Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Phthalic acid from naphthalene?

Ionic Chemist - 13-9-2012 at 22:19

Hello everyone.

I've decided to synthesize luminol and luminol based dye derivatives, however, I am currently stuck at the production of phthalic acid.

I've been UTFSE but I don't see much info on an amateur way to synthesize phthalic acid. The method that really interests me is the use of KMnO4 to oxidize naphthalene to phthalic acid and producing CO2 as a byproduct.

That's pretty much all I know about the procedure, so does anyone know any more specific information about the reaction, such as environmental conditions, aqueous or non-polar solvents, temperature etc?

I apologize if this question was answered in some other thread on the site I could not find such threads.

Thank You ......


[Edited on 14-9-2012 by Ionic Chemist]

triplepoint - 14-9-2012 at 03:44

Alternate routes to phthalic acid production are explored in the following YouTube links. The starting points are either o-xylene or pvc gloves. Hope its useful to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58Ve69s0qD0&feature=youtu...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAARYmBYudg&feature=youtu...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cooRCFa3J3s&feature=yout...

Permanganate oxidation of naphthalene

Ionic Chemist - 14-9-2012 at 10:10



I know those videos they are a good source of information when I'm doing research.

Thanks triplepoint, but I was specifically asking for information pertaining to the oxidation of naphthalene, by permanganate ions, to yield phthalic acid, such as the environmental conditions at which the reaction take place, the solvents used if any, the temperature of the reaction vessel and purification methods of the products etc. So far I can only find vague references to the process and no truly meaningful information except for the fact that the process produces phthalic acid and that it is possible for over oxidation of the products.

I am trying to find more specific information leading along the lines of the information above if anyone else would like to help as well.

Thank You ......

Nicodem - 15-9-2012 at 05:51

Quote: Originally posted by Ionic Chemist  
The method that really interests me is the use of KMnO4 to oxidize naphthalene to phthalic acid and producing CO2 as a byproduct.

Then just find the reference for a preparative reaction and follow the procedure.

By UTFSE you would get lots of previous discussions on this topic:

https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=17...
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=6573
https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=87...
https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=17...

Please open threads with no references only in the Beginnings section - after all, that's why we have this section (see the forum guidelines).

Thank You

Ionic Chemist - 15-9-2012 at 07:26

Thank you very much Nicodem.

I saw one or two of these threads before but one is very new to me. I never saw it while using the search engine. Sorry I'm still kinda getting used to the forum rules.

Thank You ......


[Edited on 16-9-2012 by Ionic Chemist]