to a distillation.
Dariusrussell - 1-12-2013 at 15:29
Woe is me. I recently bought some Sunnyside brand brush cleaner claiming to contain DCM, but it must've been between batches when they stopped using
DCM as a stripper. Instead I ended up distilling ~500mL of Acetone (Its still going), which I also bought...