[enthusiastic123]

Hi, I am running an independent organic chemistry lab project. I am hoping to be able to quantify Aloin from Lotions and Gels containing Aloe Vera in the ingredients using UV-Vis and methanol as a solvent. Up until this point I've been following a journal article on how to extract aloin from the lotions. I ran into a problem and I'm not sure how to get past this problem. I'm open to all solutions. In this journal article it says to dissolve the lotion in 100 mL of methanol on a stir plate for an hour than transfer it to a separating funnel and add Butanol and then collect the methanol layer. The problem is when I put the moisturizer and methanol on the stir plate for an hour it doesn't dissolve completely so when I transfer it to the separating funnel the parts of the moisturizer that did not dissolve get stuck in the separating funnel so I can't get any methanol layer out. I tried having the lotion sit on the stir plate for up to 3 hours and it still wouldn't dissolve completely. I have also tried three other moisturizers and it happens with all of them. Any ideas on how to completely dissolve moisturizer into methanol? Thank you for any help or guidance

[jeffmoonchop]

Try vigorously shaking it to try and get the lotion particles as small as possible to maximize surface area. Or use a whisk. If you still have particles filter them out before you add to the separating funnel.

You might need to pretreat the lotion to thin it out before adding to methanol. Some lotions may be thicker than others so thinning it out first might help. Just make sure you know how much lotion you started with before you try any pretreatment.