organicchemist25
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Nitrotoluene question
I attempted making nitrotoluene last night. I have a question. Is there supposed to be a dark top layer? The procedure mentions nothing of it, in
fact, it says two separate yellow layers. If, it is not likely, what might I have?
I freshly made nitric acid (conc H2SO4 and KNO3) the night before. It is concentrated. It always has the highlighter yellow tint when I make it. It
reacts strongly with Cu. I actually need to add a couple drops of water to initiate the reaction. I also boiled down approx 40% battery acid from the
auto store until the H2SO4 is thick and smoking thick white smoke, so I know that is about as concentrated as I can get.
I even freshly distilled my toluene over a small piece of sodium.
Any ideas?
Oh, and, the reaction (i had in crushed ice bath with copious amounts of NaCl) and the temp NEVER went above 7-8 C. I expected some exothermic
activity. The thermometer never even increased as I added about 2-3 ml every minute or so. I kept a good eye on the temp. no increase in temp during
the entire reaction.
I could notice that it was changing color as the reaction progressed. The initial solution was pretty clear. I could see the stir bar and vortex for
a while. After no temp increase for some hours, i felt it was safe to go to bed. I left it stirring all night. This morning it has a dark, distinct
layer.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
  
[Edited on 27-7-2014 by organicchemist25]
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Mailinmypocket
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Have you had a read over Magpies very nice write up on this?
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=29111
Might be helpful visually
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organicchemist25
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No, I had not. Thank you and thanks for supplying the link, as well!
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S.C. Wack
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Dilute NaOH washes. Nitrotoluene is never run cold AFAIK, sounds like you might be using some weird directions.
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Chemosynthesis
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^ Always best to cite your procedures, as required when publishing peer-reviewed literature, for help.
It helps us understand any methodological flaws and optimize your procedure.
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organicchemist25
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Will do, from here on out. Definitely doing Magpies write-up.
Thank you for all the replies
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