Sciencemadness Discussion Board

salicylic acid

gelkace_14 - 23-1-2004 at 21:53

what is the product of the decarboxylation of salicylic acid?

chemoleo - 23-1-2004 at 22:27

Sorry, I can't help myself, but why didnt you put this into the beginnings section?????
Oh well... you are not the first one today :(
Anyway, salicylic acid is (phenyl)(OH)(COOH). Guess what happens once you decarboxylate it?

Edit: Besides, you pretty much asked the same in the 'Decarboxylation-what is soda lime for?' thread. Why the repeat? What wasn't clear?


[Edited on 24-1-2004 by chemoleo]

sorry...

gelkace_14 - 24-1-2004 at 07:20

hi....sorry....im just not sure...i just have this report for chem and i dunno how to answer....okei then....here's another....can you give me the main products of A.) salicylic acid and soda lime B.)Benzoic acid and soda lime....i mean, with the chem structure and all...i cundt find any in the net...and i sont trust myself to find the chemical equation all by myself!the reports a day from now...im panicking!please help me!

Geomancer - 24-1-2004 at 13:11

Don't panic. That's the worst thing you could do. Well, other than asking people to do all the work for you it's the worst thing you could do--but you've already tried that. Here's what you need to do:

  1. Get the structures of your starting compounds, if you haven't already. Google works. The CRC Handbook (it's a physical book, ask your librarian) is also good. Use the synonym index.
  2. You know that soda-lime can cause decarboxylation. Draw the structures of the products. If you're unsure, look at some examples (your text should have some).
  3. Check for side reactions.
  4. You should be able to recognize the resulting compounds, or to cook up an IUPAC name for them. If not, use the CRC Handbooks molecular formula index, then compare the diagrams to the structures you've drawn. One should match in each case.

Hellhound - 18-6-2005 at 17:12

The product of salicylic acid decarboxylation will clearly be phenol.
I heated some salicylic acid in test tube for a minute,then it turned yellow, began to boil and i smelled the specific odour. I used this reaction to obtain phenol (with high yield) for my experiments cause i had lots of salicylic acid.

[Edited on 19-6-2005 by Hellhound]

akcapr - 19-6-2005 at 10:02

at waht temperature does salicylic acid decompose?

Hellhound - 19-6-2005 at 10:40

Salicylic acid melts at 159 'C and decomposes at 211 'C when heating at atmospheric pressure. You should strongly heat it cause if you'll carefully heat it it's more likely that it will just sublimate.

neutrino - 19-6-2005 at 12:44

Shouldn't that be the other way around?