A Soxhlet extractor is a piece of laboratory apparatus invented in 1879 by Franz von Soxhlet.It was originally designed for the extraction of a lipid from a solid material. However, a Soxhlet extractor is not limited to the extraction of lipids. Typically, a Soxhlet extraction is only required where the desired compound has a limited solubility in a solvent, and the impurity is insoluble in that solvent. If the desired compound has a significant solubility in a solvent then a simple filtration can be used to separate the compound from the insoluble substance.