When using to make and wash isolate, how much of a return/quality difference is there between the 3? Is it smarter to buy the cheaper of the 3 if they don’t differ very much? Or is there a “proper” one to use?
These each have their place. Pentane would probably be the choice for reX, hexane and/or heptane for LLE.
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I only use pentane for isolate.
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I stay away from n-hexane.
doi: 10.1136/oem.37.3.241
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heptane post processing clean up… pentane to wash isolate.
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I have a 1L bottle of reagent grade n-hexane that I was going to use in 2016 but then I read that it’s also known as, “White Gasoline” and then decided to never use it for extraction. The bottle is stored away in a shed, probably dusty, sad and alone… poor un-used n-hexane…
If you scared go to church.
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Then again…
I work with ethanol and butane(well blended butane, propane, isobutane cause I use distilled whip it premium) and that’s it…
All I know is I’d rather pay extra for ethanol and I’m small scale personal use for medicine so I’m not worried about taxes and what not. Plus I don’t LLE or wash isolate or none of that stuff so… I don’t have a use.
I find it just easier to work with what I use. 
Do you understand what a hydrocarbon is and what a oil refinery does?
It’s a useful solvent because it has a low affinity for water solubles but a higher boiling point than pentane so it doesn’t disappear from the sep funnel.
Don’t get me wrong it’s carcinogenic where I don’t believe that the alternatives are. It’s also got a weird middle ground between heptane and pentane.