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ether
- Thread starter 40oz to freedom
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Schizomanic
Bluelighter
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I accidentally figured a way to further refine the water/ether solution.
By placing the solution in the freezer, the water comes out of solution by means of becoming ice. The ether remains a liquid and can therefore be filtered out to obtain a reasonably pure conc. of ether. It is STILL NOT SAFE TO HUFF, however.
By placing the solution in the freezer, the water comes out of solution by means of becoming ice. The ether remains a liquid and can therefore be filtered out to obtain a reasonably pure conc. of ether. It is STILL NOT SAFE TO HUFF, however.
lorenzo_benzo
Bluelighter
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What comes to my mind is what this dude is planning to do with the ether... if he is a meth cook, i hope i never try out his shit.
Grignard
Bluelighter
Hmm, assuming heptane and ether are the two main components that you'd be working with, it would seem like methanol would be a much better solvent to use than water (assuming there's no azeotrope between methanol and ether, or methanol and heptane), since methanol and ether are miscible, whereas methanol and heptane are not. This is in comparison to water which is immiscible with both ether and heptane (~6 grams of ether per 100 ml water is not that soluble). Or if you can get it, acetonitrile might work as well.
thepodman
Bluelighter
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- Apr 6, 2004
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Here's some more info on diethyl ether solubility in water.
http://orgchem.colorado.edu/hndbksupport/ext/extsqans.html
Look at the answer for question 2. (if you need the questions too, click here http://orgchem.colorado.edu/hndbksupport/ext/extsq.html )
http://orgchem.colorado.edu/hndbksupport/ext/extsqans.html
Look at the answer for question 2. (if you need the questions too, click here http://orgchem.colorado.edu/hndbksupport/ext/extsq.html )
Schizomanic
Bluelighter
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thepodman said:
I see. Those were some very good links, but there is still a problem.
Wouldn't mixing water with heptane and ether form 3 layers then, once too much water was added? I only noticed 2. Does this mean there was enough water so that all of the ether dissolved in it?
Grignard, wouldn't using methanol affect ether's properties? Let's say a chemical synthesis called for 500 mL of diethyl ether. I could use an aqueous solution to find 500ml of ether, but not an ether/methanol solution. Is there a way to separate the two?
^^ I guess I didn't after all! I left the supposed "almost pure ether in the freezer last nite at -5 degrees celcius and it froze! Ether's freezing point is -117.4 degrees celcius. SO i have a question. DOes mixing ether with water raise ether's freezing point so that a temp. of -5 degrees celcius would freeze it?
I'm pretty sure the mix that froze was ether mixed with water and that the water had something to do with the ether freezing because the other container (with heptane) did not freeze (freezing point - 90.6 degrees celcius). Last night, however, i noticed these round frozen globules in the bottom of the container, which I guessed was the frozen water which would not dissolve in the heptane. DOes this offer any help to our problem of which container contains the ether?
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
Grignard
Bluelighter
Yeah, if you want just ether than you are gonna have to separate the methanol and ether, preferably by distillation. However, unless you have the requisite knowledge, skills, and equipment I would not try to do this as you are liable to kill if not seriously maim yourself.
You may be able to wash out the methanol with several water and brine washes. Or you could try oxidizing the methanol to it's carboxylic acid, and then washing it out with some bicarb or NaOH sol'n, though I don't know what possible complications or dangers could arise from the presence of the ether.
In either case, whether you distill, wash, or do the oxidation then wash, you're going to end up with something that although may mainly be ether, will still be pretty impure and not really suitable for either huffing(which I would discourage even if you had 100% pure ether) or chemistry.
Though if I may ask, what exactly do you want the ether for?
You may be able to wash out the methanol with several water and brine washes. Or you could try oxidizing the methanol to it's carboxylic acid, and then washing it out with some bicarb or NaOH sol'n, though I don't know what possible complications or dangers could arise from the presence of the ether.
In either case, whether you distill, wash, or do the oxidation then wash, you're going to end up with something that although may mainly be ether, will still be pretty impure and not really suitable for either huffing(which I would discourage even if you had 100% pure ether) or chemistry.
Though if I may ask, what exactly do you want the ether for?
ebola?
Bluelight Crew
>>i'm pretty sure that doing nitrous deprives your brain of a lot more oxygen than ether. it's just that out of those, only nitrous is not a solvent>>
Umm...is there a reason you think this?
ebola
Umm...is there a reason you think this?
ebola
BadGravity
Bluelighter
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Nitrous is a solvent, just not as you think of solvents. It works in the same way othe solvents to(like ETOH) by messing up the myelin sheath on your neurons and allowing ions to leak out.
Schizomanic
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I have two containers, one with heptane and one with water. equal amounts of water were added to both. One container formed two layers, the other remained as one layer. Am I to assume that the one-layered container contains ether?
phantasmal
Bluelighter
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- Oct 12, 2003
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OK, it may just be me, but I think at least some of you are slightly mixed up...
Firstly, when chemists, doctors, etc. talk about "ether", they almost ALWAYS mean diethyl ether. There are many different ethers around (an "ether" is a class of organic compound, and there are loads of them.) but if they want to talk about a specific one, they will name it. Diethyl ether is so common, however, that it's generally referred to as just ether. I'm going to stick to this convention!
Heptane is a non-polar solvent, barely soluble in water (as mentioned). Ether is the same, although it is significantly more water-soluble. Non-polar solvents will, however, preferentially mix with one another, as will polar solvents (fairly obvious! The old "oil and water" thing, where oil is non-polar and water polar). Thus, when you wash the starter fluid with water, a small amount of ether will dissolve in the water, the rest should stay in the heptane. The water will dissolve any polars (things like ethylene glycol, methanol, and so forth. I'm not certain what's in your starter fluid!). Either way, you should end up with a polar water layer on the bottom and a non polar ether/heptane/whatever else layer on top (since water is denser than most common organic solvents). Of course, if you use a huge amount of water, all your ether will dissolve in it (but bear in mind that water will only hold 5% ether - 5mL ether per 100mL water. Thus keep the volumes small and most of it should end up in the non-polar layer. You could also saturate the water you use with table salt, which should push most of the rest of the ether out).
If you want to be sure which layer is the water, add a drop or two of food dye. It wont mix with the non-polar layer. Do it anyway, it just looks cool
(it's similar to how they do lava lamps!!).
Now, a few comments regarding inhaling this stuff. First of all, it's really not good for you. And, being a chem student, I've used ether extensively - when you're doing it in a poor fume hood, you tend to inhale large amounts of the crap. I swear, I've never had anything remotely resembling a high, and I've ended up with the world's WORST headache every time afterwards. Really should convince them to fix those fume hoods...
Also remember that ether is one of the more flammable chemicals going around, and seeing as it boils at 30*C, it wont take much to end up with a room full of fumes...
As has again been said, this is far from medical grade ether!! Hydrocarbons (eg heptane) can be very toxic by inhalation. And you have no idea what some of the other crap in there is, let alone what it may do to you, nor what sort of toxins some of it could be metabolised to. I'd really recommend that you dont inhale this unless you distil it, and distilling ether just sounds like a fun way to cause an explosion and hurt yourself unless you have the right equipment and know exactly what you're doing!
Firstly, when chemists, doctors, etc. talk about "ether", they almost ALWAYS mean diethyl ether. There are many different ethers around (an "ether" is a class of organic compound, and there are loads of them.) but if they want to talk about a specific one, they will name it. Diethyl ether is so common, however, that it's generally referred to as just ether. I'm going to stick to this convention!
Heptane is a non-polar solvent, barely soluble in water (as mentioned). Ether is the same, although it is significantly more water-soluble. Non-polar solvents will, however, preferentially mix with one another, as will polar solvents (fairly obvious! The old "oil and water" thing, where oil is non-polar and water polar). Thus, when you wash the starter fluid with water, a small amount of ether will dissolve in the water, the rest should stay in the heptane. The water will dissolve any polars (things like ethylene glycol, methanol, and so forth. I'm not certain what's in your starter fluid!). Either way, you should end up with a polar water layer on the bottom and a non polar ether/heptane/whatever else layer on top (since water is denser than most common organic solvents). Of course, if you use a huge amount of water, all your ether will dissolve in it (but bear in mind that water will only hold 5% ether - 5mL ether per 100mL water. Thus keep the volumes small and most of it should end up in the non-polar layer. You could also saturate the water you use with table salt, which should push most of the rest of the ether out).
If you want to be sure which layer is the water, add a drop or two of food dye. It wont mix with the non-polar layer. Do it anyway, it just looks cool
(it's similar to how they do lava lamps!!).Now, a few comments regarding inhaling this stuff. First of all, it's really not good for you. And, being a chem student, I've used ether extensively - when you're doing it in a poor fume hood, you tend to inhale large amounts of the crap. I swear, I've never had anything remotely resembling a high, and I've ended up with the world's WORST headache every time afterwards. Really should convince them to fix those fume hoods...
Also remember that ether is one of the more flammable chemicals going around, and seeing as it boils at 30*C, it wont take much to end up with a room full of fumes...
As has again been said, this is far from medical grade ether!! Hydrocarbons (eg heptane) can be very toxic by inhalation. And you have no idea what some of the other crap in there is, let alone what it may do to you, nor what sort of toxins some of it could be metabolised to. I'd really recommend that you dont inhale this unless you distil it, and distilling ether just sounds like a fun way to cause an explosion and hurt yourself unless you have the right equipment and know exactly what you're doing!