Wittig Reaction Lab Report

The objective of this lab was to create a ketone through an oxidation reaction using a using a secondary alcohol and oxidizing agent in order to use that ketone in a reduction reaction with a specific reducing agent to determine the affect of that reducing agent on the diastereoselectivity of the product. In the first part of this experiment, 4-tert-butylcyclohexanol was reacted with NaOCl, an oxidizing agent, and acetic acid to form 4-tert-butylcyclohexanone. In the second part of this experiment, 4-tert-butylcyclohexanone was reacted with a reducing agent, either NaBH4 in EtOH or Al(OiPr)3 in iPrOH, to form the product 4-tert-butylcyclohexanol. 1H NMR spectroscopy was used to determine the cis:trans ratio of the OH relative to the tert-butyl group in the product formed from the reduction reaction with each reducing agent. Thin-layer chromatography was used in both the oxidation and reduction steps to ensure that each reaction ran to completion.

Discussion: In the synthesis of 1-bromobutane alcohol is a poor leaving group; this problem is fixed by converting the OH group into H2O, which is a better leaving group. Depending on the structure of the alcohol it may undergo SN1 or SN2. Primary alky halides undergo SN2 reactions. 1- bromobutane is a primary alkyl halide, and may be synthesized by the acid-mediated reaction of a 1-butonaol with a bromide ion as a nucleophile. The proposed mechanism involves the initial formation of HBr in situ, the protonation of the alcohol by HBr, and the nucleophilic displacement by Br- to give the 1-bromobutane. In the reaction once the salts are dissolved and the mixture is gently heated with a reflux a noticeable reaction occurs with the development of two layers. When the distillation was clear the head temperature was around 115oC because the increased boiling point is caused by co-distillation of sulfuric acid and hydrobromic acid with water. When transferring allof the crude 1-bromobutane without the drying agent,

During the halogenation reactions of 1-butanol, 2-butanol, and 2-methyl-2-propanol, there is a formation of water from the OH atom of the alcohol, and the H atom from the HCl solution. The OH bond of the alcohol is then substituted with the Cl atom. Therefore all of the degrees of alcohol undergo halogenation reactions, and form alkyl halides as products. This is because the functional group of alkyl halides is a carbon-halogen bond. A common halogen is chlorine, as used in this experiment.

The Hydroxyl group on alcohols relates to their reactivity. This concept was explored by answering the question “Does each alcohol undergo halogenation and controlled oxidation?” . Using three isomers of butanol; the primary 1-butanol, the secondary 2-butanol and the tertiary 2-methyl-2-propanol, also referred to as T-butanol, two experiments were performed to test the capabilities of the alcohols. When mixed with hydrochloric acid in a glass test tube, the primary alcohol and secondary alcohols were expected to halogenate, however the secondary and tertiary ended up doing so. This may have been because of the orientation of the Hydroxyl group when butanol is in a different

9-anthraldehyde and (carbethoxymethylene)triphenylphosphorane were reacted together using the Wittig reaction to produce E-3-(9-Anthryl)-2-propenoic acid ethyl ester. .100 g of 9-anthraldehyde and .180 g of (carbethoxymethylene)triphenylphosphorane were used. 9-anthraldehyde was a green powder while (carbethoxymethylene)triphenylphosphorane was a white powder. Both were added together into a 3.00 mL conical vial with a magnetic spin valve. The vial was inserted into a 120 C sand bath to melt the reagents. Once the reagents melted, they were stirred for 15 minutes (2:30 pm-2:45 pm). After stirring, the vial was removed to cool to room temperature. 3.00 mL of hexanes were added to the vial and the suspension was stirred. The solvent was removed

Other information that can be obtained from a TLC analysis is the progress of a chemical reaction, which can be done by taking samples from the reaction mixture at various intervals and spotting them on TLC plates and taking down the Rf factor. Also TLC analysis can be used to determine the optimum conditions required to obtain a high yield of the desired product with little to no side products. Yield can be ascertained via TLC analysis in that the reactant and product intensity on the TLC plate will have varying degrees of intensity. At the end of the reaction, the product should have the most intensity, while the reactant has the least intensity. At the beginning of the reaction, it would be the other way around. With this, you can determine the percent yield of the

The objective of this laboratory experiment is to study both SN1 and SN2 reactions. The first part of the lab focuses on synthesizing 1-bromobutane from 1-butanol by using an SN2 mechanism. The obtained product will then be analyzed using infrared spectroscopy and refractive index. The second part of the lab concentrates on how different factors influence the rate of SN1 reactions. The factors that will be examined are the leaving group, Br – versus Cl-; the structure of the alkyl group, 3◦ versus 2◦; and the polarity of the solvent, 40 percent 2-propanol versus 60 percent 2-propanol.

After 10 minutes the reaction liquid was separated from the solid using a vacuum filtration system and toluene. The product was stored and dried until week 2 of the experiment. The product was weighed to be 0.31 g. Percent yield was calculated to be 38.75%. IR spectra data was conducted for the two starting materials and of the product. Melting point determination was performed on the product and proton NMR spectrum was given. The IR spectrum revealed peaks at 1720 cm-1, which indicated the presence of a lactone group, and 1730 cm-1, representing a functional group of a carboxylic acid (C=O), and 3300cm-1, indicating the presence of an alcohol group (O-H). All three peaks correspond with the desired product. A second TLC using the same mobile and stationary phase as the first was performed and revealed Rf Values of 0.17 and 0.43for the product. The first value was unique to the product indicating that the Diels-Alder reaction was successful. The other Rf value of 0.43 matched that of maleic anhydride indicating some

Many techniques and skills were developed in this lab. Among them were dehydration, isolation, drying, and distillation. We used all of these techniques to get the product we were looking for. In addition to these experimental techniques we also verified our product via spectroscopy which is a new technique. Using IR spectroscopy we were able to

Reaction 1 involved a primary alcohol (OH), weak leaving group in the starting material and a reaction with a strong nucleophile (sodium bromide) and a polar protic solvent (sulfuric acid). The reaction was carried out through reflux and the product had a relatively high yield (75%) (Scheme 1).

The purpose of this experiment is to convert carbonyl compounds to alkenes using Wittig reaction. In this case we will be synthesizing Trans-9-(2-phenylethenyl) anthracene from benzyltriphenylphosphonium chloride and 9-anthraldehyde. We will also aim to obtaining a high percent yield and purity for the synthesis of Trans-9-(2-phenylethenyl) anthracene. The mechanism for this reaction goes thus:

In the first step the trialkyl phosphate acts as a nucleophile and, in a typical Sn2 reaction, forms a phosphonium salt. The salt is unstable and a halide ion X displaces R in the Sn2 manner to form a dialkylphosphonate. It is the phosphonate that, in the presence of base, is converted to a Wittig-like reagent. Normally the Wittig reagent is an ylid and neutral, but the modified Wittig is analogous to the carbanion of an aldol intermediate. Due to its resonance forms, the phosphonate anion is able to attack the carbonyl much like acarbanion in an aldol reaction to give an oxyanion species. This is where the analogy with the aldol reaction fails. The oxyanion undergoes a reaction analogous to nucleophilic substitution at an unsaturated center to form the olefin, normally as the E isomer, and a water soluble phosphonate anion. In this particular experiment, diethyl benzylphosphonate is used with benzaldehyde as the carbonyl component. Since phase transfer conditions are used, we can use a weaker base, the hydroxide ion. The reactivity o the anion formed is very high, resulting in excellent yields of trans-stilbene. The trans form of Stilbene is more favored than the sterically hindered cis form. Although

Part 2 to determine the empirical formula and percentage yield of the compound synthesized in Part 1. Spectrophotometry is a routine laboratory test that has the added advantage

The objective of this experiment is to successfully perform a dehydration of 1-butanol and 2-butanol, also dehydrobromination of 1-bromobutane and 2-bromobutane to form the alkene products 1-butene, trans-2-butene, and cis-2-butene. The dehydration reactions react under and acid-catalysis which follows an E1 mechanism. It was found that dehydration of 1-butanol yielded 3.84% cis-2-butene, 81.83% trans-2-butene, and 14.33% 1-butene, while 2-butanol is unknown due to mechanical issues with the GC machine. For the dehydrobromination, with the addition of a

After all additional product ceased to form, the reaction mixture was cooled in an ice bath to allow precipitation of benzopinacol. The final product was then filtered off from the solution using a Buchener funnel. Its melting point, yield and infrared spetrum was then obtained.