[abrogard]

 Can I hijack a little of your time,  you professionals?

 To help us with a typical domestic/workplace problem that nevertheless has a very strong chemistry interest as so often happens.

 We need to get spilled gasoline out of clothing and all the web seems to offer is general advice to use baking soda, or lemon juice, or vanilla essence and/or vinegar.

 We were hoping we could get some authoritative chemistry advice as to just which chemicals will absorb the smells and perhaps some indication of efficacy so's we can judge how much to use.

  i.e. if mixing vinegar with water.  or to mix or not mix baking soda with vinegar.  And so on...

 something to help us proceed not quite so blindly.

 Very interesting to know the chemistry behind the operation, if we can..

 

[Enthalpy]

These are not the compounds I'd think at to remove gasoline. Most seem only to bring one more scent, possibly to hide the gasoline odour.

What about diluting first the gasoline spots with deodorized petroleum (or white spirit, or kerosene, or liquid paraffin - they're about the same thing, deodorized is the trick)? They will mix, diluting the molecules that bring the bad smell and easing the problem.

Then, rubbing alcohol is a diluent for gasoline, and the alcohol itself evaporates neatly. Not methylated spirits, they have an odour and are unhealthy. Try first on a hidden part of each cloth, as some textiles might perhaps be altered by alcohol.

Hexane would be an industrial option, but is less widely available.

>>>>> Beware <<<<< I didn't try. And with all these volatile compounds, ventilate the room very well.

[hollytara]

Is the clothing cotton or polyester or nylon or...   It makes quite a bit of difference.  Some fibers will hold on to the gasoline more than others.

Can you wash it?  A good hot water wash with a little extra detergent might do the trick.  The heat will help get it out and the detergent will take it away (locked up in the micelles). 

Gasoline is pretty volatile.  You have to worry a little about fading colors, but if you set it outside in the sun - especially if you are somewhere warm - the gasoline will evaporate pretty quickly. 

The old fashioned dry cleaners used solvents like carbon tetrachloride (now banned for ozone depletion) and chloroform.  If you actualy have access to these they will work - or bring it to a modern dry cleaner: they use supercritical CO2 I think: much nicer for the environment.  But tell them you had a gas spill on the clothes.