Some time ago, swim enquired about the preparation of relative pure 2,5-dimethoxy-betanitropropene. I believe Rhodium suggested the use of a dean stark trap, if the nitroethane was not 100% anhydrous. According to the original preparation of the nitropropene:
A solution of 10.0 g 2,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde in 50 mL glacial acetic acid was treated with 6.8 g of nitroethane and 4.0 g of anhydrous ammonium acetate.
AFAIK a Dean stark trap works by separating the water that is distilled azetropically with the solvent. But, in this case the water is soluble in the solvent acetic acid. How could a DS trap be used here? Even with nitroethane as the solvent, it could not work, as the nitroethane has a weigth of 1.05 g/mL and would thus form the lower layer...
Any ideas on how to get this scheme to work?
regards
Bandil