Right, I completely forgot that I could just dry out most of the remaining 5% water with a desiccant. D'oh! I live in Illinois, and I believe the
190-proof Everclear is legal here. I haven't ever looked for it. Off to the liquor store tomorrow!
The dry ice/denatured alcohol bath is for cooling the reaction down to below the boiling point of anhydrous ammonia so that it doesn't boil as I open
the pressure tube to add the benzene/alcohol and the lithium. I didn't consider it a good idea to try using that in the Birch reduction because I'm
not sure what it's made of besides ethanol and methanol. I have dry methanol already anyway, so if that works I'll probably try it.
|