Sodium Borohydride Lab Report

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The purpose of this lab was to determine the mechanisms of reactions; what exactly occurs during a reaction, how to perform a recrystallization, and understanding the effects of stereoselectivity; certain stereoisomers will be sterically favored over others. Sodium borohydride is added to a solution containing benzil and ethanol to completely reduce benzil to hydrobezoin. Borohydride is a very strong reducing agent so an ice bath is used to control the rate of the reduction and minimize the heat produced by the reaction. Borohydride is also added in thirds for this same reason. The first mechanism in the introduction shows exactly how this reaction occurs. A TLC plate is used to see if all the benzyl in the solution has reacted to form …show more content…

As the solution cools down, its solubility will begin to decrease. this will result in the recrystallization of hydrobenzoin. the crystals are filtered to lose any impurities and to dry the crystals. A TLC is conducted to test the polarity of the final product which should be the same as the first TLC. The two diastereomeric products that are made do not separate well by TLC. In order to see the two isomers, it is necessary to convert the products into derivatives. To more easily identify the stereoisomers produced in the reduction of benzil, hydrobenzoin is converted to acetonide by reacting with 2-methoxypropene and acid. The cis and trans isomers of these derivatives have different Rf values on TLC making it possible to identify the stereoisomers that have been prepared. The solution is compared with syn and anti acetonide on two different TLC plates. Due to stereoselectivity, one stereoisomer will be the major product and will be favored over the other. TLC's will show which stereoismer was the major product by lining up its spot with one of the reference acetonide spots. The minor product will be too faint to read and therefore won't be

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