ERIC Number: EJ1319481
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Dec
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
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Available Date: N/A
Expanding the Scope of an Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution Discovery Experiment Including Hydride and Methyl Shifts
Journal of Chemical Education, v98 n12 p3999-4008 Dec 2021
Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions using a curated set of alcohols provide students with the opportunity to combine the study of electrophilic aromatic substitution with carbocation rearrangements. In this experiment students may be presented with up to nine alcohols that yield six products, all synthesized under identical reaction conditions. They distinguish their products using a range of instrumental methods including infrared, [superscript 1]H NMR, and [superscript 13]C NMR spectroscopies, and mass spectrometry. Additional characterization is provided by the determination of melting point/mixed-melting point and gas chromatographic retention time. Students work in teams to assign structures to their individual reaction products; providing nine starting materials ensures minimal duplicates in a given laboratory section. As students interpret their data, some discover that a carbocation rearrangement occurred, resulting in isolation of only one product despite starting from a pair of isomeric reagents. This laboratory provides students with the opportunity to engage in a range of laboratory and problem-solving skills, and thus is designed to be performed toward the end of a two-semester organic chemistry sequence.
Descriptors: Science Instruction, Spectroscopy, Science Experiments, Teaching Methods, Light, Problem Solving, Organic Chemistry
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A