Diels Alder Reaction Lab Report

Diels-Alder Reaction: Synthesis of 9, 10 dihydroanthraceno-9, 10-endo-α,β-succinic anhydride
Introduction:
For this experiment, a Diels-Alder reaction was performed. The concept of this reaction involves two compounds, one of which is an electron donating group and the other is an electron withdrawing group (Weldegirma). These two compounds are referred to as the diene and dienophile respectively (Weldegirma). The conditions for this reaction to take place generally require a fair amount of heat and the reaction is also stereoselective (Diels-Alder). The reaction itself also requires that the dienophile have either a double or triple bond present (Diel-Alder). The resulting structure following this reaction is a ring structure (Weldegirma).

Discussion: For this experiment the melting point was determined to be within a narrow range of temperatures, instead of a single exact number. The melting point, as described in the lab manual, of the product is 260 oC (Weldegirma). The observed melting point of the product following the reaction was noted to be between 260 and 266 oC, which leads to the conclusion that the product was successfully obtained the product for this experiment. The percent yield also helps describe the slight variation in melting point temperature of the product to the literature value, since the percent yield was only

The overall efficiency of this experiment is roughly in the 80% range. There may have been points where the mixture became too hot and this could have caused some exo product to be formed, there also could have been issues with obtaining all of the product precipitate as a result of improper cooling following the reflux process. The shifts present in figure 1, also indicated the presence of the desired product. The 8 protons present in a shift between 7 and 8 ppm indicates the presence of the two outer rings still being present from the reactant