Yesterday, I tried to dissolve some chlorine gas in kerosene by reacting calcium hypochlorite with an acid in a beaker, below a thick layer of
kerosene. As alkanes will only react with halogens under UV/high temp, I supposed it would dissolve the chlorine as organic solvents dissolve chlorine
better than water (both non-polar). The kerosene started to lose the blue colouring, then turned a yellow-green colour. After I poured out the
solution, which smelled absolutely horrific, I poured some in a plastic cup and threw a bit of aluminium foil it it. That was a very idiotic thing to
do, as the kerosene dissolved through the plastic, and splattered everywhere. I then poured the remaining kerosene in a glass container and again
reacted aluminum with it. This time, the aluminum bubbled and slowly corroded. A thick liquid(much too thick to be water) sank below the kerosene as
the aluminum dissolved and the yellow-green colour started disappear, leaving a crystal-clear liquid. My question is, what is formed? I only know one
explanation:
1, Aluminum chloride. But I don't see that forming because there are no precipitates and it doesn't dissolve in kerosene
So, what can it be? Endimion17 - 29-3-2012 at 05:54
Since when is kerosene blue? Quality kerosene is transparent and lacks any color. Maybe you should check on that...bquirky - 29-3-2012 at 06:00
most domestic kero in WA is dyed blue. I suppose its to make it look more like a tasty soft-drink for little children ?
I cant remember if Jet-A1 (aviation keroceene) is dyed but 100LL (low lead avgas) is oftern dyed blue while ordinary leaded avgas is un-dyed
Endimion17 - 29-3-2012 at 07:21
Vehicle fuel is sometimes dyed on purpose, to make it look different, to avoid illegal misusage. For example, diesel used for boats (the difference is
purely legal, and that reflects on the cost which is lesser) in my country is dyed blue to distinguish it from regular diesel, so if the authorities
see you're running your car using cheaper, blue dyed diesel, you're in trouble.
But kerosene? No, kerosene, the one you can buy in hardware stores here, used for powering kerosene lamps and for degreasing, is always crystal clear.
I've never seen tinted kerosene, except decades old samples which get a yellow tint, probably from the oxidation and polimerization.
Dying is obviously done on purpose, because the dye costs money. No one in their right mind would add it just for fun, but bquirky, you're right about
the kids. They'd drink blue dyed fluids more often.
Anyway, I wouldn't do any experiments with dyed kerosene. The fuel itself is a complex mixture, and the dye only makes it worse.
[Edited on 29-3-2012 by Endimion17]bbartlog - 29-3-2012 at 07:48
Quote:
A thick liquid(much too thick to be water) sank below the kerosene
It's reasonable to suppose that it's some haloalkane. I reason that the aluminum would not have reacted with the chlorine unless traces of water were
present, which given your procedure there surely were. With small amounts of water present, your aluminum would react with the chlorine and water, not
forming pure AlCl3 but rather some acidic Al(OH)xCly stuff (plus HCl). AlCl3 and acidic Al2O3 both have catalytic activity on
alkenes, so with them present you could have addition of Cl2 or HCl across any unsaturated bonds that were present, giving you denser chlorocarbons.
Or it could be something else. You didn't purify anything at the beginning and I don't think you'll be able to isolate anything at the end, so it's
not a very informative experiment.neptunium - 29-3-2012 at 12:46
maybe you could seperate the 2 layer and distill the heavy halogenated lower layer . maybe addint CaCl2 to dry it a bit .
note the temperature of ebulition and compare with the literature to see if anything reasonable matches the boiling point of your substance.
I'm not sure why- I think that pink paraffin was a branding exercise.
We also have "red diesel" for agricultural use (only) on which less tax is paid.
My guess is that you will have a horrible mess of different chemicals.
Bubbling with Al suggests to me that you had HCl. That's plausible if any of the Cl2 reacted with the alkanes.
