I'm home for the weekend and have lab access, so I decided to try the next reaction in Fieser's series, the reduction of Martius yellow to 2,4-diaminonaphthol. I was not successful, but I've written up the procedure anyway. Fortunately I did it as a small scale test, so not much was lost and I still … Continue reading Attempt at making 2,4-diaminonaphthol
The flurry of lab activity that I've had the last few weeks since I started this blog was due to being home for the holidays. I had more time than I'd had in months to work on my home chemistry projects. Even so, there was far more to do than I had time for, so … Continue reading Back to School
As it turns out, the crystals of "Martius yellow" that I recovered from the acetone washings are truthfully not Martius yellow. Unfortunately, I failed to realize this until after I recrystallized my entire supply. The compound, while also an intensely colored yellow-orange dye, is much darker in the solid form than Martius yellow acid. It … Continue reading Update on Martius Yellow- Don’t mix with acetone!
Yesterday I purchased a vintage Mettler balance, circa 1961, if I estimate correctly from what little information I can find about them. It is the B5 model, which was first released in 1955, and manufactured through the 60s. Official Mettler service for them was discontinued in 1972, though it appears they had already stopped selling … Continue reading Recent Acquisition- Vintage Mettler Balance
This is a picture of some Martius yellow that was recrystallized from acetone (this is the stuff that I rinsed off of my glassware). I hadn't expected it to form such nice crystals. I think I will recrystallize all of it since it does. UPDATE: This is not Martius yellow. Acetone apparently reacts with Martius yellow, … Continue reading Martius Yellow Recrystallized
Today I made a second attempt at synthesizing the dye Martius yellow (2,4-dinitronaphthol). Unlike the previous attempt, I used more gentle heating, by way of an improvised steam bath, and this led to the expected results. Procedure: As before, 10 mL of conc. sulfuric acid (95%) was added to 5.00 grams of 1-naphthol, this time in … Continue reading Synthesis of Martius Yellow – Success
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