video tutorial Reduction of vanillin-nitroethane condensation product with borohydride

Name: video tutorial - Reduction of vanillin-nitroethane condensation product with borohydride
Uploaded: 2025-12-11T09:03:44.081Z
Duration: 10 min 36 s
Description: Next measure out 40 mils of ethyl acetate. This has a habit of sucking up...same reduction using tin chloride. Worth looking into. Add the borohydride to the solvent in

Starting material: 2.2 g of a 2-nitropropion derivative of vanillin.
Objective: reduce with sodium borohydride to obtain the reduced product (reduced phenyl 2-nitropropane).
Solvent setup: prepare 10 mL ethanol and 40 mL dry ethyl acetate; dissolve starting material to form a saturated solution; use 20 mL of this mixed solvent for the reaction in a 100 mL flask with a stir bar.
Reducing agent: add 1.5 g NaBH4 to the solvent; maintain below 20°C with a condenser and cold bath; stir until temperature equalizes; add starting material slowly to control vigorous reaction; observe red color and gas evolution; total addition about 30 minutes; stir an additional 15 minutes.
Workup and phase separation: after addition, wash the condenser and combine with the reaction mixture; transfer to a separatory setup; allow two phases to separate (ethyl acetate organic and aqueous); collect organic layer; extract aqueous residue with additional ethyl acetate (10 mL) and combine; dry with MgSO4 and decant.
Borohydride quench and purification: remove remaining borohydride with dilute acetic acid; wash away aqueous layer; dry organic phase and concentrate by distillation (oil bath) to remove ethyl acetate.
Isolation and yield: product obtained as a reduced phenyl 2-nitropropane; weighed yield 3 g corresponding to about 59%; note losses likely during the acetic acid wash and small-scale process.
Outlook: plan further testing and potential adjustments (e.g., salt water wash) to improve yield.