Making Anhydrous Aluminum Chloride

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Күн бұрын

In Episode 2 of Pour & Play, we make aluminum chloride anhydrously. Simply adding hydrochloric acid to aluminum produces a chemically worthless product (hard-to-clean metal sludge and very noxious fumes). This is because aluminum chloride binds to water so strongly that any attempt to dehydrate it will instead oxidize the product into aluminum oxychloride. Anhydrous aluminum chloride though is an extremely valuable reagent in Organic Chemistry. It can rapidly catalyze reactions pertaining to aromatic compounds and movement of electrons.
Warning:
Chlorine Gas involved. DO NOT try this at home. This is for demonstration purposes only.
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Gear Used in This Video:
△ Clorox Pool&Spa 23000CLX XtraBlue 3" Long Lasting Chlorinating Tablet: amzn.to/3KpvvA2
△ Klean-Strip Green Safer Muriatic Acid 1Gal: amzn.to/4bTNASK
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Пікірлер: 56

@CatboyChemicalSociety 7 ай бұрын

this is so jank I love it!! its almost as jank as the james cambel method for these sorts of compounds.

@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 8 ай бұрын

If you used one container like a big bottle to generate chlorine with tubing full of calcium chloride leading to the bucket with your other reagents and a vent tube with more calcium chloride, you could keep water out of the reaction completely.

@MolecularPlayground 8 ай бұрын

Noted! I have used that method for more reactive substrates like boron and phosphorus, but aluminum does not react with chlorine quickly unless it is heated (and Level 1-ers aren’t ready for that poisonous fireshow yet!).

@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 8 ай бұрын

This is the sketchiest, most janky setup ever, I love it! If it works, it works, right?

@LabBrat8 3 күн бұрын

In case it wasn’t janky enough, I found 12%HCl toilet cleaner had less water and allows an extra second to close the lid 😂

@stephshighvoltagelab 7 ай бұрын

danm its like bucket grinard method of making PCP sketchy as frick

@morningstarsci 7 ай бұрын

It's not a powerful lewis acid catalyst like that. It's hydrolyzed already. Hydrated form is yellow.

@MolecularPlayground 7 ай бұрын

Both the hydrated form and anhydrous form are yellow. The yellow is due to impurities in the aluminum (mainly iron). I obtained this powder/sponge from aluminum foil not pure aluminum metal powder. If you search “anhydrous aluminum chloride” on the internet, you will find it mainly in various shades of yellow.

@morningstarsci 7 ай бұрын

@MolecularPlayground Must be a purity thing because the AlCl3 that I've used has been a very hygroscopic white powder that visibly gives of HCl(g). The only hydrated aluminum chloride I have seen wasn't anhydrous to begin with and was yellow, so probably from an industrial waste stream with contaminants.

@MolecularPlayground 7 ай бұрын

You are correct that it is definitely a purity thing. Pure aluminum that reacts with chlorine gas will produce a white powder. My aluminum powder was derived from aluminum foil which is not totally pure aluminum. I have actually used my aluminum chloride recently to make diisopropylbenzene from isopropyl chloride and benzene. My yield was somewhere around 82% which is somewhat low for a powerful Lewis acid, so it was a little hydrated I agree. It sucked up some of the water in the muriatic acid as it was “aging.”

@fmdj 6 ай бұрын

Cool tech, but this is already really damp AlCl3. Some say it's because of aluminium impurities, but that's not it. Reaction with water should be very vigorous.

@MolecularPlayground 6 ай бұрын

As I have said in previous posts, it is still very effective as I have used it in friedel craft alkylations with isopropyl chloride and benzene. I could have gotten over 90% though if it was completely dry

@jozefnovak7750 4 ай бұрын

Super! Thank you very much!

@xkdiiyfoy5596 18 күн бұрын

This is cursed, i love it

@ScienceGuy60223 6 ай бұрын

Cool video! Loved the inovative backwoods solution for generating an awesome chem. But please for the love of God wear some goggles! Ive had HCl in my eye even through the goggles and it sucked. Wouldve been way worse without them, id probably be blind. Love the vids and want you to be able to keep making them!

@lrmackmcbride7498 7 ай бұрын

It is aluminum chloride but not very anhydrous.

@MolecularPlayground 7 ай бұрын

Like I said in the video, aluminum chloride is so hygroscopic it can absorb water in the muriatic acid. The edges were hydrolyzed a little because of this, but the center and everything else beneath was dry.

@coolcat_vlogs69 2 ай бұрын

From what I've seen AlCl3 being colourless and read about yellow samples, it appears this colouration is due to FeCl3 contamination?

@MolecularPlayground 2 ай бұрын

Yes. I used aluminum foil not pure aluminum

@coolcat_vlogs69 2 ай бұрын

@@MolecularPlayground I saw you mention this in another comment - is this where the iron contamination is believed to come from?

@MolecularPlayground 2 ай бұрын

I believe so because aluminum foil is not pure aluminum. Also on the internet, anhydrous aluminum chloride is commonly depicted as a yellow powder

@coolcat_vlogs69 2 ай бұрын

@@MolecularPlayground Depending on your source, aluminium foil is normally around 99.9% pure as it has to be on order to be rolled out so thin so easily - maybe the anhydrous form is yellow tinted 🤷 Would it be easier to react the aluminum with HCl directly and then bake to dryness? Edit: I checked and chemplayer did a vid a while back making An. AlCl3 from An. ZnCl2 + Al powder and the result was a pure white powder that was distilled into its storage vessel as a white smoke - I think the yellow must be contamination rather than intrinsic which is sad 😅

@MolecularPlayground 2 ай бұрын

I used ground up reynolds wrap aluminum foil. Here is its MSDS if you want to see: www.southwest.tn.edu/ehs/msds/a/Aluminum%20Foil.pdf Pure aluminum chloride (one using >99% aluminum) is white to light yellow. My aluminum was 96.9% with elements of silicon and iron. The center is pure, but the sides that look like snot are a little hydrolyzed

@Berghiker 4 ай бұрын

I only used 4ml each of acetone and H2O2 respectivley. 1ml of 37% HCL. I did this many years ago. I'm too scared to do this again. Something similar would be ammonia and iodine when dry. Extremely touch sensitive. I have not done that experiment yet. That one scares me.

@colin351 Ай бұрын

Bruh, how do you expect your AlCl3 to be anhydrous when it's sitting in a puddle of aqueous acid for 3 days?

@MolecularPlayground Ай бұрын

The snotty-looking outside definitely isn’t anhydrous, but the inside is. I was even able to do a Friedel-Crafts alkylation of benzene and isopropyl chloride with that as a catalyst. I think I got 80% or around there in conversion, so it definitely works

@ExemplaryLigas 8 ай бұрын

Interesting, i want to try, regards.

@7hunderstorm242 7 ай бұрын

Love the hat

@fmdj 6 ай бұрын

4:20 this doesn't look like a mask that will do anything for you against chlorine, thankfully you're outside which is imho your only real protection here

@MolecularPlayground 6 ай бұрын

Not seen, but I soaked it in a concentrated bicarbonate solution. You are right that only a true gas mask could protect you from chlorine gas. I have it on to neutralize its VERY noxious odor.

@cettschulz-lz5om Ай бұрын

But what's the point of any of this? You could have skipped the chlorine generation and used the hcl , because the conditions favored the hydrate anyway , which doesn't not catalyze friedel crafts. Almost had something cool

@MolecularPlayground Ай бұрын

I’ve gotten an 80% yield alkylating benzene with isopropyl chloride with this aluminum chloride. It works, at least the stuff in the center. The stuff on rim that looks snotty is no good.

@christopherleubner6633 2 ай бұрын

OK, this isnt going to be the best method for purity. It will pull the water out of the acid mix. An easy way to make it is by reacting pyro grade aluminum in a large steel pipe. If it is galvonized disolve that first. Drill 2 holes in it and fill 1/2 way full of pyro flitter flake aluminum. Set up your chlorine generator and hoses, be sure to have a dryer to get rid of water as much as possible, a mix of dry MgSO4 and CaCl2 is ok. Allow this to go through the pipe with the aluminum in it. The reaction may need some heat to get going, so a bed of charcoal bricks helps. When the pipe is piping hot 🔥 start your chlorine generator and run by adding some HCl to HTH pool shock. You will get a bit of chlorine, some CO2 and HCl as output. The reaction is strongly exothermic and it is normal for the pipe to glow bright red hot. The iron will react and form iron chloride as well but it can be easily removed later. After a while the pipe will cool and chlorine will exit from the other end. When this happens the reaction is complete and slowly add more acid to the chlorine generator for an hour to be sure. The aluminum will be a gray white slag on the inside of the pipe. Crush this up and store in a bottle until needed.

@Berghiker 4 ай бұрын

What you did was fairly safe compared to what I did! Mine was very dry AND I compressed it lightly so that everything in the paper tube stuck together and nothing fell out. Far more more dangerous!!!!!!!!! If you going to do this, use a very long viscose fuse. Use one gram and stand very far away.

@DXLabz 4 ай бұрын

I wouldn’t bet on a cloth mask you should own a respirator if your going to do this this way

@MolecularPlayground 4 ай бұрын

Apologies for not mentioning this, but it was soaked in concentrated sodium bicarbonate to mitigate the pungent chlorine scent.

@DXLabz 4 ай бұрын

@@MolecularPlayground better than nothing that’s for sure

@Berghiker 4 ай бұрын

By the way, I used 30% Hydrogen peroxide.

@Tyresio12 5 ай бұрын

It eats plastic! So I only have a plastic spoon to manipulate it! xD

@ChimeraChemLab 6 ай бұрын

Maybe 98% sulfuric acid instead HCl do it better?

@MolecularPlayground 6 ай бұрын

Sulfuric Acid cannot generate chlorine gas from trichlor pool tablets. However, maybe a mix of both could do better…

@ChimeraChemLab 6 ай бұрын

@@MolecularPlaygroundHmm, perhaps you are right if the formation of chlorine occurs due to the hydrolysis of TCCA to HClO. This may not work with concentrated acid.