last updated Wednesday, May 15, 2002

Problems Set #8

ATTN: answers to the below questions are due at the start of your lab period; these answers should be part of your pre-lab write-up.

1. Why is it important in this week's Friedel-Crafts acylation experiment that water contamination is held to a minimum?

2. AlCl3 is a common catalyst used in Friedel-Crafts acylation reactions. Why is more than a catalytic amount of AlCl3 used in the experiment?

3. AlCl3 is extremely hygroscopic and reacts violently with excess water. Write the balanced equation for this reaction?

4. Give the expected major product for the following substrates upon acylation using acetyl chloride.

hint (click me!)

5. Suggest a strategy to synthesize m-ethylaniline starting from benzene.