Lab Report

In a 50mL round bottom flask, 3-sulfolene (2.29g), finely powdered maleic anhydride (1.22g), and xylene (3.0mL) were mixed together. The flask was attached to a reflux condenser. A vacuum connecting tube was connected to the top of the condenser and a stopper was placed on the ground glass joint. A piece of rubber tubing was connected to the nozzle of the vacuum connecting tube. The other end of the rubber tubing was connected to a glass liquid funnel. The funnel was clamped in a beaker approximately half full of water so that the top of the funnel was above the water surface. The beaker chosen fit around the top of the funnel. Wet paper towels were placed around the top of the beaker to serve as a gas trap for the SO2 vapors. The flask was warmed gently on heat setting 8 while the contents were swirled until all the solids dissolved. The solution was heated at reflux for 30 minutes and allowed to cool to room temperature. Toluene (6mL) and a small amount of decolorizing carbon were added to the flask. The mix was warmed with the heating mantle with swirling until it was hot. The hot mixture was filtered by gravity filtration and petroleum ether (about 10mL) was added to the filtrate in small portions until the solution became cloudy. The mix was allowed to stand and cool until crystallization was complete. The crystals were collected via vacuum filtration and dried until the next lab period. The melting point was determined and the percent yield was determined. An IR was also run on the product