Cyrus
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Boric triethylether
I just finished my homemade condenser for distilling stuff -if I had a digital camera I would take a picture, the copper is all polished and shiny.
The first experiment I tried with it was H3BO3 + 3CH3CH2OH ---H2SO4---> BO3(CH2CH3)3
+3H2O.
Is BO3(CH2CH3)3 the correct formula?
The distillate smelled strongly and burned with a nice green flame, so I think the reaction was a success!
The whole family gathered around as I lit about 1 ml of the stuff in the dark, the flames went 15 cm high. Fun.
Has anyone else tried this reaction besides chemoleo and I, and does anyone know what the white residue left over after burning the boric
triethylether is? B2O3?
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The_Davster
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I think the formula B(OCH2CH3)3 would be a little less confusing, when I first read your post I was trying to figure out how you could have 3 ethyl
groups and 3 oxygens attached to a single boron. Then I realized that it was an ether...
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chemoleo
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Actually, it is an ester, as it involves an acid and an alcohol
Still, you are right, B(OC2H5)3 is a better way to describe it.
And yes, the white residue you found is/should be initially B2o3, which will eventually react with water again to for boric acid. You could recover
this and rereact it with ethanol - so effectively you are burning ethanol with a green flame, no other waste products (apart from a few drops of
H2SO4).
Ever thought of making different types of esters? How about nitroethanol? or glycerol? Glycerol would probably cage the boric acid in some ways, too.
I am sure I have read of boric acid complexes with polyols - partially esterified....
[Edited on 4-6-2004 by chemoleo]
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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Cyrus
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Oops obout the ester/ether.
The formula for nitroethanol would be
N(OC2CH3)3?
How would I go about making it?
2HNO3 + 6CH3CH2OH--> 2N(OCH2CH3)3
+ 6H2O + H2??? This doesn't look right.
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chemoleo
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Maybe you'd like to change your title to ester, rather than ether? If the big wide world is going to search for your experiment, it is not going
to find it... at least those chemically astute (or some cyrus clones)
Regarding your nitroethanol - lol - what are you trying to do? It's a bit off topic (a bit lol), and I am afraid I fail to understand how you
arrive at those equations. where is the nitro group?
Nitroethanol (similar to nitroglycerin) is simply CH3CH2ONO2. What you have is some very strange compound (lacking nitrogroups), I wouldn't know
if it exists (three oxygens on a +III nitrogen? hydroxylamine is as far as it goes as far as I know). How about making it? I think there are threads
on it, i.e. isopropylnitrate. Generally strong HNO3/alcohol should do.
Now back to topic!
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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Cyrus
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I think its too late to change the name from ether to ester, though I want to badly- I can't edit it anymore.
HEY, don't joke about my clones, I don't like them either, they go around posting dumb questions on this site! And using my SCREEN NAME! The gall they have!
Im not sure about how I, I mean those clones, got those equations either...
I believe they were thinking that since boron bonds that way( B(OC2H5)3 ), maybe nitrogen does too. Yes, I looked up the compound N(OC2H5)3 and it
does exist, but is not nitroethanol.
Here are some interesting observations about boric triethylether of mine.
-it smells like a combination of rotten mango, kiwi fruit, rum, and a little bit of pinapple.
-it burns at a temperature higher than the average finger can withstand. I know this for a fact.
-When exposed to the air, the liquid turns into a white solid. Which solid would this be?
-It dissolves in both xylene (goof off) and water.
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