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Specialty Chemistry Forums => Citizen Chemist => Topic started by: lupy on July 15, 2005, 06:00:08 AM

Title: Benzaldehyde
Post by: lupy on July 15, 2005, 06:00:08 AM
Im interested in the Chemiluminescence of Lophine. I found a website describing its synthesis from benzaldehyde and ammonium hydroxide. All i have to do is get my hands on a cheap source of benzaldehyde. I know its used in immitation almond essense but its mixed with other things. Any ideas?

lupy
Title: Re:Benzaldehyde
Post by: limpet chicken on July 15, 2005, 09:52:37 AM
Imitation almost essence isn't a very good way to get benzaldehyde, a few bees have tried, there was a crap yield reported just recently on that.

You could try oxidation of benzoic acid to the aldehyde with mild oxidising agents, maybe, although I am not sure, NaOCl or perhaps dichromate.

Just curious about lophine, are you referring to lophophine, 3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyphenethylamine? one of the tetrahydroisoquinolines found in peyote?
or am I way off the mark here :P
Title: Re:Benzaldehyde
Post by: Donaldson Tan on July 15, 2005, 10:52:38 AM
oxidation of benzaldehyde yields benzoic acid, not the other way round.

alternatively, try friedel-craft catalysis. Reflux CHOCl, AlCl3 and benzene together to yield benzaldehyde
Title: Re:Benzaldehyde
Post by: AWK on July 15, 2005, 11:00:10 AM
Quote
You could try oxidation of benzoic acid to the aldehyde with mild oxidising agents, maybe, although I am not sure, NaOCl or perhaps dichromate.
You mean oxidation of toluene, I do hope !?.
Title: Re:Benzaldehyde
Post by: movies on July 15, 2005, 12:15:54 PM
alternatively, try friedel-craft catalysis. Reflux CHOCl, AlCl3 and benzene together to yield benzaldehyde

This reaction won't work.  CHOCl is too unstable to isolate or use in Freidel-Crafts chemistry.
Title: Re:Benzaldehyde
Post by: lupy on July 15, 2005, 01:33:32 PM
lol lophine as in 2:4:5-triphenyliminazole. I dont want to make be benzaldehyde, i want to buy it. Just woundering where from. Is it sold as a solvent?

http://www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2003-08-08/chem/body.html

lupy
Title: Re:Benzaldehyde
Post by: limpet chicken on July 15, 2005, 01:54:59 PM
You could look on ebay, they have benz sometimes, although it is bloody expensive, and personally, I wouldn't order it, it is somewhat watched, my bad earler, I did indeed mean toluene.

Benzaldehyde is pretty watched actually, as it is used in biosynthesis of L-PAC, by fermentation of benz with yeast, L-PAC is used for biosynthesis of ephedrine by some of the more high-tech cooks 8)
Title: Re:Benzaldehyde
Post by: limpet chicken on July 16, 2005, 11:13:15 AM
If you want a quick and easy synthesis of benzaldehyde, heat phenylalanine with 5N NaOH solution for 5 hours, at 110 C, it then decomposes, yielding benzaldehyde.

About as quick and easy as one can get, aspartame might be a good starting point for cheap as hell phenylalanine ;)
Title: Re:Benzaldehyde
Post by: lupy on July 19, 2005, 03:22:27 AM
110 C? so a water bath is not hot enough?..5 hours is along time to heat something without a controlled heat source (i dont have a filament heater with thermostat, only a water bath). Artifical sweetners in stores generally only have a few % aspartame in them that ive seen. A health food store said they could order in phenylalanine for me but its expensive. :o


lupy
Title: Re:Benzaldehyde
Post by: limpet chicken on July 19, 2005, 01:38:54 PM
You can buy big jars, like coffee jar size, of powdered sweetener, I cant remember which brand, but something like nutrasweet, contains just apartame.

Any supermarket carries those big jars of inedible crap ;)

Oil bath perhaps?
Title: Re:Benzaldehyde
Post by: movies on July 19, 2005, 03:48:32 PM
Equal/NutraSweet is the one that uses Aspartame.  They add a lot of filler too though, mostly maltodextrose and dextrose, I think.  Just check the label.

I'm not aware of any commercial sweetner that is pure Aspartame.  The stuff is like 200 times sweeter than sugar (sucrose) so you need to have it "diluted" a little so you don't accidentally over-sweeten your coffee or something.