[lukas.stib]

Hello chemists,

I tried to make a small scale octyl ether from octanol and h2so4. I produced the experiment in very small quantities to see if it would be effective. I mixed octanol and 96% sulphuric acid and heated the mixture. Temperature did not even reach 100°C and the mixture started to darken, turn red and finally looks like in the picture, it is dark red, and it smells unpleasantly pungent. I don't think it's octyl ether. I studied the theory of ether production, where the temperature must not reach 130°C, but it is effective for lower alcohols. Is that 1-Octene? Since octene has a boiling point of 121°C, and octyl ether has a boiling point 292°C, I think that ether will not form, will octene escape?


Thank you. Lukáš S.

[AWK]

The idea behind the synthesis of ethers from alcohols with the aid of sulfuric acid is to remove the ether from the reaction medium using its low boiling point. Di-n-octyl ether has a boiling point close to 300°C. This is not a suitable method for synthesizing this ether.

[lukas.stib]

OK, I thought it would be like this. But if the ether doesn't work, can I get the alkene in this case at the boiling point of octene (121°C)?

[AWK]

The synthesis of ethylene from ethanol requires a temperature close to 180°C. As is the case with octanol - I honestly don't know. You have to search the literature. But this synthesis does not involve mixing an acid with alcohol and heating it. The alcohol is slowly dropped into the hot sulfuric acid.

[lukas.stib]

OK, thank you very much.