last updated Thursday, May 13, 2004

Meeting #13

The next quiz will be administered on Tuesday May 18, 2004 at 8 am. It will cover the entire project (Grignard, Esterification and Nitration).

1. Referring to the esterification part of the project

a. why is it important to dry the benzoic acid thoroughly prior to 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?

f. why is the reaction mixture refluxed?

2. The Fischer Esterification technique is not a good method to obtain esters of tert. alcohols. Explain briefly why. Suggest two methods to obtain an ester form tert. alcohol.

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

a. How do you generate the nitronium ion in the laboratory?

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

c. Explain briefly why the amount of the dinitro derivative increases with increase in temperature of the reaction mixture? How can you prevent this from happening?