I have a homogeneous mixture and I am trying to shift reaction equilibrium by removing byproduct methanol, however I can't distill it since it is a flow chemistry-based reaction. I know there are MS 5A that can be suitable for trapping methanol. Is that right? Would any kind of MS5A work?
Type 3A molecular sieves should be used to dry acetone, ethanol and methanol.
Molecular sieves are typically zeolite compounds that strongly adsorb water and have carefully controlled pore sizes. While both the solvent and the water will adsorb strongly to the molecular sieve surfaces, the large surface area within the pores is only accessible to the smaller water molecules, so they are effectively removed from the solvent. water (1.93A) will enter that 3A pore size while acetone (3.08A) will largely be excluded. Water will be able to occupy the large surface area inside the pores and thus be removed. If the solvent could also enter the pores, it would compete with water for the surface area and there would be little or no removal of the water from the bulk solvent. Type 4A molecular sieve is not suitable for drying ethanol, methanol, or acetone since the pore size does not exclude these solvents
Yes, the methanol can be removed by molecular sieve. Organic molecular sieve can capture .
Cross-linked Aromatic polyamide HR 95 and 98, DDS membranes show 42 and 43% rejection for methanol
Dear Virginia,
as a synthetic inorganic chemist I'm not an expert in this field enough to provide yopu wth a qualified answer to your interesting technical question. However, you might want to have a look at the answer given to the following closely related question:
Are there any molecular sieves that capture methanol or ethanol? Not as a drying agent but actual removal of the solvent itsel?
https://www.quora.com/Are-there-any-molecular-sieves-that-capture-methanol-or-ethanol-Not-as-a-drying-agent-but-actual-removal-of-the-solvent-itsel
Perhaps the idea of using activated charcoal is also worth a consideration.
Good luck with your work!
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