melvinthedestroyer
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Onyx 100% Acetone... does it need drying? Purifying?
Hello sciencemadness!
I performed a quick search of the forum for "acetone" and "drying / dry acetone" and did not find exactly what I was looking for, so I hope the making
this thread is justified. (I'm new here and I am trying to follow the rules to a tee!)
Anyway, I am in the market for pure, dry acetone. (Side question: if literature calls for pure, dry acetone: how pure? How dry? What does that mean
really?) I found a particular brand of cheap acetone that I am considering buying. It is called "Onyx Professional 100% Acetone Polish Remover"
I am a bit leery of this brand, as the "100% Acetone" portion of the label seems like a rough estimate. Most ACS grade acetone that I have found for
sale is estimated at 99-and-change% purity and is a little more expensive. This stuff is $20 a gallon, shipping included.
Being that this is sold as polish remover, there is no COA. I am worried that this really ISN'T pure acetone, and is being sold as 100% because, for
all intensive purposes, it is pure for someone who wishes to remove nail polish.
Has anyone had any experience with this particular brand? What impurities may be present, and should I concern myself with their removal? Is this dry
acetone?
Furthermore, after reading through this thread I still feel like I am no closer to finding an easy, effective and (preferably) inexpensive method of drying acetone that does not
produce any byproducts. Does anyone have experience with drying acetone?
Thank you for the information!
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Bot0nist
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I have used this brand before myself. You can expect some water to be in it, as well as a little denatonium benzoate. Is distillation out of your
capabilities? That's how I purify and dry all my solvents. Just make sure to use a good thermometer and follow good fractional distillation
techniques.
[Edited on 16-7-2011 by Bot0nist]
U.T.F.S.E. and learn the joys of autodidacticism!
Don't judge each day only by the harvest you reap, but also by the seeds you sow.
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vulture
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An indispensable resource you should get is the book "Purification of laboratory chemicals". It details purification and drying of many solvents. I
believe it can be downloaded from the FTP or torrent.
Anyway, Merck recommends potassium carbonate (dry ofcourse) or molecular sieve 3A.
Dry is a relative term when it comes to solvents, certainly with water miscible ones like acetone. So it would be best to look at your application and
determine what makes it moisture sensitive.
http://www.merck-chemicals.kr/showBrochure/201002.048.ProNet...
[Edited on 16-7-2011 by vulture]
One shouldn't accept or resort to the mutilation of science to appease the mentally impaired.
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Magpie
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According to Curly Arrow the use of mole sieves on acetone is not a good idea:
http://curlyarrow.blogspot.com/2010/04/anhydrous-solvents-pa...
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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not_important
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Note that when referring to pre-WWII literature, the means of production of acetone and thus the impurities to be expected have changed. Currently
most acetone comes from the cumene process of making phenol, most of the rest is made via the Wacker-Hoechst process, and there are a few other minor
routes. All of these are based on propylene, on an industrial scale this means a small amount of butylenes get into the process, and traces of
polymerisation (C6, C9, C12, ...) products may occur. Lubricants from pumps might creep in, and so on. The cumene process may leave traces of benzene
in the acetone. Someone with access to a GC could likely tell what they found in commercial grade solvent acetone.
So the best bet is to fractionally distill the raw material, leaving behind some acetone (use it in the shop as a solvent). If dryness is really
important then dry just before using the acetone, as it (like the lower alcohols) suck water right out of the air and so are difficult to keep dry.
CaSO4 is a decent polishing drying agent, it is only a few-fold less effective than MS; either use a fine frit glass filter or distill to leave bits
of CaSO4 behind.
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otto.online
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Hi, acetone is usually terrible to dry, because acidic alfa-protons are presented and apparent water content is inflated by exchange process and also
by self-condensation through enol intermediates.
I found one nice drying method [J. Org. Chem. 43 (20) 3966 (1978)], which uses boric anhydride B2O3 - about 5% w/w load, 72 h stirring under inert
atmosphere and then distilled.
This operation reduces water content from cca 3000 ppm to 2 ppm, that's superior to any other drying agent and does not produce any byproducts or
contaminations of distillate.
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melvinthedestroyer
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I think I'll try to get around using it. Thanks for the information!
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