Monday, 30 November 2015

Making triethyl phosphate

 This is something I tried out a while ago.

Triethyl phosphate is a colourless liquid occasionally used as a solvent in the lab. Its formula is C6H15O4 I don't really have any use for it but I just made some for fun.

REAGENTS:
  • ethanol
  • phosphoric acid
  • conc hydrochloric acid
  • water
EQUIPMENT:
  • large RBF flask 
  • liebig condenser
  • retort stand
  • clamps x2
  • aluminium foil
  • rubber band
  • litmus paper
  • keck clip
 METHOD
This method uses esterification with conc hydrochloric acid as a catalyst. I started by preparing a reflux setup using the liebig condenser, retort stand, clamps, RBF flask, keck clip and sealed the top with aluminium foil and a rubber band.

To the RBF flask I added water, ethanol, phosphoric acid, conc hydrochloric acid. I refluxed  for 1-2 hours then poured the mixture into a beaker. Under the beaker I placed a hotplate and simmered the mixture down. Once the mixture stopped releasing lots of bubbles I collected it. It had a very strong cidery smell, so I believe it's triethyl phosphate.
                        
 3 C2H5OH + H3PO4 ==> (C2H5)3PO4 + 3 H2O       
                                          

               

No comments:

Post a Comment