2007 Student Comments on Williamson Ether Synthesis
Be careful when allowing your solid to dry under the hood because the hood may blow your solid around if it is not heavy enough and not all the way solid. KM
After crystals form in the ice bath and you want to transfer them to the vacuum filter, make sure you scrape as much of the crystals off the side of the beaker as possible. Any that is left on the side of the beaker will be lost. You are vacuum filtering twice, so it is easy to loose a lot of your product just by not scraping all of the crystals off the beaker. PH
You will not be able to find Boiling Point and Density for o,p, and m methylphenoxyacetic acid so don't waist your time. EC
when putting together the thermwell apparutus be sure to put the hose in which water will be flowing through and the hose in which the water will be flushed out with the right inlet and oulet. PL
Make sure to record the mass of your chosen cresol!! you will definetly need this later on in lab. Also when pulling apart your apparatus, direct the water hose towards the sink, otherwise you will end up spilling water allover the place even though you might have already turned the water off. YM
Before even starting your prelab, make sure you have a solid understanding of Sn2 rxns. This will make the prelab, observations, and final write-up all sooooo much easier. CR
The next week, when using your product to discover which cresol you have through melting point, be sure to watch carfully when the product begins to shrinkin the tube and mark this as the beginning of the range. Then pay close attention to when the product completly melts and mark this as the end of the range. Both of these actions occur quickly and can be missed if you are not observant. AK
when you let your solution cool in an ice bath, usea larger beaker because it will cool down faster, this tip can be used for any lab where an ice bath is necessary! AP
When you are waiting for your product to dry so you can weigh it, do not put it near the vent in the hood or it will suck up your product. Keep your product closer to the center of the hood or in a corner where there is no air from the vent. MFL
Don't aim thermwell and reflux condenser towards you when heating. Turn it sideways, so that whenyou go to lower the thermwell awayfrom the beaker of the solution after boiling,you do not get burned when reaching behind the apparatus to unlock the clamp. KS
A procedure simplification would be in step 2 of the procedure, instead of stating to measure 2 grams of your mystery cresol, it would be easier to state to measure a certain amount of ml's (which was around 2.2ml's). JD