Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Easy organic solvents

nimbus8 - 21-6-2013 at 17:17

What are some easy to synthesize organic solvents i can make at home? And im not talking about some sketchy distillation of pool chemicals which might have several impurities. I know there was this one from isopropyl alcohol but i forget what it was.

bfesser - 21-6-2013 at 17:30

It's isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol, 2-propanol, propan-2-ol). How old are you?

[Edited on 6/22/13 by bfesser]

plante1999 - 21-6-2013 at 17:35

If you start by telling pool chemicals give impure product, you people are not going to like to answer. Especially if you talk about hypochlorite, AJkoer is not going to be happy ha ha

Chloroform of very high grade can be made from hypochlorites and acetone or ethyl alcohol

Diethyl ether can be made by distilling ethyl alcohol with sulphuric acid

Isopranol, by salting the 70% one

Bromoform from bromine, NaOH and acetone

Ethylene glycol from antifreeze or radiator liquid for car

Glycerol from your local pharmacy

Methylene dichloride from paint stripper

Benzene from benzoate and NaOH

dioxane from ethylene glycol and sulphuric acid

Turpentine, kerosene from your local hardware store And methanol if you are in Canada Some place got toluene and xylene, but not here.

On the more exotic point, you could make 1-2 dichloro propane from map pro gas and chlorine, see the related thread.

nimbus8 - 21-6-2013 at 18:12

Lol i apologize if i stepped on anyone's toes by not liking pool chemicals. Im 18 and thank you for your advice.

Bot0nist - 21-6-2013 at 19:01

We do love us some pool chemicals around here... Any relatively cheap and useful source of OTC reagents, really. I love cruising the isles at local hardware stores, and specialty paint stores, peeking at the labels and checking MSDS on my phones. Like a kid in a candy store...

[Edited on 22-6-2013 by Bot0nist]

sargent1015 - 21-6-2013 at 19:11

Quote: Originally posted by Bot0nist  
I love cruising the isles at local hardware stores, and specialty paint stores, peeking at the labels and checking MSDS on my phones. Like a kid in a candy store...
[Edited on 22-6-2013 by Bot0nist]


I could not agree with that statement more :) In fact, just driving past hardware stores gives me the impulse to experiment.

ElizabethGreene - 22-6-2013 at 16:27

Quote:
im not talking about some sketchy distillation of pool chemicals which might have several impurities


The purity of a chemical depends largely on the skill of the Chemist synthesizing it. That holds true if he works at a Sigma-Aldrich plant or if she's working in her driveway.

ElizabethGreene - 23-6-2013 at 07:00

Here's a new one I haven't seen on here before:
According to Wikipedia, Mineral Spirits AKA Paint Thinner AKA Stoddard Solvent contains
Quote:

a mixture of aliphatic and alicyclic C7 to C12 hydrocarbons with a maximum content of 25% of C7 to C12 aromatic hydrocarbons. A typical composition for mineral spirits is > 65% C10 or higher hydrocarbons, aliphatic solvent hexane, and a maximum benzene content of 0.1% by volume


If I read that correctly, then careful* fractional distillation of this should give you a fairly large number of -anes and -enes. As a bonus, it's really inexpensive at $10 (US) for 1 gallon.

* Careful in this context means no open flames, slow heating, and good ventilation. Like most things in O-Chem, these solvents take great delight in simultaneously poisoning you, giving you cancer, and burning your lab down.