Syntesis of (1R,2S)-1-(m-Bromophenyl)-3-methyl-1,2-butanediol - Assignment Example

Synthesis of (1R,2S m-Bromophenyl)-3-methyl 2-butanediol Introduction Drugs, detergents, polymers or insecticides areall sourced from chemical knowledge (Tabert 90). Therefore, there is a need to invest enormous resources in the synthesis process of these compounds. These would provide sufficient knowledge and techniques of understanding the processes. Organic chemist’s ability to predict the importance of new compounds before they are synthesized is still rudimentary (Wyatt and Warren 661).

The possible medicinal uses of natural products with their diverse molecular structure have been and still are the subject of scientific investigations by synthetic organic chemists (Carey and Sundberg 718). Any project that involves synthesis of organic compounds requires a thorough knowledge of synthetic methods available, the reaction mechanisms, the possible commercial starting materials, tools for analyzing the product such as IR, UV, NMR and MS and means of isolation. ReagentsBenzeneBromineAluminium chlorideDistilled waterDilute sulfuric acidHydrogen peroxideSynthesis of (1R,2S)-1-(m-Bromophenyl)-3-methyl-1,2-butanediol starts with formation of bromobenzene (Wikitext).

Formation of bromobenzeneBromination of benzene is an electrophilic substitution reaction, which takes place in the presence of aluminium chloride. The reaction mechanism of this electrophilic substitution reaction is a two-step process. Step 1 is a Lewis-base-Lewis acid reaction between bromine ion and benzene. Step 2 involves the loss of a proton to regenerate the benzene ring.The bromobenzene formed in the first stage then reacts with 3-methyl-2-butenal to form 1-(m-Bromophenyl)-3-methyl-2-butenal.

Hydration of 1-(m-Bromophenyl)-3-methyl-2-butenal using water in presence the of dilute sulfuric acid, hydrogen peroxide and heat gives an anti-Markovnikov’s product (McMurry 116).Works CitedCarey, A. Francis and Sundber J. Richard. Advanced Organic Chemistry. New York: Springer, 2007 Print.McMurry, J., & Simanek, E. (2006). Fundamentals of organic chemistry. Cengage Learning Print.Tabert F. Douglas. Organic Synthesis. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011 Print.Wyatt Paula and Warren Stuart .

Organic Synthesis: strategy and control. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007 Print.http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Special:Search?search=benzene&qid=&path=&fpid=9577&fpth=