Chromatography Forum

Anybody has experience on this transesterification method?

I am looking at this direct transesterifcation, basically the Lepage method and collect/order materials.

I noticed that most papers use hexane. I have not looked hard, but I have not found anything that says it is n-hexane (normal, straight-chain) or hexanes (typically 67% n-hexanes only, 99% hexane contents). It seems to me hexane is used as a solvent in a liquid-liquid equilibrium extraction process to extract FAME. I was wondering if they have different extraction efficiency, recovery rate if n-hexane or a mixture is used.

The reason I am asking this is the mixtures of hexanes is easily available, and much cheaper. For me, n-hexane is as 5 times expensive as hexanes.

I will appreciate the specifics about the solvent used in this process.

Anybody has experience on this transesterification method? The mixtures of hexanes is easily available, and much cheaper. For me, n-hexane is as 5 times expensive as hexanes. I will appreciate the specifics about the solvent used in this process.

I've got 30 years experience in the consumer products industry, including soaps, fatty acids, and triglycerides. I knew Linc Metcalfe who published most of the early procedures for fatty acid methyl esters.

Yes, use the mixture of hexanes. We actually use petroleum ether. Some like heptane. We add sodium chloride solution to the methanolic solution of esters to entice the solubility of the esters into the hydrocarbon. We use the hydrocarbon solvent so we don't have to inject neat esters into the GC, too concentrated.