2-Methylcyclohmay Essay

Using the Hickman still apparatus for the dehydration process was extremely effective in synthesizing alcohols to alkenes. In this particular experiment, 2-Methylcyclohexanol reacted with H3PO4, an acidic catalyst to form one of three the following products: Methylenecyclohexane, 3-Methylcyclohexene, and 1-Methylcyclohexene. The reaction mixture contained approximately ⅓ Drierite, 0.75 mL of 2-Methylcyclohexanol, 1 mL of H3PO4 and a heating source to place the bottom portion of the Hickman still into. After placing the apparatus into the warm sand bath, the reaction took nearly fifteen to twenty minutes just to obtain about fifteen drops. During the reaction, the solutions remained colorless and condensation was produced. The Drierite acted as an absorbent for the water in the 85% phosphoric acid and the water that was released during the dehydration process. This allowed for the unidentified product to be easily pipetted out with little presence of water. After obtaining the

There, the dehydration process was successful. Instead, one of the three products, Methylenecyclohexane, 3-Methylcyclohexene, or 1-Methylcyclohexene, was able to form. The E1 mechanism allows for this reaction to for all three products under thermodynamic conditions. The phosphoric acid protonated the OH leaving group, thus turning it into water, a suitable leaving group. After the water molecule departed, the carbocation can form two of the three products, 1-methylcyclohexene and 3-methylcyclohexene, by the elimination of an H on an adjacent carbon. Alternatively, the carbocation can undergo rearrangement, forming a 3° carbocation. As a result, this more stable carbocation forms methylenecyclohexane and