04-05-02 02:16
No 292550
Someone was shocked when they went to their local home improvement store and it was removed from the shelf(Toluene). How low can you go? Now, this same person was lucky enough to have purchased 4 - 1L 'tins' of this stuff 2 or so years ago. The tins were stored under a kitchen sink. Upon inspection it still looks like Tol, it still stinks like Tol, the cat still runs when the container is thrown at it & it still tastes (no available volunteer for taste test, yet). Well, it looks and smells good. It's been tightly sealed. . . Should someone be concerned their Tol is bad?
PS other than asking here where could someone have went to find shelf life of solvents/chemicals? 3 minutes of searching found:
http://www.nasatech.com/Briefs/Sept00/LE
Alittle further now, "YOU CAN DO IT!"(WaterBoy?)
(Hive Bee)
04-05-02 02:51
No 292574
Toulene is a little aromatic ring with a single methyl branching off of it. I don't have any precise info as to the shelf life but I can tell you that that's a pretty stable structure (resonance) that will hold up to the test of time. Your tolly is fine, go ahead and use it, but you may want to dry it out if your purpose is gassing.
_flip_@hushmail.com
(Hive Addict)
04-05-02 06:14
No 292692
The workhorse petroleum solvenst have a pretty infinite shelf life, though as flip sez, one may wish to dry it to bee on the safe side.
My 10 year old gallon is still fine, though some asshole skinhead huffed a lot of it on me over the years. Xylene is an excellent OTC substitute without the cool high. It is chemically very similar but with a slightly higher bp.
***
One caution on old solvents: ether (NOT petroleum ether which is mostly pentanes) aka: ethyl ether aka: diethyl ether -tends to form explosive peroxides when exposed to oxygen(no can is 100 per cent airtight) which can and will detonate when heated, especiallly when heated to dryness.
(Newbee)
04-06-02 14:26
No 293253
I got some 10 l of Toluene 5 yrs ago and I still use it w/o problem.
(Chief Bee)
04-07-02 05:15
No 293491
Toluene is found in oil wells that has been underground for millions of years. None of you will live long enough to watch toluene go bad.
(Master Searcher)
04-07-02 05:33
No 293499
I just saw a couple gallons on the shelf at a paint store today. I have a gallon already so I didn't get anymore. Also, I stopped at an art supply store after reading something here (2 years ago?) about Bestine having hexane in it. I found Bestine heptane (bp 98 degrees C) formula. No one there knew anything about hexane (bp 69 degrees) based Bestine, but I did see something searching on the internet about hexane in Bestine. They had some acrylic solvent cement which says it contains methylene chloride so I got some of that to check out. Its in a brown (half pint?) bottle and is a clear liquid. A good way to test it might be to evaporate some to see if it leaves a residue and distill it to check the boiling range. I remember using some kind of solvent in an art class in school for glueing together pieces of plexiglas. It could be just solvent alone and no adhesive dissolved in it.
http://www.geocities.com/dritte123/PSPF.
The hardest thing to explain is the obvious
(Hive Addict)
04-07-02 22:20
No 293796
Toluene is likely still available in your area as a lacquer thinner (containing some methanol). Methylene chloride is used to glue plexiglass, but a better source than an art shop is a window shop. They will be able to sell you it by the 4L tin.
(Hive Addict)
04-08-02 11:54
No 294177
Rhodium: As a geologist I couldnt agree more, but as a chemist, if I didnt know anything about hydrocarbons, I would not make that assumption since the equillibrium conditions deep in the earth are quire different from those on the shelf.
Son of Polythene Sam: Ahh, solvents. As for Bestine; products such as that do not generally vary in formula very much. Believe the label, but read the MSDS to get the full story. In most cases heptane is a fine substitute for for hexane. Heptane makes up abou 70% of starting fluid, so save the mother liquor from your startig fluit ether pulls.
And yes, plastics stores are the place for MeCl2, it is used as you said, as an adhesive for solvent-welding acrylic plastics