I think that precautionary removal of dissolved O2 in the Olive Oil before the C60 is added is a good idea in principle. But it brings up a few questions that I don't have the answers to. 1. Is dissolved O2 actually significant in off the shelf olive oil? Would dissolved O2 be more common in EVOO or less processed OO? 3. Does putting it under vacuum, or vacuum filtering, actually remove O2 in a timely manner, or is degassification of oil a very slow process that takes days? If one is getting a different color from the degassed EVOO/C60 mix then you are from the natural EVOO/C60 mix then I tend to think the process is important and effective. My question then becomes, do I just want to do a simple vacuum filter of the raw OO, or do I want to do something more involved such as a Freeze-Pump-Thaw cycle and/or using Nitrogen as a replacement for the O2. At this point I think it will just be easier to do the precautionary vacuum filtering of the raw OO for an extended period of time rather than do a great deal of testing, and that is what I will do. That seems much simplier than answering all those complicated questions. They sell the bottle top vacuum rigs by the dozen, so I will have excess vacuum rigs anyway, of course this will mean starting over and just feeding my current batch of OO/C60 to the dog.A note on freezing the C60 solution:
I prepared a new sample of Pompeian Organic EVOO by first vacuum filtering to remove as much O2 as possible, then magnetically stirring with .5g/L C60 in a covered jar without air or light. In 24 hours there was no visible sediment so I filtered it and placed it in the freezer. Initially it had the classic magenta color. In 2 hours it had taken on a strawberry look when backlit (picture attached), and a dark brown, almost black appearance without backlighting. The viscosity was that of a thick honey. Returning it to room temperature restored the original clarity and color. There are two problems I saw with freezing. First, the C60 becomes non-homogenous because some components of the OO freeze out before others, and second, I expect it to eventually get too hard. I'd imagined you could eat it like ice cream but that now seem unlikely. I've had the base oil in the freezer for two days and it's hard as a brick. So I'm going to keep it in the refrigerator section instead.
A note on oxygen and browning:
If epoxides are forming with time due to the presence of dissolved O2, this will make the C60 more hydrophillic and thus reduce its oil solubility. Which might explain the change of a purple solution to a brown one that I observed previously, if fullerene epoxides began clumping. Processing without O2 and keeping the solution refrigerated ought to help.
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