[mattusha]

Hi,

I recently did some work in the lab where maleic anhydride and anthracene were reacted (via reflux), with xylene as the solvent, to produce a diels-alder product. The product crystals were collected via vacuum filtration and rinsed with cold hexane.
My question is why did the crystals need to be washed with cold hexane rather than xylene (the solvent)?

Any help or clarification is much appreciated.

[orgopete]

I don't recommend this, but after the product is collected and before washing with hexane, smell the crystals. Do they smell like xylene? How can you remove the traces of xylene?

[Babcock_Hall]

How volatile is xylene?