[dew.be.dew.be.dew.]

Does anyone know some basic guidlines to choosing the solvent for a steam distillation? For the extraction of an oil, would acetone work better because of the greater solubility, or will the lower boiling point of acetone not create 'good' enough steam?  I am not really sure if the solubility of the oil in the solvent matters, or if you just simply need the steam to allow the oil to vaporize at a lower temerature than its bioling point.  Thanks for any *delete me*

[pantone159]

Does anyone know some basic guidlines to choosing the solvent for a steam distillation? For the extraction of an oil, would acetone work better because of the greater solubility, or will the lower boiling point of acetone not create 'good' enough steam?  I am not really sure if the solubility of the oil in the solvent matters, or if you just simply need the steam to allow the oil to vaporize at a lower temerature than its bioling point.  Thanks for any *delete me*

"steam" distillation implies the solvent is water.  It is important that your oil (or whatever) is NOT soluble in water.  Then, your oil (as well as your water) will come off at a lower temperature than the pure material.

[dew.be.dew.be.dew.]

Thanks, it makes sense now

[dew.be.dew.be.dew.]

Actually, one more question.  If I were to run a reflux(without the recieving flask) and then extract the oil with an organic solvent instead of doing a steam distillation, is the difference just that the oil will not be as pure, or are there other differences?  It seems like the reflux would turn out a slightly higher % yield because you are cutting out the transfer from one flask to the other.  Thanks again.

Ryan

[pantone159]

You'd pick up whatever dissolves in your reflux solvent, which would probably be a different set of compounds than what comes over with steam distillation.  I'm not sure one is intrinsically more "pure" than the other, it depends on what compound you really want.