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Topic: Electrolysis of alkali metal salts in alcohol  (Read 2686 times)

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Offline horse

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Electrolysis of alkali metal salts in alcohol
« on: February 19, 2017, 03:33:36 PM »
I haven't tried this (yet) as I don't have any graphite electrodes, but I'm gonna start experimenting soon.

What would you anticipate happening? My assumption is that Cl2 will be released, then the alkali metal will react with the alcohol forming a metal alkoxide. Thats what I hope would happen at least as that would be an easy way to produce metal alkoxide salts. I don't know how well the various alcohols can solvate NaCl.

Offline AWK

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Offline Arkcon

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Re: Electrolysis of alkali metal salts in alcohol
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2017, 05:59:17 PM »
I don't know how well the various alcohols can solvate NaCl.

You can use wikipedia to look those up.  The answer is: not very.

Quote
I haven't tried this (yet) as I don't have any graphite electrodes, but I'm gonna start experimenting soon.

What would you anticipate happening? My assumption is that Cl2 will be released, then the alkali metal will react with the alcohol forming a metal alkoxide. Thats what I hope would happen at least as that would be an easy way to produce metal alkoxide salts.

Does a solution of alcohol conduct electricity?  Do solutes ionize in alcohol solution?

Combine those answers into a conclusion, for us please.
Hey, I'm not judging.  I just like to shoot straight.  I'm a man of science.

Offline AWK

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Re: Electrolysis of alkali metal salts in alcohol
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2017, 06:49:49 PM »
Some salts (eg: KI, CaCl2), but not NaCl, are soluble in anhydrous ethanol and conduct electric current. Hence its electrolysis in alcohol seems to be possible.
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