Now there are many ways to make this necessary and required lewis acid catalyst, the most promising is by passing chlorine gas into molten aluminium, or though you can also pump HCI gas into a solution of aluminium suspended in a particular solvent. I have no experience with the later, the first however, i do plan to engage in sometime soon, when i will be needing some anhydrous AlCl3, what are your methods and experiences in preparing this catalyst, and what way's would you recommend??

The material is of course a very vital part of the reaction between benzene and chloroacetone, known as friedel-crafts, which results in a very yummy amount of P2P, given the simplicity of the reaction. The aluminium chloride is destroyed in the process, but the benzene can easily be recovered and fed back through the reaction. The chloroacetone should react, all of it.

Thanks.
- AmphChem.

Apologies, i searched this part of the forum, and did not come across any thread on Aluminum Chloride, you may delete this thread if you so desire brother, in the interests of keeping the forum clean. I just though i would start this thread to be sure.

Have you ever had experience in bubbling chlorine gas through molten aluminum? I Am going to carry out this procedure soon, and i will see what results i get. They should be promising.

Thanks.
- AmphChem.

But given enough time to cool, the vapours will form as a solid on the bottom of the receiving flask yeah?? I Mean, if you can contain the reaction for long enough, it should not be a problem. I Know that the aluminium doesn't have to be molten as such, just hot. Red hot, blow torch hot.

I Mean you can always buy aluminium chloride, i should have done that when i had the chance, i'll have to find another supplier if i need some though. If making it doesn't work.

Thanks.
- AmphChem.

Ha Ha, well I'll give it a shot anyway, hopefully i won't kill myself, lol. If i succeed i will post results and corresponding yield. I Hope i succeed anyway. Maybe some time next week.

Thanks.
- AmphChem.

Back on the issue of the manufacture of this vital compound. It is actually something i feel is very important. Furthermore, it is difficult to obtain this compound from chemical suppliers. I like your idea of the steel crucible idea. You see as far as i am aware chemical plants manufacture anhydrous aluminum chloride by indeed bubbling chlorine gas into molten aluminum. This is suppose to create a very high purity product. And the yield seems almost 100%. I Think i'm going to have to manufacture such a device. Chlorine gas and aluminum metal are impossible to control and extremely plentiful. If we can make a device to manufacture this out of stainless steel, then we could potentially have an unlimited supply of anhydrous aluminum chloride. What do you say guys? Willing to give it a try? I Myself will! I Mean, if you can get aluminum metal into a molten state. Then just bubble chlorine through it, and watch the resulting crystals form. And you have nice pure Anhydrous Aluminum chloride crystals.

Ahh thanks lugh.. Your a genius.. Have you ever done this?? I Might try it myself very soon.. What would be the best setup? What is the exact temperature the foil needs to be heated to? Red hot heating point? I Mean. It would be difficult to do this in a glass erlenmeyer flask for instance.. yeah? Unless you blow torch the aluminum and drop it in a flask with a metal-fork then seal it and quickly pump chlorine gas into it... Or maybe just a stainless steel chamber. I'm not sure what would be the best setup. But it sounds like a plan stan. I'll have to get it up and running soon. And i'll post pics and results too.. So what do you say. Best chamber construction?

Obviously the construction of the heating mantle would be the most basic thing.. And at that temperature i assume it requires, you'd require a strong heat source.

Some success was noted using a small amount of amalgamated aluminum in solvent with Cl₂ feed into it. The experiments where never brought to conclusion but it was determined to warrent further investigation .... which I just never did.

Hmmmm interesting.. Do you think graphite powder would work as a suitable substitute though for aluminum chloride? In the Friedels-Craft-Alkylation of benzene with chloroacetone? Graphite powder would no doubt be easy to obtain i should assume. There are so many threads here running the ranks for friedel-crafts Alkylation of benzene to P2P

I Should summarize them. I Myself am trying to of course. Once i get my equipment under way and everything else i will attempt these reactions, just have to get a few thing into place first. Namely obtaining the benzene, which is easy, but anyways, all of that kind of stuff you know. I Do plan to make a giant document summarizing all of the friedel-crafts or just generalized Alkylation methods of benzene to P2P. All more or less involving acetone in some way. Beautiful chemistry really, just beautiful.

Look at the aluminum chloride patents here:

https://www.hyperlab.info/inv/index.php?s=309f6d356ac3dee6581d17331752be2e&act=ST&f=17&t=28761&st=0&#entry501956

? ??!

Graphite powder can be bought, your you could use carbon welding rods, which could easily be ground down with out any difficulty in a ball mill. Might need to be purified from glues, clay, etc but likley this wouldn't interfere much as I doubt there is very much at all.

What might be interesting is if one could possibly "activate" the graphite by using NaOH or a strong acid? Probably not likely, but activated carbon.. and be made more active in a similiar way -- I am just not sure of the mechanism.