Division 4.4.2 Isolation of alcohol-soluble constituents

Add 250 g of the synthetic detergent to be analysed to 1 250 ml ethanol, heat the mixture to boiling point and reflux for one hour with stirring. Pass the hot alcoholic solution through a coarse-pored suction filter heated to 50 ° C and filter rapidly. Wash the flask and suction filter with approximately 200 ml hot ethanol. Collect the filtrate and filter washings in a filter flask.

In the case of pastes or liquid products to be analysed, make sure that not more than 55 g anionic surfactants and 35 g soap are contained in the sample. Evaporate this weighed sample to dryness. Dissolve the residue in 2 000 ml ethanol and proceed as described above. In the case of powders of low apparent density (< 300 g/l) it is recommended to increase the ethanol ratio in the relation 20:1. Evaporate the ethanolic filtrate to dryness, preferably by means of a rotary evaporator. Repeat the operation if a greater quantity of extract is required. Dissolve the residue in 5 000 ml isopropanol/water mixture.

Preparation of ion-exchange columns