Anhydrous Sodium Sulfte Lithium Electro

Anhydrous sodium sulfate was added to the filtered organic solution to absorb excess water. Although water has a higher affinity towards sodium sulfate than cyclohexanol, excess anhydrous sodium sulfate may lead to the absorption of cyclohexane and thus loss of product. Anhydrous sodium sulfate absorbs water due to its polarity and therefore may also absorb cyclohexanol because of its polar O-H bond. If too much anhydrous sodium sulfate was added to the solution, part of the product would be absorbed too and thus a yield of less than 100% would be produced.

2. Lithium aluminum hydride would also reduce cyclohexanone to cyclohexanol. List three changes that would have to be made to the procedure/conditions to accommodate lithium aluminum hydride, instead of sodium borohydride.
When using it as a reducing agent, precautions must be taken. For one, LAH violently reacts with water and must be quenched by slowly adding drops of water instead of dissolving it in water. Secondly, due to LAHs production of hydrogen gas, reactions that use LAH must be performed in inert environments to provide an unreactive atmosphere. Additionally, lithium aluminum hydride, when added to organic solvents (such as DCM used in this lab), produces a reaction that is extremely exothermic. If LAH were to be used in this experiment, the addition of DCM would have to occur in a cold environment, such as an ice