[Histonet] Re: Xylene Substitutes

[Bob Richmond]

Adrienne Anderson (where?) asks:

>>My lab is looking into xylene substitutes, and I'd love some feedback on what other labs are using. We currently use SubX, but are there other items out there more economical?<<

I never heard of SubX, but the Leica Microsystems Richmond [no kin!]
Inc. MSDS describes it as an "Aliphatic hydrocarbon, isoparaffinic
oil", of which there are a great number in the trade. The flash point
is 106 degrees Fahrenheit (xylene is 78, some others as high as 104).
These aliphatics are not compatible with each other if you're going to
recover them by distillation, and with any of them you need to sit
down with management and make clear that you're going to go with a
particular trade name and that they can't substitute it with naphtha
from a ma-and-pa repackaging operation.

AmeriClear of course is limonene, a turpentine-like substance
distilled from citrus peels. Many people find the citrus smell
intolerable, or are allergic to it, and I think the limonenes (there
are several other brands) are no longer in widespread use,
particularly since the price has gone up.

Please, folks, when you post trade names on HistoNet, take a moment to
look at the MSDS (it's online) to see what the chemical identity of
the trade-name product is. You should know this if you're using the
product, and it's better to assume that other people don't know it.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Maryville TN