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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Kentucky, post: 4299262, member: 33176&quot;]Hey, glad you like chemistry, so do I.&nbsp; For solvents, they are widely grouped into polar and non-polar (one of many classifications).&nbsp; Water is polar, most organic solvents are non-polar.&nbsp; Within the organics there are different gradiations of polarity, alcohols and organic acids are polar, most other solvents/compounds are not.&nbsp; Aside from polarity, there is aliphatic (mostly c-c single bonds) and aromatic (has <i>conjugated</i> double bonds).&nbsp; Each of these seems to have different materials they will dissolve.&nbsp; To do a thorough job, it is usually best to start off with water (polar), this can be followed up by acetone (more non-polar and aliphatic) and perhaps finishing with xylene (aromatic and non-polar).&nbsp; Xylene is like benzene, but with two methyl groups arranged on the ring, commercial stuff is usually a mix or the three possibilities.&nbsp; Benzene evaporates pretty fast and is carcinogenic, so avoid it, one methyl group on the ring gives toluene which is much less carcinogenic, but still evaporates fast, two methyl groups gives xylene which evaporates much more slowly.&nbsp; Gotta do it...three methyl groups gives mesitylene, I just love that name.</p><p><img src="https://d2jmvrsizmvf4x.cloudfront.net/mMITs4g8QROW8kjbALGU_ben_tol.JPG" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Iraja_Filho/publication/281971885/figure/fig2/AS:391502384648213@1470352850174/Chemical-structures-of-the-xylene-isomers.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/content/dam/sigma-aldrich/structure6/109/mfcd00008538.eps/_jcr_content/renditions/mfcd00008538-medium.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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