chloral from ethanol and mg(ocl)2 ?

[xxxxx]

when ethanol is reacted with sodium hypochlorite chloral (ccl3cho) is an intermediate reaction product. then the presence of the ions na+ oh- in the reaction mixture break the molecule in half to form chloroform and sodium formate. i was wondering if using magnesium hypochlorite which would form insoluable magnesium oxide would preserve the chloral.

[ning]

I bet if you used an organic chlorinating agent, something like TCCA, either alone, or in conjunction with a mild buffering agent like NaOAc or borax (!!), it would not break the chloral. Then, problem solved.


Mind you, chloroform and sodium formate are very handy to have around also....

Has anyone tried this buffered chlorination reaction?