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Author: Subject: working with gallium aluminium amalgam
cosmopax
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[*] posted on 28-12-2013 at 20:34
working with gallium aluminium amalgam


hello,

before anything else, i want to thank this forum for all the help and inspiration so far, especially the many bright and eminent authorities, foremost of course to the brilliant mod.

so, these are the first greetings from some long time lurkers, finally being unable to remain in the silent shadows since we stumbled upon something we can't get our heads around and have not been able to find adequate answers neither in literature nor in this forum:

when ga al alloy is placed in dh2o, hydrogen evolution starts vigorously, yet as soon as isopropanol and/ or acetic acid is introduced into the flask the reaction dies down.

any ideas, suggestions?

thanks, researchproject cosmopax

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Nicodem
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[*] posted on 29-12-2013 at 03:46


Quote: Originally posted by cosmopax  
when ga al alloy is placed in dh2o, hydrogen evolution starts vigorously, yet as soon as isopropanol and/ or acetic acid is introduced into the flask the reaction dies down.

Are you sure about that? Perhaps the hydrogen evolution subsided simply because most of the alloy was already consumed.

PS: Welcome to the forum, but please read the forum guidelines. In particular, make sure you don't misplace topics any more (inorganic topics don't belong in the Organic chemistry section) and start using the upper case letters for chemical symbols where this is due.




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cosmopax
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[*] posted on 31-12-2013 at 01:53


hello,

concerning the placement of the topic:
ah, sorry, had the whole of the syntheses in mind when posting :)

regarding the problem:

the aluminium was not wholly consumed, yet to make sure, we had the following set up for more empirical data:

3 portions of galloy were prepared in the same vessel, left all in for the same time, then dumped in either a flask with only dH2O or dH2O with double the amount of GAA or like the latter together with the same amount IPA as GAA. the water only flask showed vigorous evolution as expected, yet the GAA vessel showed only a few bubbles, the IPA/GAA showed no reaction at all.

there was also one test run with dH2O, twice this amount of each IPA and GAA and some nitroalkene. hydrogen only started evolving when NaOH was introduced, yet no reduction took place.

since this is the actual aim, maybe you can point us in the direction of a different setup WITH the Al/Ga alloy?

thanks, your help and knowledge is greatly appreciated, :),
cosmopax

ps. it's weird, right, for example we remember reading a patent about the use of Ga instead of Hg for electrolysis and it was amongst others successfully used in acidic medium...


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[*] posted on 5-1-2014 at 12:46


I get the same null result of no reaction between GaAl and isopropanol.



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[*] posted on 5-1-2014 at 12:48


I'm not surprised- reaction of isopropanol with metals like sodium and potassium are much less vigorous than their reactions with water, I would expect that the reaction of aluminum with isopropanol to be less vigorous than with water.



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gravityzero
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[*] posted on 8-1-2014 at 08:10


So what does this mean? Does it mean that there is no method for using the galloy as a reduction amalgam?

Water is not normally welcomed in such reactions.

Is there not a means to manipulate those circumstances?
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gravityzero
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[*] posted on 8-1-2014 at 12:09


There have been many posts on this topic, but for some reason not alot of verified results, at least that I can tell.

In reviewing the options for producing Aluminium Isopropoxide, it would be best to avoid using HgCl2 for obvious reasons.

Could anyone lend helpful ideas or possibly alternative routes?
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