ZIGZIGLAR
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Qualitative tests for Methyl Isobutyl Ketone
Any suggestions for tests I can run to identify the presence of MIK in an aqueos solution of ethanol?
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Zyklon-A
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Isn't Methyl Isobutyl Ketone abbreviated MIBK?
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ZIGZIGLAR
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Yes, I believe so.  - Any suggestions for tests I can run to identify the
presence of MIBK in an aqueos solution of ethanol?
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UnintentionalChaos
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Brady's reagent, but acetaldehyde content or low concentration will foil that.
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ZIGZIGLAR
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So basically, test for MIBK prior to refluxing with sodium hydroxide and, assuming there are no other impurities, it should react with the ketones and
be a reliable indication.
EDIT: I really want a Raman Spectrometer >.< - what if the ethanol had been oxidised? Brady's reagent would fail.
[Edited on 18-2-2014 by ZIGZIGLAR]
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Paddywhacker
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I presume that you don't have access to GLC equipment. A simple approach would be to react with Brady's reagent and separate the products by
chromatography, either thin layer or paper.
You could make up a series of standard dilutions to make it quantitative.
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ZIGZIGLAR
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You are correct. I can only dream of having that kind of equipment. I've seen pre-loved systems going for $3-4k, so maybe one day, but I can't justify
it for now. And I think I'd be more tempted by a portable Raman with a good GUI and chemical database. Have you seen those things in action? Point and
shoot (even while the sample remains safely enclosed in a vial) and you get an instant quantitive reading of all detected chemicals. To drool for!
As for thin layer or paper, I could justify those setups, but I've just never had the demand to do so as I can find ways around it. I pretty much just
experiment with whatever I want to, which is usually dictated by the resources I have available. Chemistry for the sake of chemistry
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thebean
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Isn't Brady's Reagent shock sensitive? From what I understand they sell it as a wet powder, but still not something I'd want to be using simply for
detecting MIBK.
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ZIGZIGLAR
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With basic TLC, I could just run a comparison against a sample of pure MIBK and a sample of pure Ethanol, right? I mean it wouldn't be quantified, but
it would be qualitative ... I don't even remember how to perform quantitative TLC.
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ZIGZIGLAR
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Quote: Originally posted by thebean  |
Isn't Brady's Reagent shock sensitive? From what I understand they sell it as a wet powder, but still not something I'd want to be using simply for
detecting MIBK. |
Yes it's particularly explosive in dry form. I'm still shopping around for cheap alternative methods tbh ...
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Etaoin Shrdlu
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It might form a bisulfite adduct. It's a methyl ketone but has a pretty bulky group on the other side so I don't know. Do you have a ballpark figure
for how much you're expecting to be in your solution, if any? Are you trying to find out what type of denatured alcohol you have?
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ZIGZIGLAR
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I'm expecting between 1 and 4% MIBK. Not trying to determine what kind of denatured alcohol I have, but rather, trying to find whether or not I have
successfully purified it.
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