SWIM has been trying to isomerize for about the last 3 weeks... was trying Bandil's method stated above. made sure to let the water all boil out before slapping on the condenser, then tried refluxing at atm pressure for ~10hrs. Well, the other day, SWIM's high-quality proper lab thermometer with range up to ~300 finally shows up. Apparantly, the whole set-up has probably never gotten hot enough in all the isomerization attempts. So today SWIM tried a new isomerization, same set up as before, except covered the oil bath and flask and base of the condenser with foil, then left for about 7 hours, since it apparantly takes a good couple hours for the oil bath to get to a near acceptable temp. SWIM came back and turned the heat off, after determining the temp was now over 250 C. Then had to leave again. Will have to deal with the gooey mess tomarrow. Is it normal to have gloppy looking end product? (almost like saponification product)
Also, is it possible that SWIM's small laboratory stirrer/hotplate is just not powerful enough? Last question: SWIM heard that running cool (not cold)water through the condenser is not a wise choice here, due to breakage risk. Is this really true? Thought that lab glass was made to handle this kind of stuff.
