NileRed if you haven't got a thermocouple yet I think I have some watlow controllers and perhaps the thermocouple and cable somewhere around here I know I got to that I use personally I think I have some extras I'll start looking
I'm always amazed how chemistry can be so simple and so tricky at the same time, after all you only needed to heat the Salicylic acid... But it made a 17 minutes vid of an excellent quality !
Hello Doug. I am very interested in your home lab. I wish to build one at home for my own purposes. I am an organic chemist. Would it be possible for you to make us a video where you go over some of the finer points about your lab?
Another awesome video Doug! I have a question about your heating mantle -- Do you think your mantle could get hot enough to perform a distillation of sulfuric acid? I ask after watching NurdRages video on his home made mantle and sulfuric acid distillation. If it could get hot enough I'd love to know the details on your mantle, cost, wattage etc. Cheers!
When you heat the acid, as you saw, it not only decomposes, but partially sublimates as well, so you have basically got a distillate which is a mixture (possibly some kind of azeotrope, I don't know right now) of phenol and the acid. What you need to do is to set up a refluxing apparatus with a long air condenser or passive Liebig one (like you did, with water boiling inside) and let it churn for few hours. It will decompose to completion. Then you distill it slowly, using an air condenser. It won't clog, and its surface is easily accessible for the hot air gun if the mass starts to solidify too much. Anyway, it's really good that you do these videos. Cheers.
If water is slowing the phenol from solidifying, couldn't you put some water in with the salicylic acid to keep things moving and not solidifying en route in the column? Or if not that introduce some steam in the column?
If you wrap the condenser with the inlet so it warms up it'll almost boil the water in it yours is a little bit wider than mine so it might not boil it but mine just barely bubbles it so I just fill it once and leave it and it keeps the whole system perfectly clear
Nice vid! But are you sure it is a good idea to put the phenol in a bottle container (especially with such a small opening)? getting it out will be a pain again
I believe you can do this in the presence of alkali to help the decarboxylation. This will produce the alkali carbonate and the phenol, similar to the process to make benzene from benzoic acid
+TheGinginator14 That doesn't work. Although I've not posted any videos in years, this is my procedure writeup from sciencemadness. Copper catalyst doesn't work (unless you add quinoline/pyridine) and alkali would make a black tarry mess since phenol is an acid and can be deprotonated.
Both. It's a regional thing but the more accepted pronunciation is "feen-awl" because the "awl" sound is used in other alcohols like methanol, ethanol, etc.
how can i get the same thermometer setup? And what kind of gloves are you using? Would using a respirator even make any sense during these distillations, like the nitric acid video?
I saw one of your video were you have lot of sulfur, i was wondering if one day you will test the Willgerodt variant where styrene/sulfur/morpholine is used
I used to be a phenolic resin chemist and did phenol distillation daily. We always distilled without water circulating through the condensor. Phenol solidifies, blocks the apparatus, and blows. Pheol can be deadly. They trained us that the size of a quarter skin exposure could be deadly.
Can you tell me, if it is possible to separate phenol from salicylic acid properly by a simple distillation? The issue here is that salicylic acid obviously does sublimate at the boiling-temperature of phenol, that the distillate is probably contaminated by salicylic acid. Do you have an idea to dehydrate hydrous phenol solutions (carbolic acid)? kind regards
+196Stefan2 +196Stefan2 If you are set on distillation try a second run of decarboxylation. Heat gun the sublimed material if it starts to appear. Or try heated filtration. Phenol melts at 105F and salicylic acid at 318F. If salicylic acid stays solid and out of solution may be able to filter it. Words of warning. Phenol is deadly. Don't try this at home. Only do this with proper safety equipment in a proper laboratory facility. Look up the MSDS on phenol and heed it's instructions. Or at sublimation try decanting the phenol.
Since you work with toluene, xylene, and methyl ethyl ketone. Can u let me know how dangerous they are? Do you need to wear a respirator, is it toxic, what do u do if it gets on ur skin, what do u do if you inhale a bit of it, Etc.
The chemistry Nerd Those solvents aren't very toxic. If you spill some on you, worst thing that'll happen is dry skin. Inhaling any organic solvent in excessive amounts is obviously not healthy, and flammability is their main hazard.
+Diego Crescente probably but it would require another 2 steps (protection and deprotection). Phenol is such a cheap compound that if you really need it you should just buy it. This is a nice demonstration for small quantities. Ciao
doug i have an interesting question i just bought a distillation apparatus and now i dont know a solvent that can remove avry thing and when i distill alcholol it will be safe to drink CAN SOMEBODY REPLY TO ME AND TELL ME SOME SOLVENT
Okay so I plan on performing TLC and traditional column chromatography and I need help. gravity isn't a strong enough force to elute obviously and I don't have a license or funds to get a 5ft nitrogen/O2 tank, and I was thinking an air compressor but those are also expensive. does anyone have any experience with at home chromotography workup? please let me know
No, when something is ACTUALLY called/pronounced a certain way - you're meant to read it the same way - it's not a dialect thing, it's you saying it wrong.
+Mike Oxlong we don't want him to be arrested now would we. synthesising lysergic acid is extremely hard. you might be better off extracting lysergamides from hawaiian baby woodrose seeds. im not sure though
