Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Unknown oxidises to Benzaldehyde

herschel - 3-10-2015 at 11:59

My unknown compound is clear, oily, slightly yellow, BP c.206C, less dense than water (so not benzyl alcohol).

Heating with sodium dichromate/H20/H2SO4 produces benzaldehyde. (Very distinctive smell and BP is about right).

Ideas gratefully received.

Herschel

[Edited on 3-10-2015 by herschel]

aga - 3-10-2015 at 13:08

Probably a really interesting question to a really really bored organic chemist.

Beginnings please for this kind of stuff.
(unreferenced, inane, non-science, hardly even chemistry)

It would get closer to being Sane if you even mentioned the State of the 'unknown compound'.

Maybe it's Mass or even Volume, or Postcode could be helpful.

Edit:

Postcode=Zip Code

[Edited on 3-10-2015 by aga]

herschel - 3-10-2015 at 13:31

Beginnings: It's a very long story and I now have doubts about what happened at various points.
State: Liquid at RT
Mass: As in how much do I have in total? Why?
Volume: As above
Postcode: Why?

karlosĀ³ - 3-10-2015 at 14:42

He meant density probably...
If its a liquid, how much weighs a mlilli,iter what volume takes a gram?

With beginnigs he meant the beginnigs forum, you should have posted it there, not in o-chem.

[Edited on 3-10-2015 by karlosĀ³]

gdflp - 3-10-2015 at 15:03

Look at aga's title, he's the forum drunkard so his answer isn't surprising.:cool: I do agree though that this question belongs in Beginnings.

As for your compound, that sounds exactly like benzyl alcohol, it's density is close enough to water that surface tension may prevent you from getting a good result. BP and oxidation reaction results are spot on so that would be my guess.