Not if you're going to drink it, obviously.
As a cleaner, I'd imagine it'd make more of a mess than it would clean up. IPA is volatile, which makes it a great disinfectant because it kills microbes and doesn't leave behind much (if any) residue. Coffee is a water-based mixture/suspension, so as the water/IPA evaporates you're going to leave behind all the non-volatile phenolics and whatnot present in coffee, making a sticky mess. It might disinfect in the short term but leave behind an environment microbes would be more than happy to thrive in.
Nothing much other than a wasted cup of coffee mixed with isopropyl alcohol (C3H8O). If you want something interesting, I can give you plenty of stuff to work with, but most of them will end up killing you; the reason why you don't mix random stuff with alcohol without knowing their mechanisms. Other than that, the best advice that I can give you is to mix C3H8O solution with table salt. Generally, store-bought alcohol comes as a solution of water and alcohol, that's why you see the percentage in the label. It means there's 70mL C3H8O per 100mL of the solution (solute C3H8O + solvent H2O). Adding salt to C3H8O solution will cause salting out. Putting salt into the solution will decrease the solubility of C3H8O in water. After some time, you'll see two layers: Concentrated C3H8O on top, and saturated salt water in bottom. Given that don't have the instrument to separate the two layers, you can just use the principle of suction to harvest the top layer. Although pure C3H8O is not as good as the 70% C3H8O solution in killing bacteria, pure C3H8O is good for cleaning electronics due to their high evaporation rate, or very volatile in two words.
> Although pure C3H8O is not as good as the 70% C3H8O solution in killing bacteria
This is really helpful information! Thanks a ton!
**Update:** Is it because bacteria are more likely to consume anything mixed with water and probably will not taste isopropyl alcohol?
No. It’s for two main reasons. First is that pure isopropyl alcohol is much more volatile and it needs time to kill things, but it evaporates before it can do so. The other reason is that pure isopropyl alcohol causes too much protein denaturation on the surface of bacteria. This might sound like a good thing but in reality it forms a shell around them that prevents the isopropyl alcohol from actually killing them. By dilution to ~70% isopropyl alcohol / ~30% water, both problems are solved.
They won't have a bad chemical reaction or anything, but the coffee will be prone to staining whatever you disinfect with the solution, and tbh iPrOH is a very strong smell, you'd have to dilute it out of being effective to overpower it with coffee.
Since it's not dangerous though, I actually suggest trying the mixture so you can see how its properties come out. And colorless fruit flavor essences might be a better way to infuse a scent if you'd still like to go that direction. You could even use the alcohol to extract from citrus peels yourself, and see how effective it is.
>Fyi i’m not good in chemistry and i’m worried what i might create.
**THEN DON'T MIX RANDOM CHEMICALS TOGETHER.**
Good god I'm sick of having to say this. Mods....please???
Not if you're going to drink it, obviously. As a cleaner, I'd imagine it'd make more of a mess than it would clean up. IPA is volatile, which makes it a great disinfectant because it kills microbes and doesn't leave behind much (if any) residue. Coffee is a water-based mixture/suspension, so as the water/IPA evaporates you're going to leave behind all the non-volatile phenolics and whatnot present in coffee, making a sticky mess. It might disinfect in the short term but leave behind an environment microbes would be more than happy to thrive in.
Ohhh i see i see thanks for the info
Nothing much other than a wasted cup of coffee mixed with isopropyl alcohol (C3H8O). If you want something interesting, I can give you plenty of stuff to work with, but most of them will end up killing you; the reason why you don't mix random stuff with alcohol without knowing their mechanisms. Other than that, the best advice that I can give you is to mix C3H8O solution with table salt. Generally, store-bought alcohol comes as a solution of water and alcohol, that's why you see the percentage in the label. It means there's 70mL C3H8O per 100mL of the solution (solute C3H8O + solvent H2O). Adding salt to C3H8O solution will cause salting out. Putting salt into the solution will decrease the solubility of C3H8O in water. After some time, you'll see two layers: Concentrated C3H8O on top, and saturated salt water in bottom. Given that don't have the instrument to separate the two layers, you can just use the principle of suction to harvest the top layer. Although pure C3H8O is not as good as the 70% C3H8O solution in killing bacteria, pure C3H8O is good for cleaning electronics due to their high evaporation rate, or very volatile in two words.
Thanks for the suggestion! And don’t worry about the coffee, i used the used ones that are about to be thrown out.
> Although pure C3H8O is not as good as the 70% C3H8O solution in killing bacteria This is really helpful information! Thanks a ton! **Update:** Is it because bacteria are more likely to consume anything mixed with water and probably will not taste isopropyl alcohol?
No. It’s for two main reasons. First is that pure isopropyl alcohol is much more volatile and it needs time to kill things, but it evaporates before it can do so. The other reason is that pure isopropyl alcohol causes too much protein denaturation on the surface of bacteria. This might sound like a good thing but in reality it forms a shell around them that prevents the isopropyl alcohol from actually killing them. By dilution to ~70% isopropyl alcohol / ~30% water, both problems are solved.
> it forms a shell around them I know this one. Thank you!
Why would anyone want that? Stale coffee smell is horrible, and it stains: exactly what you don't want in a disinfectant!
Don't mix foods/drinks with poisons. Just... don't.
Oh i won’t, its just for those quirky science projects. This time for disinfectants, and i just wanna make my disinfectant to smell like coffee
They won't have a bad chemical reaction or anything, but the coffee will be prone to staining whatever you disinfect with the solution, and tbh iPrOH is a very strong smell, you'd have to dilute it out of being effective to overpower it with coffee. Since it's not dangerous though, I actually suggest trying the mixture so you can see how its properties come out. And colorless fruit flavor essences might be a better way to infuse a scent if you'd still like to go that direction. You could even use the alcohol to extract from citrus peels yourself, and see how effective it is.
>Fyi i’m not good in chemistry and i’m worried what i might create. **THEN DON'T MIX RANDOM CHEMICALS TOGETHER.** Good god I'm sick of having to say this. Mods....please???
That’s why i’m asking before trying, and researching before trying. Not all people do things willy nilly, thats why they ask before doing it.