Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: ringo on 12/02/2004 07:30:05

Title: Solid Alcohols
Post by: ringo on 12/02/2004 07:30:05
So here's what I'm looking for...

I'm trying to identify an alcohol (primary or secondary) that's a solid at room temperature.  Anyone know where I can find a list of such things?  I haven't run across very many.  I think glossypol is the only one that comes to mind immediately.  My alcohol is a white solid that melts at about 125 C.  Is there an Aldridge catalog online anywhere?

Thanks!
Title: Re: Solid Alcohols
Post by: Ylide on 13/02/2004 01:21:39
All the major manufacturers charge a ton of money for online access to literature.

The only free resources I know will only let you search by name.  They are the NIST Chemistry Webbook http://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/

and Cambridgesoft's ChemFinder  http://chemfinder.cambridgesoft.com/

Maybe you want to try looking up some long-chain alcohols like tetradecanol, hexadecanol, (also called cetyl and lauryl alcohol) and the like.  I know those are solid at room temp.  Some halogen-substituted benzyl alcohols are solids at room temp, too.  I'd start with the long-chain ones though.  





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Title: Re: Solid Alcohols
Post by: Kryptid on 13/02/2004 21:20:42
Here's a few possibilities: cholesterol, phenol, menthol, and napthalenol.
Title: Re: Solid Alcohols
Post by: ringo on 17/02/2004 04:59:57
Thanks for the replies!  Very helpful.  I think I may be deailing with benzenediol.  There are a scant few alcohols in the melting point range I'm looking at.  Resourcinol, cinchol, furoin, and benzoin are the other possibilities.  I'm just gonna break down and do a MS on it.
Title: Re: Solid Alcohols
Post by: Ylide on 17/02/2004 07:24:58
You can differentiate between phenols like resorcinol and regular alcohols with a couple chemical tests.  Phenols, if soluble in water, will have an acidic pH.  Alcohols will be neutral.  If insoluble, phenols will dissolve in a strong sodium hydroxide solution, a water insoluble alcohol won't.  (you'd need a REALLY strong base for that)





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Title: Re: Solid Alcohols
Post by: ringo on 17/02/2004 18:40:10
If you're interested in another decent online resource, try
http://www.chemweb.com/databases/

You can conduct searches in free databases and even in the pay databases.  You can't view details about your result in the pay databases, but you can still use the search results to narrow down your possibilities.  You can search be chemical formula, IR peaks, MS peaks, and lots of other handy things.  All you need to do is sign up for a free login/password.  Oh, BTW, my alocohol is not soluble in water, NaOH, or HCl, but it is soluble in Sulfuric Acid.  If it were water soluble, that would have made my work alot easier.
Title: Re: Solid Alcohols
Post by: Ylide on 17/02/2004 22:14:49
I would say it's not a phenol then.  The sulfuric acid would protonate the OH group leaving you with an equilibrium between your protonated transition structure and the carbocation. (assuming its a secondary or tertiary alcohol)  This doesn't happen with phenols.  The benzene ring delocalizes the electron pairs on the oxygen in the OH group of a phenol making is less basic. (i.e. less able to be protonated)  This is also what makes phenols slightly acidic...the delocalization of the electron density in the OH group makes the positive hydrogen easier to remove.



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Title: Re: Solid Alcohols
Post by: linakennedy on 30/01/2006 02:08:02
What are the IR peaks found for benzoin?