Since acetamide is needed in Hoffmann synthesis of methylamine, I decided to collect all possible syntheses.
I. Acetamide from Acetyl chloride
In test tube put 2 mL of conc. NH3 solution and put it into ice-water bath. Drop by drop add 1 mL acetyl chloride. Add acetyl chloride slowly, so the white fumes that appear don't escape from the test tube. If precipitate does not form add some ether or ether/methanol mixture.
II. Acetamide from Acetanhydride
Put 2 mL of conc. NH3 solution into test tube and put it in ice-water bath. Drop by drop add 1 mL of Acetanhydride. In this case white fumes don't appear. To this mixture add ether/methanol mixture until precipitate forms.
III. Acetamide from Ethyl acetate
Put 2 mL of conc. NH3 solution and 1 mL Ethyl acetate into test tube and shake it. When you can see only one layer add ether or ether/methanol mixture until precipitate forms.
First 2 synthesis I performed by myself. The third one was taken from all kind of sources and improved.
Give me some chemicals and I'll give you pleasure
And the yields from the various methods? For the first two, I suspect there are hydrolysis losses from reaction of the acetylation agents with water.
Bubbling NH3 in the reagent should not provoke losses by hydrolisis, but maybe quite dangerous, doesn't it?
:)
Not with a suck-back trap for the NH3 gas, and dilution of the acetylation reagent in an inert solvent.
Ammonium acetate and heat. Why making it more complicated and expensive than it really is.
This is good info, Swim has a question say you already have plenty of acetamide and would like to rearange it to MeAm gas and their must be a better way than what strike describes in TSII. I am interested in in pratice technique not theroy. Swim uses the decompisition of hexamine mostly because it is so easy.
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Hum did you get that?