theflickkk
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Composition of Nail Polish Remover?
Recently I realized that the acetone that was once sold as "Adhesive remover" has completely disappeared from the shelves. Hoping to find an
alternative source of acetone, I tried testing a bottle of Nail Polish Remover. I had to test the contents as the label said nothing about the
composition of the product.
From what I've gathered from the internet, nail polish removers often consist either of MEK, Acetone, Isopropanol or Ethyl acetate.
With the addition of 2,4-DNPH, the sample remained clear yellow and no precipitate was formed.
With the addition of a few drops water, the sample turned cloudy.
The sample is flammable.
With the addition of acetone (I still had a bit of it left), the sample remained colorless.
With the addition of denatured ethanol, the sample remained colorless.
Could the sample contain ethyl acetate then?
Also, is there any way for me to extract MEK from contact cement? So far, its the only product which has MEK listed as a constituent. Any suggestions?
Thank you very much! I'm still new to the forum ><
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ScienceSquirrel
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If you distill the nail polish remover using a column etc, you wil get rid of all the crap and get a boiling point.
Look it up and voila, you know what is in it!
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Dr.Bob
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Years ago I worked somewhere where we reclaimed solvent from waste chemicals. One item was bad batches of nail polish remover, maybe from Revlon,
which used to be near here.
In addition to acetone and/or ethyl acetate, there was usually a lot of butyl acetate and sometimes amyl acetate (banana smell). The butyl could of
course be n-, sec, iso, or tert, I don't remember which ones were in the stuff we used to work with. I think these have lower flash points than
acetone or ethyl acetate, so they are preferred. Development chemists sometimes use them in place of ethyl acetate for similar reasons.
Bob
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theflickkk
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Oh okay thanks for the suggestion (:
I'll do a distillation as soon as I get the latex tubing.
Hopefully there aren't much additives! fingers crossed!
Thats the only possible source of acetone for me D: or else I'll probably have to go through the trouble of making it from isopropanol.
Hmm any suggestions to how I could go about extracting MEK from contact cement?
Thank you
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497
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Have you looked up the MSDS files for the various products that are available to you? They should give you a better idea of what's in them. Various
paint thinning/removal related products commonly contain MEK and/or acetone, though they're usually mixed with other solvents.
I don't know about singapore but in the US nail polish remover usually contains upwards of 70% acetone, and there is also "100%" acetone nail polish
remover that still contains bitrex (if someone needs bitrex to keep them from drinking acetone, I thinks there's probably no hope  .) Unless its the non-acetone variety in which case its largely methyl or ethyl
acetate mixed with a bunch of other crap like alcohols, dicarboxylic esters, glycol ethers, etc. Also, depending on what's in it, the boiling point
may no be a reliable method of analysis since many of the solvents used form azeotropes with each other and water.
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