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Ethyl Acetate

Ethyl acetate, a carboxylate ester, is a bio-friendly organic solvent with a wide range of industrial applications. It is a moderately polar compound, containing a nonpolar ethyl group, a polar carbonyl (C=O) group and a polar oxygen atom. The polar nature of the carbonyl and oxygen groups gives ethyl acetate some degree of polarity, making it a useful solvent for a wide range of polar and nonpolar compounds. It is commonly used in analytical chemistry as an extraction solvent for the separation and purification of analytes from complex matrices such as biological fluids, environmental samples, and food products. Its low boiling point facilitates the evaporation of the solvent and recovery of the analytes.

Ethyl acetate as a solvent in biosynthesis

Ethyl acetate (Biosynthesis OmniSolv® and biotech grade) is a commonly used solvent in biosynthesis, particularly for extracting and purifying small molecules such as natural products and metabolites from biological samples. Ethyl acetate is also a preferred solvent for certain enzyme-catalyzed reactions, as it does not interfere with the reaction or affect the stability of the enzyme. In addition, it is used for protein sequencing, peptide, and oligonucleotide synthesis.

Ethyl acetate as a mobile phase in chromatography

Ethyl acetate is a commonly used solvent in various chromatography techniques, including thin-layer chromatography (TLC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and gas chromatography (GC). In TLC, it is often used as a component of the mobile phase to separate and identify different components of a mixture. In HPLC and GC, ethyl acetate is used as a mobile phase solvent, as it can effectively dissolve a wide range of organic compounds and can be readily separated from the analyte of interest.

Ethyl acetate along with a mixture of methanol/ethanol is also used as a mobile phase in HPLC. Also, in TLC, and for liquid-liquid extraction, ethyl acetate in hexane is used as a mobile phase.

Ethyl acetate as reference standard

Ethyl acetate is used as a standard in pharmaceutical industry for various applications, such as analytical testing, and quality control, and to calibrate analytical instruments or to validate analytical methods.

Labeled ethyl acetate

Labeled ethyl acetate (ethyl acetate-1-13C, ethyl acetate-2-13C) can be used to track the metabolism of drugs in the body or to investigate the mechanism of enzyme-catalyzed reactions.

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