The Wittig Reaction - Lab Report

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this experiment is to synthesize trans-9-(2-phenylethenyl) anthracene from benzyltriphenylphosphonium chloride and 9-anthraldehyde through the reaction mechanism recognized as the Wittig Reaction. The Wittig Reaction allows the chemist to synthesize phosphoranes in the lab with relative ease. A more recent and inexpensive version of the reaction is the Wittig-Horner reaction (1). ABSTRACT Georg Wittig was a German chemist and Nobel Prize winner in 1979 for the Wittig reaction (1). He was born in …

…silver-yellow metallic in nature. After removing from the vacuum apparatus, the crystals fell directly out of the filter paper and held their form, a very interesting structure. A percent yield has been calculated below for reference. Figure 5. Calculation of yield REFERENCE 1.The Wittig Reaction. Available at http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~hs0bcl/org8.htm. Downloaded 2 March 2004. 2.Salvatore RN, Jung KW. experimental organic chemistry: A synthetic & mechanistic perspective. 222 Berkley St. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1999. 102p.