Sciencemadness Discussion Board

TBAOH Corrosiveness

TheGinginator - 21-2-2019 at 12:48

Hey everyone-
I have an experiment that I want to try involving Tetrabutylammonium hydroxide. The MSDS for a 40% solution in water says that it is not corrosive to glass, but the particular reaction I want to run is highly susceptible to protic solvents. I am worried that carrying out the reaction will ruin my glassware. Has anyone here worked with more concentrated solutions of TBAOH around the boiling point of water, and did you note any corrosive properties towards glass?

Metacelsus - 21-2-2019 at 23:52

Quote: Originally posted by TheGinginator  
Has anyone here worked with more concentrated solutions of TBAOH around the boiling point of water, and did you note any corrosive properties towards glass?


I would be worried about the TBAOH decomposing via Hoffman elimination if it's concentrated at high temperatures. What concentration do you plan to use (and what solvent, if not water)?

TheGinginator - 22-2-2019 at 16:41

One can purchase a hydrate of TBAOH which melts around 30C and boils around 100C. For this, I would most likely be forgoing a solvent in favor of this. For context, I am attempting to synthesize the Hypomanganate salt of TBAOH modeling it off of syntheses described elsewhere on this forum. Those methods involve reacting Manganese dioxide or potassium permanganate with molten hydroxide solutions.

TheGinginator - 22-2-2019 at 16:41

One can purchase a hydrate of TBAOH which melts around 30C and boils around 100C. For this, I would most likely be forgoing a solvent in favor of this. For context, I am attempting to synthesize the Hypomanganate salt of TBAOH modeling it off of syntheses described elsewhere on this forum. Those methods involve reacting Manganese dioxide or potassium permanganate with molten hydroxide solutions.