Today something so extremely funny happened in SWIM's bedroom that he and his family are still in tears - so hard they laughed
.
Please, read it till the end - HELP needed - and i promise i'll bee as laconic as possible.
A brief preface -
ChemTrip of HyperLab reported only 30% yield in an attempt to make MeI via KI/H3PO4 in methanol. Considering that SWIM's own attempt to make MeBr as described in .../nitroalkane.html for ethyl bromide produced a yield even more miserable, and to make MeCl - nothing at all, it was concluded that MeOH was significantly less basic than higher alcohols and generally unsuitable for such preparations. Of course, the classical way (with red P) was out of question.
So...
40 ml MeOH + 2,3 gr (double xcess) tech. Al grit + 12,5 g I
2 in a 100 ml flask ------> the rxn is vigorous, spit into the condenser, but was easily subdued by immersion into ice water. The mixtr turns greenish, then colorless, w/black solids (probably Si from aluminium) and changes consistency to almost a gel, esp. when cooled. It was hoped that AlI3 would methanolyse to Al(OH)3 and MeI, but that didn't happen, at least at RT.
The mixtr sat in the freezer for 2 days - SWIM had no time for chemistry.
Then 10,2 ml approx. 82% HMeSO4 (the rest MeOH - made from 50 ml MEOH + 50 ml 92% H2SO4 + 24 g Na2SO4) was chilled and added in.
SWIM hoped that the rxn would go as follows:
4 Al + 3 I
2 + 6HMeSO
4 ----> 6MeI + 2Al
2(SO
4)
3 + 3 H
2But.......................................
As soon as gentle heating under reflux was started, at ~55 C bath temp , drops of MeI quickly dripping from the condenser beecame apparent - as well as a
pronounced production of H2S!!!.
Reflux was continued for as long as 2 hrs, then SWIM decided he'd had it. He distilled of all that distilled beelow 55 C - about 1,5 mls
- and, note -
it was his utter impression that there was significantly more MeI in the mixture in the beginning (judging by reflux/distillation rate).
The stench of H
2S was still very bad, no matter how efficient swim's draught was, so he decided to pour some alkali into the mixtr bee4 throwing it away. But when he did it -
- the mixtr began to bubble (duh...) and
an incredibly foul stench developed so quickly that bee4 SWIM flushed it down the drain the whole apartment stinked so badly that... uh.... well, you know.
The smell really lingers.
So... could anyone tell him what the fuck happened??? Antoncho is not asking what to do - just how come there was a production of hydrogene sulfide?? What is the possible mechanism beehind that and how that can bee avoided???
Also - what, would you suggest that smell was? (Well, Antoncho guesses it can bee nothing else than dimethylsulfide, right? Formed from H2S and MeI, right?)
Antoncho