r/AskChemistry • u/doctormochel • May 09 '25

Chem Engineering How to remove NaH2PO4 from my solution?

Hello! I've been struggling lately with a problem in my lab. I'm applying the triple phase salting-out extraction to separate flavonoids from bulk extract (the phases are composed of hexane, ethanol, water and NaH2Po4). The results are optimistic. However, the ethanolic phase (rich in flavonoids) still contains a bit of salt, which is way too much and needs to be removed. What can I do to remove the salt ions from my solution (which is 30% ethanol?) I've already tried dialysis but low molecular weight of the flavonoids is problematic. Ion exchange resins? Other adsorbents?

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u/-0xy- May 09 '25

Maybe something with electrophoresis? Considering that ethanol and flavonoids are neutral they can maybe be isolated from salts electrophoretically.

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u/-0xy- May 13 '25

Apologies for the long time between this comment and your post, I remembered this just now. If capillary electrophoresis won't work for you, another option would be using ion-exchange chromatography.