[STM]

Hello everyone.

Please I need advise on how to get 2,4,6-trimethylphenol (TMP) to dissolve in water.

Its solubility was quoted at around 1000 mg/L. I have tried working below this solubility limit by dissolving 0.0681 g (68.1 mg) in 100 ml MQ water and even applied heat but to no avail.

Also, I prepared 500 mM in ethanol (1.3619 g in 20 ml of ethanol). I took 1 ml out of this to make up to 100 ml with MQ water (100-fold dillution) in order to prepare 5 mM. However, the TMP precipitated out of the solution.

Kindly advise on how I can get it into water with minimal use of a co-solvent.

Thank you

[AWK]

Check identity of your compound.

[wildfyr]

AWK is right. Either the bottle is wrong or it degraded (unlikely)

[STM]

Thanks for your response.

But how do you mean by the identity of my compound or the bottle is wrong?

I just newly acquired this reagent 24 hours before trying to dissolve it in water.

Thank you

[Corribus]

Or your literature reference for the solubility is incorrect.

[pgk]

Take an IR spectrum and check for carbonyl groups, around 1700 cm-1.
2,4,6-trimethylphenol can easily be oxidized to the corresponding stilbene quinone and hydroxybenzaldehyde derivatives, that additionally form charge transfer complexes with the remaining, non-oxidized 2,4,6-trimethylphenol. This kind of impurities significantly decrease the solubility in water.