electrolytic reduction of nitrostyrene

[Grignard]

Electrolytic reduction of phenyl-2-nitropropene
I just follow the procedure listed in the Us patent and used latex as a membrane. The colour in the cathode compartment changed to wery deep purple.. Is this normal? Can i use 6M sulphuric acid in the anode compartment without any acetic acid or ethanol and must there be an equal volume in the cathode/anode?? The best material to use in the anode/cathode, i used Cu maybe Pb would work bether? I would be wery pleased if enyone have tryed this syntesis and would cher some experienses with me..  (sorry for my bad english)

[Bandil]

Could you provide us with a reference to the method you followed? I have never heard of latex being used as a membrane.

How much current could you pass through the membrane and at which voltage?

There are very few electrolytic bee's at the hive. Personally i would love to see some more experimentation being done on the field. But if you can provide the reference, it'll help a lot!

Regards
Bandil

[Grignard]

I probably used to litle amperes, but i used a 24V 0,5 A power suply. The latex was from a glove and it vorks vell. I have no references but i read a reduction of ephendrine to meth on rhodium and they used a condom, which is latex. US pat.no 1,879,003

[Bandil]

The purple/blue color could be the result of some hydrated copper ions which might have entered the solution. Did you see degradation of your cathode/anode plates?

What current density did you see at the cathode? The patent suggest 1/5 amp*cm^(-2)...

Also, how many fardays did you use per mole of subsrate? I really didn't think that latex was permeable for ions, but i might have been wrong. The writeup you are referring to are using lambgut condoms, which from natures side are permeable...

As a side note: does anyone know what the price approximately is for a divided cell comparment? It's really just plastic with some sort of fitting for the membrane, so i couldn't be that expensive...

Regards
Bandil

[Lilienthal]

I don't think the current through a latex membrane is high enough. Did you check the current (in A)?

[Osmium]

Generally speaking, what you usually want in such an electrolytic reaction is LOW voltage, and LOTS of Ampères. Excessive Volts only heat up your solution, it's the product of Ampères x Time (= numbers of electrons, measured in Faraday) that really counts.

[calcium]

Never tried electrolytic reactions myself, but the write-ups using condoms always use natural lamb condoms, not latex.
     Assuming all condoms to be latex could mislead someone into thinking that latex was a semi-permeable membrane and thereby suitable for use in a divided cell.

[Organ_Morgan]

A quack friend told me that latex surgical gloves absorb moisture from sweaty hands, making the latex more pliable and stick to the hands like a second skin (hence use in comdoms). Even wet latex can't be a very good conductor though.

[Grignard]

Thank to everybody, i could se some gas bubles at the anode and the Cu was degraded but the solution turn into deep red when i solvated the styrene? But Latex leads ions, i didn`t measured the amp. But i will try this again and post the results. A car battery charger should hold enough power i think...

I also got another qestion: Could propylamine be used instead of butyl and cycloheksylamine in the condensation of benzaldehyde and nitroethane?

[Bandil]

Propylamine might work. Methylamine gives excellent yeilds, so i dont see why propyl shouldn't

Regards
Bandil

[Rhodium]

Propylamine has a rather low boiling point, so it might evaporate if you aren't running the reaction at RT in a tightly stoppered flask.

[Grignard]

[Grignard]

Propylamine works ok.. but the reaction is very eksoterm. And the time of the reaction is shorter..
Anyone that have done an Na-Hg reduction? Is it enough to mix the nitrostyrene with cons aceticacid and mix in the Na-Hg? How many % Na in the amalgam works best?