Dehydration of Cyclohexanol

Procedure

    Take to the reagent area:

            Cork ring     50 mL RBF    10 mL grad. Cyl.

   Add 0.06 mole (~ 6.2mL) of Cyclohexanol to the 50-mL round-bottomed flask.

  Add 2 mL of phosphoric acid and 30 drops of sulfuric acid to the flask, and swirl the flask to

  thoroughly mix its contents.

   Add 2 or 3 boiling chips and assemble the flask for fractional distillation.  Use a 50-mL

    Erlenmeyer flask as your receiver.

   Heat the reaction mixture and collect all distillates, keeping the head temperature BELOW

   90^oC.  (If not heated too strongly the reaction temperature remains below 80^oC for most of

   the reaction period).

   When no more distillate is observed coming from the condenser, discontinue heating.

   Transfer the distillate to a test tube, add 1-2 mL of saturated sodium chloride solution, and

  shake the corked test tube well and allow the layers to separate.

  Remove the AQUEOUS portion using a disposable pipet .

 Transfer the ORGANIC layer to a dry 50-mL Erlenmeyer flask and add 1-2 gm.

anhydrous sodium sulfate.  Occasionally swirl the flask for the next two minutes.

After cooling, pour the contents of the still pot down the sink in your hood, followed by lots of water.  Rinse and clean the flask in your hood sink as well (this minimizes the amount of alkene getting into the lab itself).

Test the distillate for unsaturation using bromine in carbon tetrachloride and the Baeyer Test.