Argentum - 20-9-2014 at 07:17
I just finished watching a video from Periodic Videos showing how to synthesize bakelite.
They did not mention the amount of chemicals they used, only the names. And they did not mention the temperature and the time of the reaction
As far as I know they used phenol, formaldehyde, acetic acid and hydrochloric acid.
It seems to be something easy but I could not find further information around the forum, just a post saying that ammonia was used, it was heated for
24 hs and using an inert atmosphere.
Does anybody know further details about this process? I would like to synthesize a little bit, just for experimentation.
This is the link of the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlh0YDRmZ0I
(I may have some spelling or grammar mistakes, I am still learning English 
)
Mailinmypocket - 20-9-2014 at 07:22
This is a nice PDF with the preparation of Bakelite and other polymers:
http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/chemistry/undergrad/org/spring...
Argentum - 20-9-2014 at 08:35
Thank you for that pdf. Anyways, I will need concentrated ammonia which is really difficult to find here. But I will see what can I do.
hyfalcon - 20-9-2014 at 08:42
Distill less concentrated into a smaller volume of water.
Argentum - 20-9-2014 at 13:44
I think I will do that
Mailinmypocket - 20-9-2014 at 16:15
Try here instead: http://jnec.org/lab-manuals/fe/ec_es_lab_manual.pdf
Just search google for "Bakelite synthesis experiment" and this is one of the results. No ammonia required here apparently.
Argentum - 21-9-2014 at 10:27
Thank you again! I do not usually get to the bottom of the search list