Sometimes access to solvents may vary for a plethora of reasons , so people might have to do with sub-optimal solvents. If you ask me, i would rather have the best purity solvents accompanied with a full analysis everytime, but sometimes that is just a dream.

Given the above, a company supplied the MSDS of solvents it sold. Lets say that distillation is not a possible route.

Solvent A contains : Xylene (mixed isomers) 75-80%, Ethylbenzene 10-30%

Solvent B contains : Toluol <3% , Methanol >3%, Methylene Chloride stabilisers 85-90%

Solvent C contains : Xylene (its CAS is O-Xylene) 80%, n-butanol 20%

Some Questions on them:

1) If one wanted to extract using an aromatic solvent would Solvent A be suitable? I hear ethylbenzene commonly exists in xylene formulations, its aromatic ok, but i do not know much about its properties.

2) Could Solvents B and C be seperated without distilation?

(Clarification: Solvent B mentions "methylene Chloride stabilisers", it gives the CAS of methylene chloride so i assume its methylene chloride and stabilisers, i dont know how often CH2Cl2 has stabilisers in ,but i assume it may form dangerous brakedown products)

Bear with me but my chemistry knowledge is not my strong point but:

2a) If Solvent C is extracted with WATER, would the more polar n-butanol migrate to the water layer ,efficiently leaving xylene on the upper layer?


2b) If Solvent B is extracted with WATER , would toluol and methanol be seperated from it, toluol forming an upper layer and methanol going in the aqueous phase and methylene chloride forming a bottom layer?

I am not that sure the above could work, propably i need lots of studying in solvent systems. They seem unlikely to be so easily seperated,after all why would one employ distilation if it was so easy, but i thought i should ask for the input of someone more knowledgable.

You're on the right tract!

Solvent A is a pain, and tough to separate without distillation. It may even be tough to separate with distillation as the components may form azeotrope with each other. the good news is that the odds are that the mixture will most likely be fine to use as is in place of just xylene, or just toluene.

Solvent B might as well form 3 layers, as it is predicted by the densities of each solvent if washed with water. DCM going to the bottom, methanol dissolving in the water in the middle and toluene floating atop. It may require to do this thing 3-4 times to wash them away thoroughly. Actually it would be nice to see if this solvent will behave as predicted.

Solvent C may again be similar to B. n-butanol does not readily dissolve in water, it floats atop of it. It is only slightly soluble in water, just like DCM. Again, it would be nice to see if 3 layers (n-butanol:top, water:middle and DCM:bottom) form if this solvents gets mixed with water.

Ah, thanks for the responce. Solvent C is Xylene and butanol ,so if butanol floats atop and doesnt dissolve in water prefferentially, then they will not be seperated (if this method works in the first place for other solvent mixtures, that is). I wonder though if that solvent has any uses as is...


Solvent A doesnt seem problematic for an extraction where an aromatic solvent is called for, at least from the reading i have been doing unless there is something major im overlooking.

yes plx respond because SWIM has finnally purchases xylene only to find out that its your product A.

for swim it has pulled nothing, not sure if it is other causes yet........4pulls maybe 20mg....and no naptha pull on one jar and the other was naptha pulled....2 jars 2 pulls each.

is this good to use, or should SWIM seperate, or just use as camp fire fuel?