>Swim was wondering if it would be possible to rearrange an epoxide to a ketone without first isolating the epoxide.
Very possible, I would think.
>this is how swim thought it might go.
Mix alkene and small ammount of EtOH begin stirring.
in another vessel the buffered oxone solution oxone solution is prepared.
Waiting until the popping and fizzing is over is best to minimize the "volcano effect".
>The oxone solution is then added to the stirring alkene through a filter funnel. Swim thinks this will improve stirability. Any ways.
To remove what? The precipitation of potassium bisulfate forms when the alcohol is added. In your scheme what will be added is water and dissolved oxone. This step seems pointless unless you have added the alcohol to a water/oxone mixture whereby the potassium bisulfate will have already precipitated (then it can possibly be filtered to advantage).
>When the rxn is completed the Ph would be checked and adjusted to 7 as needed.
For epoxidation, yes.
>Now could swim calculate a 15%sulferic acid solution by the ammount of h2O used in the epoxidation and add 98% directly to the post rxn mix. begin heating rigged for distillation. collecting the etoh as the epoxide gets rearranged.
A prudent approach is to make sure all of the oxone is spent. If the solution was buffered from the get-go, this shouldn't be a problem. Acidifying the solution with sulfuric acid will neutralize the bicarbonate yielding a mixture of potassium and sodium bisulfate and sulfate salts in molar proportions that will have to be calculated.
Also, it is a myth that spent oxone/alcohol/various acid sulfate salts/epoxide or glycol mixtures will explode if distilled at atmospheric pressure.
>Since there are only sulfate salts in the peracid solution any way then why bother to isolate the epoxide at all.
My view exactly.
>Can anyone think of why this would not work?
I think it will.
>Would it be better to first distill off the alcohol then rig for reflux.
Probably. The alcohol would take forever to distill at atmospheric pressure. Utilizing vac distillation will remove the alcohol faster to get the solution to a more "epoxide rearrangement-friendly" state in that there will be a greater proportion of acid solution to alcohol solvent.
>Swim has noticed that when alcohol is not present or in low concentration, ketone/epoxide can be detected escaping through the air condensor. which leads swim to another question after said isomerization took place could the rxn first be neutralized with bicarb then the ketone steam distilled out. Can MdP2P be steam distilled?
I have read that ketones can be steam distilled out of such aqueous acid solutions. About MD-P2P, I have never seen an example given in the literature but I'm sure there is one somewhere.
>As a side note to that swim wanted to do the rearrangement in a semi-open top vessel would ketone/epoxide be lost with escaping steam.
Use of a reflux might be best. Theorectically speaking, however, yes, quite possibly ketone could be escaping with the steam. If no reflux is to be used, then stirring with a water bath or other suitable source of heat below the bp of the water/acid/alcohol mixture may be in order.