[DescX]

I'm not completely familiar with chemistry but I'm planning on doing an experiment with my students for a general subject (weird mix of science, language, math, culture etc). Here's an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojGRBQ2FjP8&t=28s

My question: can I use methanol instead of vodka or whatever ispropanol alcohol may be?

[Borek]

My question: can I use methanol instead of vodka or whatever ispropanol alcohol may be?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. A lot depends on the details.

Isopropanol, ethanol (in vodka) and methanol are three different alcohols. They do share some common properties, but they are also in many ways different.

[Babcock_Hall]

It might be possible to mix ethanol and water to the same proportion as they are found in vodka to get something that would work approximately as well.  However according to one site that I just consulted, vodka has some additives that might be helpful in the extraction (I do not know).  I seldom work with DNA, and that I why I can't say anything definitive.

[Corribus]

Methanol is more polar than ethanol or isopropanol, so it may not work as well as either of those two solvents in this application. On the other hand, this is a common grade school experiment, so ethanol and isopropanol may simply be used because they are more readily available to most people. The experiment is easy enough to do - why not just try it out and see? This is what science is all about, after all.