Soxhlet extractor

A Soxhlet extractor is a kind of laboratory equipment. It is made of glass. Franz von Soxhlet invented it in 1879.  It has a flask, an extraction chamber, and a condenser. It can be used for solid-liquid extractions. 

In this discontinuous extraction process, the extraction solvent inside the boiling flask is evaporated and re-condensed in the distillation column above. It then falls down onto the solid material requiring extraction. The chamber containing the solid material is connected to the boiling flask below by a syphoning mechanism seen in the Pythagorean cup, which allows the chamber to fill to a point, at which it will empty its contents and start to fill again and the extracted compounds will accumulate in the boiling flask below.

 Uses 
Chemists use it to remove a material from a solid. It is useful when removing materials that do not dissolve well in any solvent. Chemists use a solvent such as ether or alcohol in the extractor. The Soxhlet extractor applies the solvent repeatedly to the solid until enough of the material dissolves.

Related pages
 Solubility

Category:Laboratory equipment
Category:Analytical chemistry