Reagent Grade Lye

[jmoore714]

Is reagent grade lye safe to use in an extraction? Or could there be contaminants in it? It is from Flinn Scientific. It looks like a bunch of white pellets. It was kinda liquidy but I'm guessing that it is just from absorbing water/moisture, it wasn't stored airtight for a while. Thanks!

 

[IJesusChrist]

Its fine.

Lye is just used to raise pH, and doesn't actually change the molecule - there is no reaction going on.

The compound is very stable, and if you can dip it into pH of 12-13 and it retains it's chemistry - you should realize that small amounts of other stuff isn't going to change the molecule, unless you start adding things like Methyl iodide, FeCl3 and Cl2, etc. Don't worry - nothing in your house is going to "destroy" your molecule.