I recently synthesized methyl hydroperoxide (MHP) in an aqueous medium. I need to extract the MHP from the reaction mixture by extracting it into diethyl ether and back-extracting it into water. The procedures I saw just mentioned that the ether is boiled-off.
Please what do you understand by the term "boil-off"? Does it mean that I place the ether extract in a flask,add some water to it, immerse it in an electric water bath and heat to about 50 degrees Celsius in a fume cupboard and let the ether go away without necessarily recovering it by distillation? Please provide clarifications on what is meant by boiling-off the ether or on the procedure for back-extracting into water. I will appreciate any link that provides further information.
Thank you