[atomicforce412]

We're doing a project in chemistry where we have to identify an organic compound by performing a variety of tests upon it. We were given a mass spec, and after taking the IR-spec and doing some solubility tests, I determined the compound to be p-anisidine, or 4-methoxy-benzenamine. (molecular structure and other stuff can be found here http://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?Name=p-anisidine&Units=SI)

Now, we were also told to justify why we think the compound is what it is, so we've been doing as many tests as possible so that our justification is as complete as can be.
We just did a chromic acid test (we added ~1mL acetone into a test tube, added some crystals of p-anisidine, swirled, and added 1 drop of chromic acid) and it came out positive. However, I can't understand how this happened? How does chromic acid oxidize p-anisidine (C7H9NO)? What is the reaction and how/why does it happen?


Or did we just mess up the test? 

Thanks in advance

[sjb]

We just did a chromic acid test (we added ~1mL acetone into a test tube, added some crystals of p-anisidine, swirled, and added 1 drop of chromic acid) and it came out positive. However, I can't understand how this happened? How does chromic acid oxidize p-anisidine (C7H9NO)? What is the reaction and how/why does it happen?

Chromic acid oxidizes some anilines up to the quinone see http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aniline&oldid=130860797>

Or did we just mess up the test? 

Thanks in advance

Well, did you repeat it several times to make sure? Seriously, you may have done, but unless you've repeated several times with differing results each time this is fairly unlikely. Some of the best scientific results out there are often the result of serendipity etc.

S

[atomicforce412]

Thanks for the help. What would the reaction be? (I.e., the balanced equation)