BlackDragon2712 - 5-11-2013 at 10:01
I wanted to attempt the synthesis of hydrazine sulfate by the ketazine method but I have no access to butanone, I tried to search for an OTC reagent
that may contain butanone and where I live I didn’t find any (I found a pvc glue that has 40% butanone and 35% THF at like 7 dollars or something
for 260 ml of product) so I decided to make my own butanone but the problem is that the oxidizing agents for the oxidation of 2-buthanol are somewhat
expensive, the potassium permanganate cost like 12 dollars the 100 grams (considering that only for 77 ml of butanone you’d have to use like 100
grams of potassium dichromate) and I have no access to potassium dichromate (besides the one that has my school lab)
Is there any cheap oxidizing agent that would work for this reaction? Or is there other way to get the butanone besides the ordering online option?
thanks in advance guys! you've always been a great help !! 
!!
bfesser - 5-11-2013 at 10:11
Look for "Methyl Ethyl Ketone" in a hardware store. Often simply labeled as "MEK." [edit] It's one of the easiest solvents to find.
[Edited on 5.11.13 by bfesser]
DraconicAcid - 5-11-2013 at 10:23
Bleach is cheap and will nicely oxidize a secondary alcohol to a ketone in a weakly acidic solution (I used to supervise a lab at a different college
where the lab exam was the oxidation of a methylpentanol by bleach in acetic acid). Just make sure you don't have an excess of bleach (or chlorine
gas will be evolved). When the reaction is done, neutralize the acetic acid, and add saturated sodium chloride to make sure the organic stuff
separates from the aqueous layer (assuming you won't extract with an organic solvent, since it's an organic solvent you're trying to make).
This is academic, because (as bfesser says), you should be able to find methyl ethyl ketone.
BlackDragon2712 - 5-11-2013 at 12:27
I should have specified that I do not live in US. I've already searched for MEK and it's very dificult to find it here where I live. I even have more
acces to toluene than to butanone even considering the tons of restrictions they put to it.
@DraconicAcid wouldn't that yield me haloalkanes as well (considering that if in excess of NaOCl it would produce chlorine)?
because if hypochlorous acid reduces like 2 HClO + 2 H+ + 2 e <−> Cl2 + 2 H2O, chlorine will be anyway present.
Do you know what's the maximal yield for this?
DraconicAcid - 5-11-2013 at 14:50
You probably don't have to worry about haloalkanes in your reaction mixture if you don't have a large excess of bleach (and you want to get as close
as possible to the stoichiometric mix; excess bleach can be destroyed with sodium sulphite in a well-ventilated area). You might be able to extract
the solution with toluene and distill off the butanone.
zed - 12-11-2013 at 19:40
Refer to Vogel. There is a copy in our library. Such ketones can be produced in a number of ways. The usual problem with oxidations, is stopping
them before they go too far.
Might be able to produce butanone by distilling it from a mixture of butanol and camphor w/Al isopropoxide catalyst. Maybe. Pretty low-tech if you
can pull it off.
Likewise, running a mixture of Acetic and Propionic acid, through a tube furnace may work.
Agricola - 13-11-2013 at 13:29
The cheapest, and very effective, is to use sodium hypochlorite and acetic acid. See the procedure on the attached paper by Stevens. 2-octanol gives
2-octanone in 96% yield.
Attachment: ketones_stevens1980.pdf (461kB)
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