Crude Acetylferrocene Lab Report

The isolation and purity of crude acetylferrocene were tested through column chromatography. Crude acetylferrocene was observed to be an orange powder with a mass of 2.28 g. The percent yield was 124% ((2.28g/1.84g) x100%). The high percent yield was due to the high amount of sodium bicarbonate added in the previous lab. .100 g was weighed out on an evaporation dish. 6.00 g of silica gel was obtained in an Erlenmeyer flask. The solvent used was 100 mL of 80:20 petroleum ether/ethyl acetate. The silica gel and solvent were slurred together and poured quickly into the column through a funnel. The slurry was white and cloudy. The slurry was packed and made two layers: silica gel as the bottom layer while the clear solvent as the top layer. 5 mm of sand was added and resided on the top of the silica gel layer.

The solution was added to the column. The column sides were rinsed with the solvent to make sure all the solution was on top of the silica gel. The mixture was drained to the top of the silica gel and the solvent was added to fill the column again. The solution of acetylferrocene and the solvent ran through the silica gel. It separated into two bands. The first band was yellow and at the bottom while the second band was orange and was at the top. There was more of the yellow band than the orange band. There was no third red band so the impurity, diacetylferrocene, was not produced. The solution was drained and collected into four test tubes. One contained just the solvent, two contained the yellow band (F1) and one contained the orange band (F2). The test tubes were changed when the band color changed in the column. A TLC was performed, comparing F1, F2, and commercial