Mystery Compound, or Maybe Not?
75ml of 8 M HCl, 12ml of 3-methylheptanol, and 0.1g AlCl3 were refluxed for a half hour. The near clear solution (some yellow impureties in the
alcohol) turned to a yellow Orange. The contents were allowed to cool to below a boil. The solution cleared and color was lost. Then 50ml of the
contents were added to a 100ml beaker along with 16ml 2-methylheptanol and allowed to cool for 3 hours. Prior to cooling the contents were quite
couldy. After cooling 4 layers formed, a very thin light yellow layer then a thin orange brown layer, followed by a colorless cloudy layer ~40ml and
a clear colorless layer ~20ml at the bottom. The top two layers were removed with a glass eyedropper. A small amount of CuCl2 solution was added to
make distinction between the two layers easy and the layers were separated. The upper (organic layer?) Took on a very light green-yellow while the
lower (aqueous?) Layer held most of the CuCl2 and was a blue-green. The organic layer obtained reacts violently with aluminium and is sustained after
slight warming to ~35 C. In my first test of about 1ml in a test tube the contents shot out across my fume hood, in the second test (to confirm the
first) about .25 ml was used and significantly less heating the contents climbed half way up the test tube and continued to react for a few mins
before settling down to a dark gray mixture with unreacted Al at the bottom. The organic layer refused to burn as did post reaction with aluminum
but left behind a red-gray to white residue.
What is it? It's not what I tried to make (1-chloro-3-methyl-heptane), is it
[Edited on 2-21-2012 by AirCowPeaCock]
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