Hello all,

Get ready for a few questions. I've done three extracts now and these are a few observations that lead to more questions for me.

I want to know what to look for in a glass vessel during extractions. I don't care to use plastic during my extractions for anything besides perhaps the lid. I have seen to many photos of plastic contaminated material to even want to try. The size of the vessel isn't of the up most importance but ideally would be big enough for 100-200g extractions.

I currently have an old liquor bottle with a plastic screw top. The only thing about it is that it doesn't specify what type of plastic the cap is made from sadly.

I have another glass vessel that has a metal cap with some type of enamel coated onto it. The bottle originally was used as a growler for beer. I don't want to use this vessel due to the cap being metal and the enamel coating the cap.

What do you look for in your glass vessel and why? Or where do you find your glass vessels.

I was thinking of going to a local brew supply store and seeing what type of glass vessels they carry and figuring out exactly what type of plastic or metal the lids are made of.

Also is there any graph of information that outlines what type of plastic is fine to come in contact with the materials from your standard Noman's STB? I've seen a bunch of people using HDPE but what about the other types?

It is well documented that Sodium hydroxide slowly reacts with glass to form sodium silicate. How many extracts do you use a single glass vessel for normally, assuming you are doing a heat bath per pull? Do you avoid letting STB's sit in glass vessels for lengthy periods of time due to the production of sodium silicate?

Thank you for your time.

I use the large mason jars for up to 250g a/b extractions they work perfectly.

I have a bunch of mason jars from half pints, pints, and quarts. One thing I wonder about is the enamel on the lid. Have you experienced any pealing or degradation of the enamel on any of the lids you've used?

I'm assuming the band is made of aluminum which wouldn't be the best if it gets exposed to NaOH inside the track in the band.

I have used mason jars many times in the past and I never noticed any degradation in the lids when running A/B or STB DMT extractions. The only time I have ever had problems with mason jar lids is when working with acetone. It corrodes the rubber and coating of the lids very quickly. To avoid that I have always wrapped the lids in tin foil and that worked perfectly (after checking to make sure that none of the chemicals I was working with would react with the aluminum, of course). I have recently upgraded all of my equipment to maximize efficiency and I think your absolute safest bet would be to buy glass reagent bottles or flasks with glass stoppers from a chemistry supplies vendor. Use a tiny bit of high vacuum grease on the stoppers and hold them on when mixing, and you've got yourself a water-tight seal. A lot of chemistry supplies can be found on ebay for a very low price.

I have looked into plastics that are 100% resistant to degradation from non-polar solvents, and I have yet to find anything that wouldn't cost me my life savings. I feel it's best to just avoid plastics completely.

As far as reusing glass, I try to use as much Pyrex as possible.

Clear glass, screw cap, wine bottles are just fine for 50-100g extractions.

Personally I use large pickle jars. The vlasic jars come with measurements blown into the glass at 20, 40, and 60oz. They are 84oz jars. I use them for stb. The lid enamel does degrade after 4 or 5 runs, but it never crosses over into the np solvent. Not only are they large enough for 100-200g extracts, but you also get the added treat of having a large quantity of pickles every time you by a jar.

I used lab glass now, but started off with 1 qt glass vinegar bottles... they worked great!

Thanks for chiming in everyone.

So watch out for acetone and mason jar lids by either just avoiding it or with tinfoil barrier. This is good news since I have a few mason jars laying around.

Thanks Entheogenerator for the image of the plastic chemical resistance chart. Exactly what I was looking for, well kinda if only it had solvents on there.

Those reagent bottles caught my eye... I can see why they say they can be ornamental, just cool looking glass containers. If only they could stand heat. I suppose having an Erlenmeyer flask or two of the same size wouldn't hurt for doing heat baths in. But kinda makes the reagent bottle useless if I can just do the entirety in a flask.

I'll probably just grab a few flat bottom flasks with glass stopcocks then. Seems about the most reliable investment.

It does...

I used a glass vessel but they have some plastic in the tap...

Now id try a whisky bottle...

Look up which of these categories your solevnt of choice falls into. I'd be willing to bet it is either an aromatic hydrocarbon (i.e. xylene, toulene) or aliphatic hydrocarbon (i.e. hexane, heptane), or a combination of several different hydrocarbons (i.e. VM&P Naphtha).

find apple juice jugs or glass lemonade containers at the grocery store

Hehe, my apologies. I'm not very chemistry savy and didn't immediately correlate hydrocarbons to solvents hehe... I get it now. I'll add my own little key to the picture to include some of the more common solvent and what category they are apart of for just an added ease or viewing for myself.

you're correct, sodium cations do react with glass to form sodium silicate, and the reaction is slow at room temp. of course, this is a function of dissociation. there will be some sodium hydroxide salt in solution.

the further down the cation groups (on the periodic table) you go, the easier it is for the salts to dissociate (thus, a stronger base), and the greater potential for degradation to occur (ex. CsOH)

Hello,

I got this idea from the internet and I'm not sure if it has already been mentioned elsewhere on these pages, so forgive me if this is nothing new to you...

Why not take some clear plastic foil (cling-wrap) or clear adhesive tape and wrap it around the bottom and sides of the glass reaction vessel of your choice...
Should your bottle shatter due to etching, thermal shock or impact from falling, it will still be somewhat "held together" by the foil, reducing spill, reducing risk of bodily harm and supplying a few moments in which to dump the contents into an appropriate container (bucket of acidified water?)...

This is probably not a leak-proof and only very temporary solution, but the mental picture I have of a non-wrapped bottle exploding while shaking the mixture...

The actual labware I got this idea from is about double the price of their "unprotected" bottles...it's funny because it's true...

PLUR

Plastic-wrap is a no-no. Dissolves in solvents.

he's thinking of the wheaton bottles that are covered with a thin layer of epoxy.
clingwrap probably isn't a good idea because if it shatters, the solvent will dissolve it, like you mention.

I was actually referring to the Schott/Duran "protect" bottles (e.g. GLS 80 "protect"...

Anyway, I stated that this would be only a temporary solution, allowing for a few moments of extra "response time" and possibly reducing injuries and/or spills...
I mean the solvent isn't going to dissolve the plastic instantly, or is it? (in which case one could still consider "wrapping" or coating the bottle with another material?)

That depends on the solvent... Acetone dissolves plastic almost instantly.

I've had mason jar lids degrade from rolling basified solution with xylene.

I always use new lids for every extraction. They're cheap and conveniently sold individually.