Acidify with several drops of dilute sulfuric acid. Add a drop of starch indicator. A blue color is indicative of the presence of peroxides. Peroxides may be removed using solutions of ferrous sulfate or cuprous chloride. Chemical substitutions should only be done after considering what you want to use the chemical for.
Many substitutions are only useful in some situations while being totally useless in other cases.
Also consider the degree of gain. Often xylenes or toluene are substituted for the more dangerous benzene, but personally, I'm not exactly thrilled about using the substituted solvents either. Similarly, chloroform for carbon tetrachloride was a great substitute until there were so many questions about the safety of chloroform. Looking forward to seeing what campus safety recommends to you.