last updated Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Meeting #13

General Announcements

1. The next quiz will be administered on Thursday November 18, 2004 at 12 pm. It will cover the entire project (Esterification and Nitration).

2. Please look start lookin for a partner for the last project. Your partner should be in a different time slot than yourself e.g. if you are in section 1A, your partner should be in section 1C, 1D or 1E, and not from 1A or 1B!

Questions:

1. Referring to the esterification part of the project

a. in which way does the presence of water in the system influence the esterification reaction?

b. what is the function of the sulfuric acid in the reaction?

c. which reagent is used in excess here? Why?

d. why is sodium bicarbonate used in the work-up process? Show pertinent equations.

f. why is the reaction mixture refluxed?

2. Referring to the nitration experiment, answer the following questions:

a. How is the nitronium ion generated in the laboratory?

b. What is the function of the sulfuric acid in this experiment?

c. Why do you have to control the temperature very careful in this reaction?

d. Which solvent is used for recrystallization in this reaction? Rationalize this choice.