EXTRACTION OF PHENOL AND ITS METABOLITES FROM AQUEOUS-SOLUTION

In the development of an extraction method utilizing the ''salting out'' technique, the extraction efficiencies for phenol, catechol, resorcinol, and hydroquinone from aqueous solutions were determined using tetrahydrofuran (THF), acetonitrile (ACN), dimethylformamide (DMF), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and diethyl ether (Et2O). Single additions of potassium fluoride (anhydrous), sodium chloride, lithium chloride, ammonium acetate, and sodium bicarbonate were used to saturate the solvent/water combinations. Phase separations were not observed for combinations of THF/LiCl, NaHCO3; ACN/NaHCO3; and DMF/NaCl, LiCl, NH4OAc, NaHCO3; ACN/KF converted hydroquinone to quinone, while extraction DMF/KF yielded no hydroquinone in nonacidified solutions. Essentially an other solvent/salt combinations gave quantitative recoveries. As an aside and in addition, KF was determined to be an efficient drying agent.