[bagels]

I need beta carotene for a project and I have limited resources. Can I extract it by soaking slices of carrots in acetone?

[Corribus]

This would probably work but you'll have contamination with water and other stuff, and grinding the carrot first would help. A better yield would result from using a completely nonpolar solvent that isn't miscible with water, like hexane, toluene, chloroform, etc. Even gasoline. Grind carrot up, do a soak, filter, maybe do a few washes with water in a sep funnel if you have it (a glass gravy separator would also work). Carotenes are located in cell membranes so you may also find some detergent helps if a simple extraction with nonpolar solvent doesn't work.

[jeffmoonchop]

maybe after grinding letting it dry might help. food dehydrator or sundrying?

Drying orange rinds helped me extract orange oil with ethanol.