TheMrbunGee
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Aluminum bromide, AlBr3
Hey, so I opened ampule of AlBr3, and I have done all the things I wanted, I still have about 100g left. Because of shity labware it is now sitting in
a jar, slowly decomposing - so - any cool suggestions for a good use of it?
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j_sum1
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Make bromine? I mean, why wouldn't you?
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Deathunter88
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Re-ampoule it?
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TheMrbunGee
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I have more ampules, and this one is already dirty and partly decomposed! 
Also for bromine - same problem with storage! Bromine would be last thing I would make from it!
Isn't there really nothing interesting to do with it? :?
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JJay
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You can use it as a catalyst for Friedel-Crafts alkylations and acylations. With the bromoacetone you have, you could make some interesting aromatic
ketones... do be careful, though, because it is easy to get into some legal grey areas with those... you don't want to have to explain to a judge why
you just so happened to whip up a batch of phenylacetone.
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myristicinaldehyde
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AlBr3 can also cleave ethers- my new research group will be using it for that purpose. Maybe it will work on vanillin?
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JJay
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I wish I had fancy chemicals like AlBr3. I'm not even really sure how to make it... the reaction between bromine and aluminum is extremely
vigorous.... Perhaps by slowly dropping a very dilute bromine/chloroform solution into a stirred chloroform/aluminum turnings mixture and then
distilling off the chloroform? Or maybe leading an excess of bromine vapors into a room temperature tube lined with aluminum foil... that is likely a
good method, actually... it would be easy enough to recover any extra bromine... and if you used a quartz tube, you could heat it with a torch to kick
off the reaction if necessary.
[Edited on 18-12-2016 by JJay]
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Texium
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Depending on what you're doing with it, it can sometimes be prepared in situ. For instance, I made bromobenzene from benzene and bromine once, and I
just used a slight excess of bromine and added a couple little scraps of aluminum foil to the flask. The excess bromine reacted with the aluminum and
the bromination proceeded successfully.
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Melgar
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Quote: Originally posted by JJay  | | I wish I had fancy chemicals like AlBr3. I'm not even really sure how to make it... the reaction between bromine and aluminum is extremely
vigorous.... Perhaps by slowly dropping a very dilute bromine/chloroform solution into a stirred chloroform/aluminum turnings mixture and then
distilling off the chloroform? Or maybe leading an excess of bromine vapors into a room temperature tube lined with aluminum foil... that is likely a
good method, actually... it would be easy enough to recover any extra bromine... and if you used a quartz tube, you could heat it with a torch to kick
off the reaction if necessary. |
Not only does aluminum react readily with MeCl and chloroform, AlBr3 can be used to displace chlorine with bromine in organochloride compounds. This
can be a convenient way to make dibromomethane, which might be interesting to OP. A lot of people on this site tend to be interested in
dibromomethane and diiodomethane for some strange, incomprehensible reason.
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byko3y
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I think you can use pretty much any inert solvent that is capable of dissolving the AlBr3, benzene is a good example already mentioned, but
chlorobenzene and nitrobenzene also work well. Chloroform is not an inert solvent, and the main products of reaction with it are dibromochloromethane
(CClBr2) and AlCl3.
Unlike AlCl3, AlBr3 can be distilled, has a high melting point of 97.8 °C though.
Interest for dihalomethanes arizes from those interested in MDA/MDMA.
Ampouling aluminium bromide is pretty tough task, because traces of water in the amoule might lead to a critical buildup of pressure and cracking of
the amouple, because HBr has higher vapour pressure than H2O. Sealing at high temperature (100°C) and storing in cold might resolve the problem.
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JJay
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Hmm... I wonder how hard it would be to remove glacial acetic acid from AlBr3... GAA is not exactly a dessert topping (it's pretty nasty stuff,
actually), but it is less flammable than benzene and not carcinogenic.
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byko3y
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Aluminium has a high affinity for oxygen. Products of reaction of acetic acid with AlBr3 in anhydrous conditions are aluminium acetate and HBr.
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Ozone
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Hmm. I'd seal the jar (with a PTFE seal, under an inert atmosphere, if possible), tape it up (teflon helps), and put that into a sealed container with
a bunch of Dririte (I prefer the indicating type). I have AlCl3 that has remained dry this way--just make sure the rocks stay blue.
Aside, I always made AlBr3 in-situ for Friedel Crafts, as described by zts16--I ball up the needed mass of aluminum foil, put that into a flask and
set up for reflux with a vapor trap. Then, the apparatus is flamed, and stoichiometric bromine is slowly added with a dropping funnel. Even with slow
addition, the reaction is exciting, and yields a highly active catalyst.
O3
-Anyone who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
--Albert Einstein
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JJay
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It sounds like in-situ is definitely the way to go for most reactions involving AlBr3. I've seen a few videos of the reaction between Al and Br2, and
it looks pretty spectacular.
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