Sodium Borohydride Reduction: Diphenylmethanol from Benzophenone

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Megan Entwistle, Maria Amos, and Paul Golubic
CHEM 0330 Organic Lab 1
Sodium Borohydride Reduction: Diphenylmethanol from Benzophenone
11/16/11

Introduction

Redox (shorthand for REDuction-OXidation) reactions are chemical reactions in which the oxidation state (or oxidation number) of atoms has changed. Oxidation can be observed through the loss of electrons or an increase in oxidation state by an atom, ion or molecule. Reduction describes the gain of electrons or decrease in oxidation state of an atom, ion or molecule. However, there are many processes that are classed as redox even though no electron transfer occurs, for example those reactions that involves covalent bonds.
Reduction reactions can be determined through three…show more content…
The amount of solvent is not crucial, but enough should be used to completely dissolve the reactants Hydrogenation is a process that creates hydrogen bonds on carbon molecules, usually a pair of hydrogen atoms. This process is done by treating hydrogen as a reducing chemical in a chemical reaction between hydrogen and another compound. In this hydrogenation process, the chemicals are usually accompanied with a catalyst. Catalysts are very much needed in this process to make it usable, without the presence of a catalyst this chemical reaction can only be possible at very high temperatures. Thus, in a laboratory setting, it is vital to have catalysts in this reaction. In short, hydrogenation has three components, unsaturated substrate, hydrogen (mostly in gaseous state), and a catalysts. The temperature of the reaction varies depending on the substrate and the activity of the catalyst. The substrate for hydrogenation is almost always alkenes that produce saturated alkanes as the end product. This chemical process is very selective due to the steric hindrance that plays a role in determining where exactly would the hydrogen atoms be placed. There are few catalysts, namely, platinum, nickel, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium. These are considered very active catalysts as they are able to operate at lower temperatures. Hydrogenation
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    Objective The reason for this experiment was to conduct a benzophenone reduction using sodium borohydride in order to synthesize diphenylmethanol. Balanced Chemical Equation Procedure First, a balance was used to measure 0.55 grams (g) of white, crystal benzophenone and 0.06 g of white, powder sodium borohydride. The two solids were placed into a 25 milliliter (mL) round bottom flask. A couple of boiling chips and 3 mL of 2-propanol were then poured into the flask. The 2-propanol measured

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