Can you use 91% isopropanol instead of 99% in Lab III-3

[Emily Kohlbacher]

I'm having a lot of trouble finding 99% isopropanol. I've been to several stores and asked at pharmacy counters too. 91% is the highest I've been able to find. Will 91% work well enough for this lab? If not - where is the best place to find it? I'm hoping to find it rather quickly as I didn't realize it would be so hard to find so we've already had to put off the lab a little.

[Charles Sansom]

Emily,

Charles Sansom here.  I found 99% isopropyl alcohol at an electronics store.  It's used for cleaning circuit boards and such.  It's called anhydrous isopropyl or anhydrous isopropanol.  Of course you an get it online easily, but if you're in a big city you may be able to get it at someplace like Fry's Electronics or some other electronics store that caters to hobbyists.  You might try a store that sells remote controlled cars and planes, scale model trains, that kind of stuff.  In the meantime, try the experiment with the 91% you have.  I've found a lot of times in chemistry, just try it, it might work. Good luck!

Charles Sansom

On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 5:48 PM, Emily Kohlbacher <edh...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm having a lot of trouble finding 99% isopropanol.  I've been to several stores and asked at pharmacy counters too.  91% is the highest I've been able to find.  Will 91% work well enough for this lab?  If not - where is the best place to find it?  I'm hoping to find it rather quickly as I didn't realize it would be so hard to find so we've already had to put off the lab a little.

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[Charles Sansom]

I just checked Fry's online, they sell 99.9% isopropyl for less than $9 a quart.  I can imagine they have it in their local stores also.  I found it eBay for $20 a gallon, free shipping.  Good luck!

On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 5:48 PM, Emily Kohlbacher <edh...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm having a lot of trouble finding 99% isopropanol.  I've been to several stores and asked at pharmacy counters too.  91% is the highest I've been able to find.  Will 91% work well enough for this lab?  If not - where is the best place to find it?  I'm hoping to find it rather quickly as I didn't realize it would be so hard to find so we've already had to put off the lab a little.

[Emily Kohlbacher]

Thanks.  No Fry's locally but I'll see if we have an electronics store around here.  Otherwise, Amazon is probably the easiest and quickest.  Also, I should have specified that this is an experiment in the Biology book, not the Chemistry book.  

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[The Home Scientist]

I posted this reply last evening. I'm not sure why it didn't show up, but I said:

Although you'll get the best results from 99% IPA, you can use 91% IPA or even 70% in labs III-3 and III-5 if you can't find the higher concentration.

[Emily Kohlbacher]

Great!  He'll use the 91% this time but I ordered 99% so we'll have it by the next time it's needed.