Effective Solvents for Cleaning Paraffin off Lithium: A Scientific Inquiry

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Cleaning paraffin oil off lithium foil poses challenges due to lithium's reactivity. Heptane is suggested as a potential solvent, with petrol ether and toluene also mentioned as alternatives. Caution is emphasized against using halogenated hydrocarbons, such as methylene chloride, due to their explosive reactions with alkali metals. The discussion highlights the need for safe and effective cleaning methods while handling lithium.
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Hi all,

I've recently encountered the problem of cleaning paraffin oil off a lithium foil. Unfortunately, I am no chemist, and thus am not too sure what will and will not react with the lithium itself (which is something I need to avoid). I had a look for possible solvents that I could use and the best bet I came up with was heptane. If anyone knows a bit more about what I could possibly use (scientific papers just brush over that part of the experiments, which makes me think it's fairly standard), that would be really great!

Thanks,
-dcay

edit: I should quickly point out that I realize that this question involves lithium metal to a certain degree, but I wasn't quite sure from the posting rules whether I would be allowed to ask this question, so please feel free to delete the thread if it is not permitted.
 
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Heptane sound good, a maybe cheaper alternative is petrol ether. You could also try toluene. You should never use halogenated hydrocarbons, like methylene chloride, as they tend react explosively with alkali metals.
 
Hi,Thanks for the quick reply, DrDu. I think I'll try petrol ester like you suggested.

Thanks,
-dcay
 
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