draculic acid69
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Pyrollidine smell from amino acid & Mg ribbon
So I tried making some magnesium proline salt from proline and some cheap magnesium ribbon and straight away started smelling pyrrolidine which I
thought was very unlikely to happen. The smell is very unmistakable. This magnesium also let's off weird smells when mixed with acetic acid, possibly
even small amounts of h2s(I'm guessing impurity in the magnesium) . Is there a chance magnesium can reduce carboxyl groups or is there another
explanation? Thoughts, comments, experiences
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clearly_not_atara
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Seems plausible that you're just generating a lot of heat at the reaction surface leading to thermal decarboxylation of the proline. I could also
channel AJKOER and propose a single-electron transfer mechanism:
RCOOH + e- (Mg) >> RCOO- + H*
RCOOH + H* <<>> H2 + RCOO* (reversible)
RCOO* >> R* + CO2 (irreversible)
R* + H* >> RH
[Edited on 04-20-1969 by clearly_not_atara]
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draculic acid69
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Not much heat is being generated with the Mg+proline, but Mg+citric+acetic got so hot it disfigured the pet bottle it was being mixed in
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