Problem Set 8
Chapter 9, Alkynes
Due: November 9, 2009
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Friedrich Wöhler (1800-1884)
Connections Aluminum was once a precious metal although it was plentiful. The problem was how to remove it from its ore. Friedrich Wöhler, of urea synthesis fame, was able to accomplish this feat but by an impractical method. He was to meet a young chemist, Frank Jewett, recently arrived in Göttingen from Yale. Aware of the difficulty Wöhler had had and probably encouraged by Wöhler, Jewett, as a professor at Oberlin College, passed the problem onto Charles Martin Hall, a young student at the college. Hall solved the problem in his family garage. Thus was born Alcoa. At the same time in Spray, North Carolina, Thomas Willson, a Canadian, and American James Moorhead were unsuccessfully trying to refine aluminum using an electric arc. Unsuccessful in purifying aluminum, they sought calcium metal. Heating coal tar and lime in an electric furnace they obtained a brittle material that produced a combustible gas upon exposure to water. The material was not calcium nor was the gas hydrogen. The pair was calcium carbide and acetylene, the basis for Union Carbide (RIP).
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Charles Martin Hall (1863-1914)
1. Determine the structures A-K. Explain your
reasoning. Structure
A seems to be the center of action.
From its reactions it appears to be an alkyne. How do we
learn about its structure? Hydrogenation over a nickel
catalyst affords a straight chain alkane
B (normal chain). The heat of
hydrogenation is too much for a double bond. Using 3-hexyne
and 1-hexyne as models for internal and terminal alkynes in
the heats
of formation table,
the respective heats of the respective heats of
hydrogenation are -65.5 and -69.2 kcal/mol for the two
alkynes. The heat of formation of n-hexane is -39.9
kcal/mol, the product of hydrogenation. Clearly,
A looks like an internal alkyne. The
heat of combustion of this n-alkane gives a clue to the
chain length. Compute the heat of combustion of n-hexane
(C6H14) from the elements: 6 C (-94.05
kcal/mol) + 7H2 (-68.3 kcal/mol) = -1042
kcal/mol. The heat of combustion of n-hexane is -1042 - (-40
(ΔHfo)) = -1002 kcal/mol. This
value is less negative than -1317 kcal/mol by -315 kcal/mol.
The heat of combustion for an unstrained -CH2-
group is -157 kcal/mol. The value -315 kcal/mol accounts for
two more -CH2- groups. Thus,
B is n-octane. A is either 2-, 3- or
4-octyne. Na/NH3 reduction of
A gives E, which
contains an (E)-double bond. Ozonolysis of
E gives two products. This eliminate a
symmetrical alkyne for A and
symmetrical alkene for E.
K is acetaldehyde since it is the only
product of ozonolysis of 2-butene. Therefore,
J is hexanal (C6 straight
chain aldehyde). A is 2-octyne;
E is (E)-2-octene. Syn, 1,2-addition of
two hydroxyl groups to E gives
F [(2R*, 3R*)-2,3-octanediol]
as a racemate]. Lindlar reduction of
A affords C
[(Z)-2-octene]. C upon anti
addition of Br2 gives D,
(±)-(2R*, 3S*)-2,3-dibromooctane. NaNH2
isomerization of A forms I (1-octyne).
Hydration of the terminal alkyne I
gives only H, 2-octanone,
which also forms along with G
(3-octanone) upon hydration of A. |
![]() Note: There is another way to
find the number of carbons and hydrogens in B: |
1. Determine the structures A-K. Explain your reasoning. |
2. Provide reagents for the following reactions. Explain your reasoning.
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3. Design a synthesis of muscalure [(Z)-tricos-9-ene], the sex attractant of the common housefly, Musca domestica. As a source of carbon you have available 1-butyne, 1-pentyne and acetylene. You may use 1-pentyne and acetylene only once, i.e, only seven of the carbons may be provided by these two alkynes. All reagents are available. |
4. Estimate the heat of formation of 1-,2-,3- and 4-octyne. Equilibration of any one of these isomers with KOH at 200oC produces about as much 2-octyne as 3-octyne both of which individually exceed the amount of 1-octyne. However, the amount of 4-octyne is less than the amount of 2- or 3-octyne. Explain. [Hint: 2- and 3-octyne have an entropic advantage over 4-octyne.] |
5. Two bottles are found on a laboratory shelf labeled
"alkyne A" and "alkyne B". Hydrogenation of
A or B over a platinum catalyst gives the same
alkane C. Compound A reacts with H2
in the presence of Lindlar's catalyst to form D.
Compound D reacts with O3 to form a single
compound E, C3H6O. On the other
hand, compound B reacts with aq.
H2SO4 in the presence of
HgSO4 to give two ketones J and K.
Under the same conditions, A gives only J.
Compound B also
reacts with Na/NH3 to give F, which itself
reacts with Br2/H2O to give a pair of
constitutional isomers, G and H.. Treatment of
either G or H with aqueous NaOH gives the same
compound I, C6H12O, that is
also formed by the reaction of F with peracid. What
are the structures of A-K? Explain and illustrate.
[Note: G and H are not distinguished from
one another. Pay attention to stereochemistry.] |
6. The reaction on the right, which was conducted on three different cycloalkynes, was reported in 1985 by Suzanne Abrams and Angela Shaw of the National Research Council of Canada. Rather than use NaNH2 as your text suggests, they used the lithium salt of tetradeutero-1,3-diaminopropane in tetradeutero-1,3-diaminopropane as a solvent at room temperature. a) Name the alkynes used in these experiments. [Note:
Not surprisingly, cyclooctyne was found to be unstable to
the reaction conditions.] |
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