By Amit on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 03:30 am:
I have to derivatize Mycolic acids into trimethylsilyl ether derivative by BSTFA. I want to know the conc. of BSTFA (wt/vol) used for derivatization of fatty acids.
What is the best solvent for BSTFA?
I will be grateful to any input in this regard.
Amit
By Dietmar on Friday, June 4, 2004 - 07:06 am:
Hello Amit,
my experience with BSTFA for sylilating is that nonpolar organic solvents such as hexane, heptane, toluene are excellent solvents for the reagent and the products of reaction. I also tried acetone as solvent and found that it also works very well.
BSTFA is very sensitive for moisture and should be handled under dry conditions, so I think this is the fact that you shouldn't use polar solvents.
I always use an excess of sylilating reagent, normally a 2:1 molar ratio of BSTFA to active hydrogen !
BSTFA and its reaction products are very volatile and don't cause much chromatographic interference !
I hope my experiences will help you !
By Anonymous on Friday, June 4, 2004 - 08:01 am:
And Dietmar means that polar solvents like alcohols will also react and use up the BSTFA, so you won't get anything useful.