msdaniellepohlman - 14-4-2006 at 16:09
hey i'm working on an organic chem lab which wants to know the equation of how the side product of Na2CO3 is formed when acetone is added to sodium
hydroxide. I can't seem to figure it out and i've been searching for a while.
2NaOH + CH3COCH3 --> Na2CO3 + Don't know what goes here? CH3OH .. WATER?? HELP!!
any help would be great. thanks so much can't seem to find anything online or in text books.
-danielle
12AX7 - 14-4-2006 at 19:15
Well, if it's without air and water, the only thing it can do is break down the carbonyl (-CO-) and form carbonate. Lesse:
2NaOH + CH3COCH3 = Na2CO3 + something
Offhand, that would actually balance to CH3CH2CH3, propane, if the one oxygen were removed from one acetone and replaced with the two hydrogens from
the sodium hydroxide. But that would be a reduction (of both the hydroxyl and carbonyl), which AFAIK simply doesn't happen.
If water is added, it doesn't change much, but if oxygen is added, you could turn the active site -CO- into O=C=O, or CO2, which reacts with 2NaOH to
form Na2CO3 + H2O. That would break the acetone into two -CH3 (methyl) groups, which tend to be reactive and not exist, so a whole mess of reactions
could happen, with methyls combining (CH3-CH3 is ethane; probably a rare reaction, if it happens at all), reacting with say water (CH3 + OH = CH3OH,
methyl alcohol; the high pH would have an excess of OH's that would make this possible), or more acetone to stack up all sorts of other messy
molecules.
But I'm no organic chemist so I have no idea what would mostly happen. AFAIK, acetone just forms a gooey, colored, indefinite mess when you add acid
or base.
Tim