Kinetic versus Thermodynamic Control in the Dehydration of 2-Methylcyclopentanol: A Two-Part Laboratory Experiment Utilizing the Gignard Reaction and GC-MS
Thomas Poon, Bradford P. Mundy, Jean McIntyre, Lesley Woods, Frank G. Favaloro Jr., and Christina A. Goudreau Department of Chemistry, Colby College, 5750 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, ME 04901-8857
A two part organic laboratory experiment illustrating the Grignard reaction and the concept of kinetic versus thermodynamic control is described. The reaction of phenylmagnesium bromide with 2-methylcyclopentanone yileds an unsymmetrical benzylic alcohol which can be dehydrated using toluenesulfonic acid to give predominately the less substituted alkene. Application of heat to the reaction mixture over a period of two hours reverses the trend to give the more substituted alkene as the major product in 91% relative yield. The dehydration is monitored by GC/MS and the experiment can be performed using macro and microscale techniques.
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Citation
Poon, Thomas; Mundy, Bradford P.; MnIntyre, Jean; Woods, Lesley; Favaloro Jr.; Frank G.; Goudreau, Christina A. J. Chem. Educ.1997 74 1218.
Keywords
Laboratory, Organic Chemistry, Chromatography, Organic Synthesis, and Time-Dependent Reactions
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