chemical cleanup advice

[celia1]

What products are formed when heated vinegar (around 5-50% acetic acid) and heated 70% isopropyl alcohol come into contact on a surface or their evaporating vapours. One of them seemed to be a kind of sweet smell..?

Second, if it spills on a surface and is mopped up with water and the small room is aired out for a few hours a day, why several weeks later would the smell still linger? Should it be a concern to address or is it just some insignificant remnants?

Third, what’s the most effective solution to resolve this? Just keep airing out the room or need to scrub with soap or utilize other materials/techniques?

Last, if you don’t know how to solve this either, anyone aware of a specific professional that would know the answer?

 

[Compositepro]

Alcohols and organic acids react to form esters, which often have strong fruity odors because they are what cause the odor in fruit. In this case you have isopropyl acetate. The odor indicates that the it is still present in your floor and slowly evaporating. A fan or blower will speed drying. Sprinkling baking soda over the floor and later vacuuming may help to speed removal. It will eventually go away.

 

[georgeverghese]

Depends on what tiles you have on the floor - marble flooring for example wouldnt tolerate hot vinegar - it will most likely corrode the tiles since marble is mostly crystalline calcium carbonate. You need acid resistant tiles for hot vinegar. Suspect hot vinegar at up to 50% w/v acetic acid would chew up most other commonly used floor tiles too.

 

[moltenmetal]

Vinegar is 5% acetic acid. Double strength (pickling) vinegar is 10% acetic acid. 50% acetic acid is NOT VINEGAR, nor did you make it by boiling vinegar.

Mixing acetic acid, isopropyl alcohol and water will not generate a significant amount of isopropyl acetate, because although the solution will be acidic and H+ is a catalyst for the esterification, the mixture is swamped with the leaving group (the product of the acid-alcohol reaction) which is water. That shifts the equilibrium toward reagents, preventing the formation of more than a tiny amount of the ester.

Isopropyl acetate does have a "fruity" odour like many esters, but it is NOT used in foods or flavourings because its hydrolysis product, isopropanol, is toxic when ingested. Its 1st metabolite is principally acetone...not something you want in your body.

All of these compounds- the acid, the alcohol and the ester- are readily soluble in water. If you smell something you don't like, mop the surface repeatedly with soapy water, allow to dry and repeat. If that doesn't rectify the situation, you have something else going on.

 

[Compositepro]

The fuity odor is proof that the ester is present. It takes very little to cause a detectable odor. It has apparently soaked into some porous surface and it must diffuse out to be removed. Water washing will remove some but it will also cause it to soak deeper into the porous surface and therefore may take longer to be removed to a non-detectable level. All of these materials are volatile and will eventually evaporate. Good ventilation with dry air is the best approach. It can also dilute any odor to non-detectable levels during the drying process.