09-24-01 19:28
No 216897
this was in a another thread i participated in, and my patience is lacking, and i'm suddenly intrested, so if anyone knows of this:
This isnt going to help youre match box red phosphorus, but I would like some info from anyone who knows about this. BenWiFFen mentioned MEK, I'm assuming this stands for methyl ethyl ketone, a paint stripper. Recently, maybe 2 months ago, all toluene was pulled from the shelves in every place Ive ever seen it , over the counter, and replaced with Methyl Ethyl Ketone.
Sorry to cross post, (I don't promote it, but a new thread is pointless, and if I get no feedback I'll survive. I too think anhydrous acetone should kill any glue binding to it. try drying it with some anhydrous MgSO4, or CaCl2.) but has anyone else seen this in thier area, or heard of it?
I was told MEK was pulled a while back due to it being a precursor to somthing related to this thread.
Another question I have is what if any, uses would MEK have other than it's said solvent uses? Would the MEK be denatured in some way? I haven't been intrested in chemical toying, nor my lab work, so I haven't looked or asked.
isiah 3:16, drownin in the heron river judas a hitman for thirty pieces of silver.
(Stranger)
09-29-01 16:52
No 218533
Just to rub it in that in the UK we have toluene coming out of our ears, mostly in cheap cellulose thinners mixed with methanol (easy to seperate with water washing). If I could find a product in the UK with MEK in it I could do all sort of things !!
(Hive Bee)
09-29-01 20:47
No 218610
Solvent OTC availability varies by state & country. Toluene(methyl benzene) is a fave among huffers, so it has been replaced by the chemically similar but less buzz-inducing xylene(dimethyl benzene, mixed ortho-, meta- and para- isomers). For most uses they are interchangable, though xylene has a slightly higher bp due to its extra methyl group. MEK is similarly similar to acetone, the latter being methyl,methyl ketone. Again, similar solvent properties, slightly different bp due to MEK's ethyl group where acetone has a methyl. MEK is slightly less polar, but not much. I cant see MEK and toluene being interchangable for any painting or solvent purpose. Acetone and MEK are miscible in H2O whereas the aromatics xylene and toluene are not.
Unless specifically a controlled substance, and I don't know what MEK could be a precursoe per se for, many hard to find solvents are available from professional automotive and marine paint suppliers. As well, smaller hardware stores will often have an old can or ttwo gathering dust on the back shelf somewhere. Seek and ye shall find.
Reportedly, ethyl benzene, a very common industrial solvent available in 55-gal drums can be converted into phenylacetone. See Uncle Fester's Advanced Techniques.... for details.
For removing adhesives and stains I prefer to begin with a polar solvent and work my way to non-polar 'till I find a suitable solvent like so: water/acetone/ethyl ether/xylene/mineral spirits/n-heptane. Try a chlorinated solvent too, i.e. trichloroethane
happy de-glueing,
Bozakium the huffmeister