Answer to Question #169983 in Organic Chemistry for Resthyl

Question

You are running a solvent extraction to isolate the products of a synthesis, using an aqueous layer and an organic layer. After agitation and settling, the two layers are of very similar appearance. You know that the organic layer contains your product and the aqueous layer is the waste layer, but you are not 100% certain which layer is which. What simple test might you perform to determine which is the organic layer?

Answer 1

To determine which layer is which, one can simply add distilled water to the funnel. Whichever layer increases in size must be the aqueous layer and the other is the organic layer. At this point the two layers can be separated into their respective beakers.