Can someone help me with these SDS - usable solvents?

[MuteUSO]

Hi guys,

Where I am from it is apparently not so easy to get naphtha or other solvents. I found the following two and wondered whether you could give me some ideas about whether I can use them; and for which one I should in your opinion go.

Relatedly, maybe someone could explain how I can make sense of these SDS myself. Like what to look for etc. Trying to learn. Thanks a lot, folks!

1) Zippo 'premium' lighter fluid

https://certification.zippo.com/Documents/Safety%20Data%20Sheet/English/Zippo%20Lighter%20Fluid%20-%20EU.pdf

2) Startex VM&P Naphtha

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pdf/09-03037-2014.pdf

 

[La Alquimista]

Startex VM&P is the brand, naphtha is naphtha. SDS reports there is some xylene in there. Get a small quantity and perform an evap test to evaluate purity. If it leaves no residue, it's good to use.

 

[bismillah]

I use zippo out of necessity, with great results. However, it's pricier than it should be. It seems very clean, but my first ever pull seemed to have a strange, gasoline-y flavour. Thankfully, none since, even though I bought and used another can. To this day I have no idea where that taste came from—could be lubricant in the fluid, or some residues on my makeshift pipe at the time. Still, be careful.

 

[MuteUSO]

Startex VM&P is the brand, naphtha is naphtha. SDS reports there is some xylene in there. Get a small quantity and perform an evap test to evaluate purity. If it leaves no residue, it's good to use.

Thanks a lot! I also have the chance to get my hands on heptane or hexane. This would be preferable, right?

 

[downwardsfromzero]

I'd say it's a matter of adapting to what you have available. BBQ lighting fluid - a medium-heavy naphtha blend - has worked well in the past but it is prudent to use one of the clean-up methods on the product afterwards. For that you would only need a small amount of light naphtha - which is more-or-less what hexanes, heptanes or Zippo fluid are. They are all just petroleum distillates of varying levels of purity. By purity in this context I mean the degree to which they consist of a single component.

Reading up on these solvents and general chemistry as much as you can will help you to understand the process and the materials you use.

 

[MuteUSO]

I'd say it's a matter of adapting to what you have available. BBQ lighting fluid - a medium-heavy naphtha blend - has worked well in the past but it is prudent to use one of the clean-up methods on the product afterwards. For that you would only need a small amount of light naphtha - which is more-or-less what hexanes, heptanes or Zippo fluid are. They are all just petroleum distillates of varying levels of purity. By purity in this context I mean the degree to which they consist of a single component.

Reading up on these solvents and general chemistry as much as you can will help you to understand the process and the materials you use.

To read up is probably the best advice and I am trying my best. Kind of starting to regret that I disselected chemistry in highschool as soon as that was possible. Now I am in the social sciences and really uncertain about what I am doing here - this is, I guess, why I rather post one naive question more than less. Appreciate everyone's input the more so!

So for my extraction according to cyb's hybrid ATB salt tek I will go for the following:

-A lab grade petroleum ether from this list Petroleum Ether | Fisher Scientific (instead of the zippo lighter fluid in OP, and with the goal of minimizing ay unwanted contaminants in the smoke). I understand that for initial extraction a higher boiling point is beneficial; but I am still really confused about which one of this list I should get/what the difference between the ones listed on the link, except BP, is. Maybe someone can help out?

-For re-ex, I thought about going with heptane with high purity as I read it works well for that Heptane (Peroxide-free/Sequencing), Fisher BioReagents | Fisher Scientific

 

[RoundAbout]

To read up is probably the best advice and I am trying my best. Kind of starting to regret that I disselected chemistry in highschool as soon as that was possible. Now I am in the social sciences and really uncertain about what I am doing here - this is, I guess, why I rather post one naive question more than less. Appreciate everyone's input the more so!

So for my extraction according to cyb's hybrid ATB salt tek I will go for the following:

-A lab grade petroleum ether from this list Petroleum Ether | Fisher Scientific (instead of the zippo lighter fluid in OP, and with the goal of minimizing ay unwanted contaminants in the smoke). I understand that for initial extraction a higher boiling point is beneficial; but I am still really confused about which one of this list I should get/what the difference between the ones listed on the link, except BP, is. Maybe someone can help out?

-For re-ex, I thought about going with heptane with high purity as I read it works well for that Heptane (Peroxide-free/Sequencing), Fisher BioReagents | Fisher Scientific

You'll notice that if you attempt to register on Fisher that their products are intended for businesses only (mainly labs I would think). And if you could order, buying high purity solvents would probably get you on some sort of law enforcement watch list. Unfortunately.

If you don't have some sort of connection, you're probably stuck with consumer products intended for other purposes. Many of the SDS are somewhat vague and variable, probably because a wide range of compositions are suitable for the product's intended use, and there is no point purifying the product like there is for 'lab grade' solvents.

 

[MuteUSO]

You'll notice that if you attempt to register on Fisher that their products are intended for businesses only (mainly labs I would think). And if you could order, buying high purity solvents would probably get you on some sort of law enforcement watch list. Unfortunately.

If you don't have some sort of connection, you're probably stuck with consumer products intended for other purposes. Many of the SDS are somewhat vague and variable, probably because a wide range of compositions are suitable for the product's intended use, and there is no point purifying the product like there is for 'lab grade' solvents.

Yeah, I recognized that with Fisher. I guess I have 'some sort of connection' with that kind of business that would order such stuff. Still, I am not sure what exactly I should get then.

 

[La Alquimista]

Startex VM&P is the brand, naphtha is naphtha. SDS reports there is some xylene in there. Get a small quantity and perform an evap test to evaluate purity. If it leaves no residue, it's good to use.

Thanks a lot! I also have the chance to get my hands on heptane or hexane. This would be preferable, right?

Naphtha is commonly used in place of hexanes out of convenience and it is cheap by comparison. Hexane is preferable as more efficient precipitation of solvent, but cost is greater and more difficult to find. Naphtha can be re-used a few times so it should not matter much. It becomes your choice.