Naoh and Camphor Experiment

Introduction: Oxidation has a somewhat different meaning in organic chemistry than you have been used to in inorganic, where oxidation is defined as a process involving loss of electrons, as in the conversion of Fe+2 to Fe+3. Oxidation of organic compounds also normally involves electron transfer, but because the valence of carbon usually remains at four, it is more useful to define oxidation as either (a) loss of hydrogen atoms or (b) addition of oxygen or other electronegative atoms. Thus, all of the following reactions are classified as oxidations:

Oxidations of alcohols provides one of the most general methods for the preparation of carbonyl compounds; oxidation of primary alcohols affords aldehydes (or carboxylic acids, if oxidation is continued), while oxidation of secondary alcohols affords ketones. Tertiary alcohols cannot be oxidized without breaking carbon-carbon bonds.

The most common oxidizing agents for the conversion of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones are chromium trioxide (CrO3) and its relatives, chromate and dichromate ions (CrO4-2 and Cr2O7-2), as well as a series of modified forms of CrO3, such as Collins reagent, in which CrO3 is complexed with pyridine (Collins reagent is used in nonaqueous media, and is especially useful for oxidizing primary alcohols to aldehydes without overoxidation to the carboxylic acid). KMnO4 can also be used to oxidize alcohols. Below is an example of how the oxidation of alcohols using sodium hypochlorite oxidation turning isoborneol into camphor:

Camphor is a bridged bicyclic ketone widely distributed in nature, especially in trees of the Far East. It is used as a plasticizer for the production of celluloid film, for smokeless powders and explosives, as an insect repellent, and for medicinal purposes (you will recognize the characteristics odor of Vicks). Borneol, one of the stereoisomeric related alcohols, is found in certain trees of Borneo, and isoborneol, used in today's experiment, is made commercially from pinenes (the C10 hydrocarbons of turpentine).The purpose of this experiment is to use sodium hypochlorite to oxidize the alcohol Isoborneol into camphor a substance that's used in a lot of medicinal medicines

Post-lab Questions:

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2. The test paper reacts within a few seconds. A dark blue color indicates a positive result; if the

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