Formal Report - Synthesis of an Alkyl Halide

Theory: One of the methods of preparing alkyl halides is via the nucleophilic substitution reactions of alcohols. Alcohols are inexpensive materials and easy to maintain. However, they are a poor leaving group the OH group is a problem in nucleophilic substitution, this problem is fixed by converting the alcohol into H2O.

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 Purpose of this experiment is for the students to learn how to use sodium borohydride to reduce benzil to its secondary alcohol product via reduction reaction. This two-step reaction reduces aldehydes by hydrides to primary alcohols, and ketones to secondary alcohols. In order for the reaction to occur and to better control the stereochemistry and yield of the product, the metal hydride nucleophile of the reducing agents such as LiH, LiAlH4, or NaBH4 must be carefully chosen. Being that LiAlH4 and NaBH4 will not react with isolated carbon-carbon double bonds nor the double bonds from aromatic rings; the chosen compound can be reduce selectively when the nucleophile only react with

14 mL of 9 M H2SO4 was added to the separatory funnel and the mixture was shaken. The layers were given a small amount of time to separate. The remaining n-butyl alcohol was extracted by the H2SO4 solution therefore, there was only one organic top layer. The lower aqueous layer was drained and discarded. 14 mL of H2O was added to the separatory funnel. A stopper was placed on the separatory funnel and it was shaken while being vented occasionally. The layers separated and the lower layer which contained the n-butyl bromide was drained into a smaller beaker. The aqueous layer was then discarded after ensuring that the correct layer had been saved by completing the "water drop test" (adding a drop of water to the drained liquid and if the water dissolves, it confirms that it is an aqueous layer). The alkyl halide was then returned to the separatory funnel. 14 mL of saturated aqeous sodium bicarbonate was added a little at a time while the separatory funnel was being swirled. A stopper was placed on the funnel and it was shaken for 1 minute while being vented frequently to relieve any pressure that was being produced. The lower alkyl halide layer was drained into a dry Erlenmeyer flask and 1.0 g of anhydrous calcium chloride was added to dry the solution. A stopper was placed on the Erlenmeyer flask and the contents were swirled until the liquid was clear. For the distillation

In this experiment, distillations were done. This is a technique that utilizes the differing boiling points of two or more compounds in a mixture in order to separate the compounds from the mixture. The way fractional distillation works is that the initial mixture is boiled up to the point of the lower boiling point compound; this compound then evaporates. This compound is then

8. ISBN: 0-558-05245-2 Virtual ChemLab: General Chemistry, Student Lab Manual/Workbook, V. 2.5, Third Edition, by Brian F. Woodfield and

alcohol (2-methyl-2-butanol, MW _ 88.2, d _ 0.805 g/mL) and 25 mL of concentrated hydrochloric acid (d _ 1.18 g/mL). Do not stopper the funnel. Gently swirl the mixture in the separatory funnel for about 1 minute. After this period of swirling, stopper the separatory funnel and carefully invert it. Without shaking the separatory funnel, immediately open

The solution that was performed in this experiment was to use sulfuric acid in order to form a protonated alcohol, so when the halogen or nucleophile back attacks the compound, water is displaced. Once the alcohol is protonated, the solution reacts in either an SN1 or SN2 mechanism.

The purpose of this experiment is to examine the reactivities of various alkyl halides under both SN2 and SN1 reaction conditions. The alkyl halides will be examined based on the substrate types and solvent the reaction takes place in.

2) Decant the hydrochloric acid from the solid and then again rinse with 30 mL of distilled water and decant. Be careful not to lose any of the solid.

After the mixture finished refluxing, the flask was then cooled on ice. A sulfuric acid solution was then prepared by pouring 4.5 mL of concentrated H2SO4 over 50 grams of ice and then diluted to 75 mL by adding enough tap water to reach 75 mL. The sulfuric acid solution was then cooled on ice.

The boiling range of the 1-pentyl ethanoate distillate was approximately between 149-151°C. This was indicated by the formation of the distillate and when the mixture of the purified 1-pentyl ethanoate started to vigorously

The purpose of this lab is to understand the process of eliminating an alkyl halide to form an alkene. The experiment is carried out by first converting the alcohol, 2-methy-2-butanol, into the alkyl halide of 2-chloro-2-methylbutane that will then be put through dehydrohalogenation that favors elimination reaction (E2) to create a mixture of 2-methyl-2-butene and 2-methyl-1-butene. A fractional distillation will be taken to purify the mixture and an additional gas chromatography will be done to further analyze the mixture composition. A bromide test will be done to determine the product of an alkene in the experiment.

This lab consisted of the conversion of alcohols into alkyl halides through common substitution methods. These methods include SN1 and SN2 mechanism, both of which can occur for this type of reaction. For both reactions, the first step of protonation will be to add hydrogen to the –OH group and then the rest of the reaction will proceed according to the type of mechanism. SN1 reactions form a cation intermediate once the H2O group leaves, then allowing a halide (such as Br) to attack the positively charged reagent1. On the other hand, SN2 reactions are one-step mechanism in which no intermediate is formed and the halide attaches as the leaving

By recording the temperature and distillate obtained during fractional distillation, a graph was plotted. At each point on the graph where temperature plateaus, a boiling point of a component of the unknown binary solution was reached. The graph obtained was ideal because two boiling points were determined to be around 82˚C and 124˚C. By comparing the boiling points to the list of known solvents, the first component was identified to be cyclohexane with