Apparently you have an equilibrium between metabisulfite and bisulfite in water: Na2S2O5 + H2O <-> 2 NaHSO3. I couldn't find a decent reference
for this however.
I first tried it on a small scale: added metabisulfite solution to cinnamon oil in iPrOH. Heated for 30 min, filtered, washed, dried. The product was
hydrolyzed to a cinnamon smelling compound.
I then used the rest of the cinnamon oil (100 ml) and processed it in the same way. I hydrolyzed it and had enough to measure the density of the
product, which matched that of cinnamaldehyde. |