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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1998  > January  >
In the Laboratory
Grignard Synthesis of Various Tertiary Alcohols
T. Stephen Everett
Goucher College, Department of Chemistry, 1021 Dulaney Valley Road, Baltimore, MD 21204-2794

Cover
January 1998
Vol. 75 No. 1
p. 86

Abstract
A general Grignard procedure is presented for the synthesis of aliphatic, tertiary alcohols containing six to nine carbons. Without revealing the specific starting materials, students are challenged to identify their unknown products from physical (boiling points, refractive indices) and spectral (infrared O-H, C-H and fingerprint regions) data. Once a product is identified retro-synthetic considerations point to which alkyl halide and ketone were required as starting materials. This laboratory exercise in organic synthesis incorporates anhydrous techniques, distillation, and infrared analysis.

RX + Mg ---> [RMgX] + R'R"C=O ---> [RR'R"COMgX] ---> RR'R"COH

Criteria

RX = C2-C5 1' alkyl bromide (unbranched)
R'R"C=O = C3-C5 ketone
RR'R"COH = C6-C9 3' alcohol

More Information
*  Citation
Everett, T. Stephen. J. Chem. Educ. 1998 75 86.
*  Keywords
Laboratory Instruction, Organic Chemistry, IR Spectroscopy, Organic Synthesis, and Organometallics
*  History
Created:
Last Updated:
June 28, 1999
June 23, 2005
  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1998 > January > Page 86


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