4-Tert-Butylcyclohexanone Lab Report

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In this lab 4-tert-butylcyclohexanone is reduced by sodium borohydride (NaBH4) to produce the cis and trans isomers of 4-tert-butylcyclohexanol. Since the starting material is a ketone, NaBH4 is strong enough to perform a reduction and lithium aluminum hydride is not needed. NaBH4 can attack the carbonyl group at an equatorial (cis) or axial (trans) position, making this reaction stereoselective. After the ketone is reduced by the metal-hydride, hydrochloric acid adds a proton to the negatively charged oxygen to make a hydroxyl group. The trans isomer is more abundant than the cis based on the results found in the experiment and the fact that the trans isomer is more stable; due to having the largest functional groups in equatorial positions. …show more content…

While the solution is being stirred, an air condenser is attached to the vial and 12.2 mg of NaBH4 is added in 3 portions through the condenser. The condenser is capped with a drying tube containing calcium chloride and cotton. After thirty minutes a TLC analysis is taken of the reaction to see how many compounds are present. Three compounds were identified on the TLC meaning that the reaction did not go to completion and the mixture was placed back on a hot plate to react further for ten minutes longer. The TLC showed the starting product 4-tert-butylcyclohexanone and the cis-/trans- forms of 4-tert-butylcyclohexanol; the cis isomer is more polar and will appear above the trans …show more content…

Since, the expected weight was 50.63 mg the percent yield is 59.3%. A TLC was conducted on this final product and a faint spot of 4-tert-butylcyclohexanone still appeared in lane 3 of the plate; meaning the reaction did not fully go to completion. The Rf values were 0.444, 0.156, and 0.111, where the lowest value is the trans isomer and the highest value is the ketone. This affected the IR spectrum conducted by having a carbonyl group peak at 1715 cm-1 which should not be present if all the product was 4-tert-butylcyclohexanol. However, the IR spectrum still showed peaks at 3292 cm-1 (hydroxyl group), 2939 cm-1 (sp2 carbon bonded to hydrogen) and 2859 cm-1 (sp3 carbon bonded to hydrogen) which support the presence of the alcohol. The accepted melting point of 4-tert-butylcyclohexanol is in the range of 62 – 70˙C (Lab Manual). The two melting point measurements using the Mel-Temp® machine gave ranges of 57 – 61˙C and 58 – 62˙C, which is not exact due to some 4-tert-butylcyclohexanone being present that has a low melting point of around 47 – 50˙C

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