Ether

I know it's blacklisted but how would one go about getting some Diethyl ether for extracting purposes?

 

auto starting fluid; you'd need to distill (very carefully) off the ether from the heptane

 

get a brand without upper cylinder lubricants in it - use google and be VERY careful. Or you will have some unpleasant potentially fatal conflagration/explosion.

 

This is what I was thinking, now would I only need to heat it to it's boiling point (34.6C) or hotter?

 

yeah, it would be best to use a ice cold water-cooled condenser, since the vapor pressure of ether is ridiculous; this will ensure you get a nice amount to work with

 

I recall a method that i used in which you combined the starter fluid with water, shook for a long while in a bottle, and removed the ether. It worked pretty well too.

 

I know that ether is made with sulfuric acid, and alcohol(though it didn't tell what kind of alcohol, but i'm assuming ethel of course). But specifically, how would i go about making ether with these chemicals?

 

No offense bro. But if you can't figure it out for yourself you shouldn't attempt it.

You reflux conc. H2SO4 with EtOH then fractionally distill off the diethylether.

To do it safely and properly you'll need proper lab glassware and a modicum of experience with lab technique.

 

Oh i'm not planning on doing it, lol. I was just curious. I'm not that well educated in chemistry at all, obviously. So you'll have to excuse my stupidity. But did i at least have the chems right?

 

Yessir.
Again, simply put:
Combine concentrated Sulfuric acid and dry ethanol.
Carefully heat till reflux. At reaction completion cool the solution and distill the reaction product. Or one can run the reaction with a distillation setup and distill as you are running the reaction.

This reaction also produces ethylene if the temperature gets too high.

Obviously you need to work out the stoichiometry and details were one to carry it out.

But just to reiterate for anyone considering trying this; in this reaction one would be combining a concentrated mineral acid with alcohol (flammable) and heating it to produce diethylether (really flammable)
Not for someone unsure of their skills as it's a little more sensitive than the old acid/base extraction.

 

Yeah i don't think i'd attemp it, yet anyways. Is it even legal? But i'm just starting with the basics in chemistry, and we are going to do our first lab in chem 1 tomarrow. It's going to be extracting sodium chloride from water. I know i'm gonnba fuck this up, and it's probably one of the simpliest things there is to do it chem! lol

 

NaCl extraction technique:
Careful! This is most likely highly illegal, don't be surprised when you hear the blackhawk helicopters overhead in mid-procedure.
1. Evaporate the water.
2. Add precipitate to some sort of snack, preferably of the pretzeled variety.

 

^ Lol. I was talking about the ether, not the NaCL.

 

It's cool that you're interested. Chemistry isn't magic.
Knowledge is power.

 

Yeah that NaCl thing was fucking easy. But i don't think i'm going to enjoy writing conclusions for bigger procedures in the future :/

 

Don't knock it till you tried it bro.
The "chemistry" classes they teach in high schools these days are abysmal.
I came within a hair of failing mine, but then what they teach isn't really what true chemistry as a science is all about at it's core.

If you're truly interested I encourage you to do your own research and teach yourself apart from your classes. There is wonderous amounts of information out there on the internet for you to dive into. Pick up a couple old entry level college chemistry texts and have at it. The new academic texts ain't got anything on the stuff put out in the early part of the 20th century.

{redacted - url no longer valid}

 

niiice... orgsyn is one of my bookmarked sites. ::dl's::

oh, and for those who want to have ether, be really careful. peroxides (oxidative byproduct of ether vapor with air) are explosive and rather unstable.

 

Something about the automotive starting fluid ether is troubling. It distills at 66 degrees instead of the 35 or whatever diethylether is suppose to distill. Is it an azeotrope with the heptane or is the CO2 doing something to it and converting it to ethylpropyl ether? Or the CO2 changes the pressure thus raising the b.p. of et20?? I don't have a pressure gauge or any other ways to test it.

 

Turn the can upside down and let the CO2 out. Not sure how you are distilling it with the CO2 still in there.

 

hmm I'll try that. I didn't think there was all that much co2 in the distillation apparatus...