Alastair - 12-8-2012 at 01:49
I just heated my redistilled ethanol with some sodium hydroxide to disolve it and the soln turned orange (something like lithium ethoxide on
standing).
The ethanol should have been impure (lighter fluid) but the only contents listed were ethanol and water.
Any help on this?
Alastair - 12-8-2012 at 01:52
Sorry for double post, i found that NaOEt is orangeish in colour, but for a reaction like that i would need constant removal of water (NaOH + EtOH=
NaOEt +H2O), i really doubt thats it.
unionised - 12-8-2012 at 02:04
NaOEt isn't orange, it's white.
You don't need to remove water to generate it- the reaction is an equilibrium- there will be some ethoxide present
oxidation of alcohol by air will give acetaldehyde which will condense in the presence of strong bases to give yellow products.
Alastair - 12-8-2012 at 02:10
Makes sense. Thank you.