Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Nitration of PTSA

pumpkins33d - 1-11-2020 at 13:30

Would using PTSA to obtain o-nitrotoluene give a higher yield then a nitration of toluene as the o and p isomers would be created and thus need isolation. Since the sulfonic acid group can be easily removed via reflux of product in an excess of water. Thank you for any input!

BluBoirt - 3-11-2020 at 16:24

I'm not sure about the yield on PTSA, but given that major product of toluene mononitration is o-nitrotoluene and you separate that steam distillation, I'd probably go with this one (since toluene+nitric acid is cheaper for me:D).