[roflmao]

hey smart guys, heres one for you...

how do u separate the methylamine group from the cyclohexane group of 1-methylpyridine???  the process involves HCl, NaOH, then a diethyl ether.

i know this relates to the purification of amines because it also uses the exact same reagents in the same order, but i only know the laboratory procedure.  anyone know the actual mechanism???

the purification of amines, roughly is:

R3N:  ---(1) remove H2O layer/(2) add dilute HCl--->  R3NHCl  ---(1) remove ether phase, (2) add NaOH, (3) add fresh ether--->  R3N: (pure)


many thanks.

[sjb]

1-methylpyridine does not have either a cyclohexane ring, or a methylamine group per se - not to mention 1-methylpyridine does not exist as such, so I'm a bit confused as to what you want to do here.

It could be simple acid wash, to protonate and make more polar / aqueous soluble, then base to bring it back into an organic solvent, but "1-methylpyridine" (the pyridinium salt?) is, I'd think, fairly soluble in water in it's own right, so I'm not sure you'd get good separation.

S