Found an inexpensive source of camphor, about $25/kilo.
Natural camphor is a single enantiomer ketone, and so can be reacted with a racemate, which can them be resolved into its components, I'm thinking by
column chromatography, but there are various crystallization methods, too.
Anyone ever try something similar?Magpie - 12-5-2017 at 19:35
I tried the Experiment 41 in Brewster (forum library), Preparation and Resolution of D,L-s-Octyl Hydrogen Phthalate
using brucine. I did not get a good synthesis so can't tell you how it worked out. I would like to try this again sometime, however.PirateDocBrown - 13-5-2017 at 01:09
I recall some university lab somewhere that had a tall (like several stories) column for the resolution of diastereomers. It was filled with ordinary
sucrose, which is of course diastereomeric. The eluent must have been something non-polar, maybe heptane? I don't really recall. They never actually
cleaned it out, they just ran more eluent through it, till it was clear again.
Kind of a brute force method, but apparently it worked.
I suppose I could rig one up, but it'd take a tall building, about 40' of glass tubing, and a whole lotta solvent.
[Edited on 5/13/17 by PirateDocBrown]unionised - 13-5-2017 at 05:03
It's slightly ironic that most people's first experience of chromatography- using paper- is, in principle, able to separate optical isomers since
cellulose is chiral.
I have heard of cornstarch being used as a column packingalive&kickin - 14-5-2017 at 18:09
PirateDocBrown, care to share your source?PirateDocBrown - 15-5-2017 at 01:18
Indian grocery stores sell camphor. Indian cuisine actually uses small amounts of it as a flavoring. Not a toxic quantity, but it's still something
that gets supplied. I found 2 different brands, each package of 100g, for $2.50 a package.
