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Butler University

2003

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

A Solvent-Free Oxidation Of Alcohols In An Organic Laboratory, John J. Esteb, Michael W. Schelle, Anne N. Wilson Jan 2003

A Solvent-Free Oxidation Of Alcohols In An Organic Laboratory, John J. Esteb, Michael W. Schelle, Anne N. Wilson

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

An oxidation experiment for a first-year organic chemistry class is presented. This oxidation utilizes a solid mixture of CuSO4•5H2O and KMnO4 prepared by mortar and pestle. The oxidations take place under solvent-free conditions and near quantitative yields are obtained for the reactions. Thin-layer chromatography is used to monitor the progress of the reaction. This experiment provides for the simple oxidation of a secondary alcohol to a ketone using a relatively nontoxic oxidizing agent under solvent-free conditions.


A Solvent-Free Claisen Condensation Reaction For The Organic Laboratory, John J. Esteb, Matthew B. Stockton Jan 2003

A Solvent-Free Claisen Condensation Reaction For The Organic Laboratory, John J. Esteb, Matthew B. Stockton

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

An experiment involving the Claisen condensation reaction for a first-year organic chemistry laboratory is presented. Claisen condensations are routinely covered in organic textbooks but owing to the long reaction times required to reach equilibrium in solution they are seldom explored in the undergraduate teaching laboratory. In this experiment, potassium tert-butoxide and ethyl phenylacetate are heated to 100 °C for 30 minutes under solvent-free conditions to produce 2,4-diphenyl acetoacetate in 80% yield. The solvent-free nature of this procedure greatly reduces the quantity of waste generated by students relative to typical carbonyl condensation experiments.