Hello Nexians!

I have a question about what is going on in the extraction a FOAF is working on! After he added 60mL of naphtha to the bottle with the basified mix, he rolled it for a minute (gently) and put it back in a heat bath to separate. After the 1st separation there seemed to be less naphtha on the top than when he first poured it in. He shrugged this off and rolled again, to find out that when it settled once more, even less naphtha was on the top. Now, after 3 rolls and separations there seems to be no naphthta on top whatsoever? How is this possible? A FOAF always does the rolling process/shuffle very gently and has never had issues before, so I doubt it has anything to do with emulsions or the like (it does not look like anything is different). All that one can see in the bottle is the basified mix.

Any suggestions?

Respectfully,
Import

How long is your FOAF leaving the naptha to separate from the basified mixture?

60 ml is a negligible amount of solvent for most extractions, infact expect to lose that much to your process anyway.

the substrate absorbed it/ its trapped in the aqueous phase

it dosent separate immediately either, the more viscous the aqueous phase (basic layer) the longer it takes

just use more solvent and if it all creates an emulsion (which is most likely what happened, on a micro scale)

1. add salt to further polarize the aqueous phase
2. use a hot bath to reduce viscosity of aqueous phase
3. add more base
4. set on a dryer for a spin cycle/ agitate the vessel


if none of those work after adding more solvent, please include a more detailed description of what you did. well try to help bring insight to this situation

FAQ

Hi guys!

Thanks for answering and sorry for the belated reply

Before I start - I never post a thread without having done research prior, because I know the information is out there. Hence my low post count. Even though I am relatively new to it all, I scour the forums and sources for days on end instead of barging into the forum and asking. I was unsure as to the reason for this happening in this instance, so I decided to ask. I am sorry if I offended anyone.

And regarding the 60mL of naphtha. A FOAF does small scale extractions only. In this case 60gm of MHRB was used in conjunction with Cyb's tek, which has served A FOAF excellently in the past.

Anyway, what A FOAF did and how it fixed itself - he left the bottle with naphtha/basified mix in the refrigerator for a couple of days, took it out, rolled it for a min, placed it in a warm bath, rolled, put it in again and all the naphtha came up on top after letting it sit for an hour.

Case closed!

Respectfully,
Import

EDIT: ipumaestro, special thanks to you for such an elaborate reply. the heat bath (even though A FOAF made it not so hot on purpose) worked wonders!

That's a strange one Import... perhaps it's the colemans?

Hey Cyb! I wouldn't think so, because from the very first extraction Coleman's was used and it just happened this time. But it's fixed now so no need to worry

P.S. I can't send you private messages anymore for some reason. Need full member status