Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Nitration Video

DraconicAcid - 1-3-2021 at 09:16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnNt89dELfQ

I've had to make a bunch of videos for my students' experiments (because they can only come in to do half of them, due to COVID). I thought this one might be good enough to share (despite the slip-up where I said nitric instead of sulphuric).

PS- no slight against you guys about the "not for amateurs" disclaimer. Just covering my legal butt.

[Edited on 1-3-2021 by DraconicAcid]

Fery - 1-3-2021 at 09:56

Beautiful video, thx for sharing. I've never performed this nitration. I see you used methylester of benzoic acid. Couldn't be benzoic acid nitrated directly? Does the methylbenzoate offer better yield or purer m- isomer product with less o- and p- nitro isomers contamination?
here I found that keeping T very cold as you did prevents o- sideproduct to form, but this is nitration of benzoic acid, not its methylester:
https://chemlab.truman.edu/files/2015/07/Multi-2-Nitration-o...

DraconicAcid - 1-3-2021 at 10:04

I was following this prep: http://www.orgsyn.org/demo.aspx?prep=CV1P0372

The same authors give this: http://www.orgsyn.org/demo.aspx?prep=CV1P0391

Perhaps the original paper gives a reason that this might be preferred to direct nitration of benzoic acid.