Work-up - DMSO Al/Hg

[Dr_Sister]

for reasons she won't get into now, yer sistah thought dmso might be an appropriate solvent for a Al/Hg reduction she's been visualizing. However, being unfamiliar with that solvents properties, she is unsure how to work-it up. The rxn product is a molecule that is very heat intolerant, so stripping off the dmso under vac is not the 1st avenue she wants to explore. A previoous rxn's product was destroyed in an attempt to steam distill the hydroxylamine out of the dmso.(dumb, i know)

come on make yer sistah smile. help!
7.10.01

[Rhodium]

I would dilute the DMSO with large amounts of water (3-5x the DMSO volume), and after basifying, extracting the solution with many portions of DCM (if you are really serious, test each extraction with TLC for presence of your product, and when it is no longer visible, stop the extraction.

[Dr_Sister]

 thanks
7.10.01

[hest]

you might reduce the DMSO, happens with LiALH4. And dimethylsulphide is not a nice smell to produce

[Dr_Sister]

that wouldn't be a pungent rotten vegetable smell would it?
7.10.01

[Rhodium]

That or worse.

[Dr_Sister]

LOL, this has got to go down as the 1st honest to goodeness fuck-up of 2002, it smells like hell, and with a BP of 38 its no wonder. The MSDS describes the odor as: STENCH hahahahah. I couldn't figure out what the fuck was causing that smell, was thinking more along the lines of decomposed product. I guess that pretty much sums it up for DMSO Al/Hg. The whole idea was to avoid the stink of thf, hahahahhah what a joke. the hotter the rxn got the more it stunk to christ, almost as bad as methylamine just different.

yer sister has tears streaming down her face
7.10.01