I bought some M.E.K. substitute from home depot since I read on the MSDS that it was 100% Ethyl Acetate. So I did an evaporation test on some glass and it left a film so I decided to distill it just in case. Anyway the ethyl acetate was clear when I started now its slightly yellowish and still leaves a film. What makes it yellow and should it concern me? Also is the film normal?

 

Thanks.

Edited August 6, 201312 yr by jordehwa

Anything?

Is this after distillation that it is yellow and leaves a film?

Yes. Before distillation it was clear and left a film, after it was yellow and left a film.

Strange this. Try the distillation again. As for the film, I would not expect 100% ethyl acetate to leave a film, so there must be some non-volatile stuff in there.

Put a small fractionating column on your distillation apparatus and see if that makes any difference.

I figured it out. I made the mistake of connecting my distilling apparatus with rubber stoppers. So I'm guessing there must be small bits of rubber dissolved in my ethyl acetate.

 

Does anyone know if activated charcoal will clean the dissolved rubber out of my ethyl acetate?

It might help, but really you need to re-distil the stuff.