Hey i was just wondering about a few properties of dimethyl sulfoxide.

 

DMSO boiling point - 189 degrees C

DMSO flash point - 89 degrees C

 

If i have a 70% aqueous solution of DMSO (30% distilled H2O), would it be possible to do a fractional distillation to remove the water?

 

What i mean is, would it be safe to heat the 70% solution to 100 degrees to remove the water, without the DMSO igniting?

 

I mean i would be heating it with a hot plate (no naked flame), so as long as there are no naked flames, would i be safe to assume that i could heat the DMSO to 100 degrees and separate it from the water?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! thanks, rick

it`s perfectly safe to do if done properly with the right equipment.

sweet as. thank you

Do you know the difference between a flash point and an autoignition temperature?

well the flash point is where the vapor will form an ignitable mixture in the air (needs an ignition source though) and the autoignition temp is the temp that the mixture will ignite and continue to burn without a constant ignition source?

Fill a Dean-Stark trap with 4A molecular sieves. Distill off a few mL (the water will come over). Discard this fraction then swap out your still head for the trap and distill the rest of your DMSO directly on to the sieves. Pull your dried solvent from the bottom of the trap (stopcock)right before use.

 

The only real worry is getting some into a heating mantle where it burns and smells *nice*.

 

Take care,

 

O3

ah cheers! Thanks for the help guys!