[lurk]

Hi all!

New here so hope I'm posting in the right area and that my question hasn't been answered a billion times allready (though I think it should have, I haven't been able to find almoast any thing about it - perhaps because it's too obvious for decent people to consider at all)

Any ways... I'm doing a recrystallization (preceded by hotfiltration) using isopropanol/isopropyl alcohol as the solvent. To minimize the risk of fire, explotion and over all devastation my first thought was to heat the IPA in an erlenmeyer flask in a water bath on top of an electric stove, but after the first try and compleate failure it came to me that maby moisture from the surrounding boiling water had gotten into the solution and ruined everything (the substance is soluble in water).

I was considering using mineral oil or sand but I think I might have been worried that things would get to hot... I have also considered heating it on the plate but with a thick wire mesh under to create some distance to the plate, but I'm not sure. On the other hand, the IPA shouldn't get hotter than the boiling point so I guess it should be safe as long as the flask is open and no pressure will occur...? Or is the rate and amount of vapour from the off going solvent strong enough to keep moisture from falling into the flask so that a water bath will be ok anyway?

I also considered using a glass funnel as a condenser on top of the flask to get reflux instead of having the vapour from the IPA out in the open air, but that really hasn't any thing to do with this so I don't know why I mentioned it and why I now, when I have realized my mistake, doesn't edit my post...

Regards

Lurk