2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile synthesis question
I don't know if we have any resident CS experts here, though I'm sure some of you mad men have dabbled in it for whatever reason or another.
I was thinking about designing a small device to really deter neighborhood pests from getting into my garden. CS itself seems a fairly easy compound
to make, but I'll likely look into capsaicin or OC-based formulations to keep it natural and non-toxic.
As I was exploring CS synthesis though, I kind of got interested in the question of which base to use for the catalysis step. The reaction is called
the Knoevenagel condensation, which seems simple enough. A guy I know told me that his company used ammonium hydroxide ONLY and they refused to use
any other weak base, but he wasn't sure why. I've also seen piperidine or other amines used.
I was just curious if there was any benefit that put one weak base over the other for this reaction, because it doesn't seem too obvious to me why
they are adamant about ammonium hydroxide (other than potentially it's super cheap). To me, the ammonium hydroxide wouldn't actually be catalyzing
anything, as it would likely blow off as ammonia making it non-recoverable and thus potentially costing more in the long run.
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