The acetylation of ferrocene is a highly researched topic in the undergraduate laboratory setting involving a Friedel-Crafts reaction. Previous methods for acetylating ferrocene use conventional thermal heating or laboratory grade microwave ovens and Nafion (an expensive polymer). Since microwave synthesis is becoming increasingly popular in laboratory experiments for their reduced solvent use and quick reaction times, a practical and inexpensive lab was developed. This method uses a conventional microwave and a solvent free, one-pot microscale reaction. When compared to previous methods, this method is more undergraduate-level friendly due to the convenience of the procedure and availability of the materials. The goal of the experiment was not to completely acetylate ferrocene, but to have a mixture of ferrocene, acetylferrocene, and diacetylferrocene. By having a mixture, students are able to purify and characterize their reaction mixture using numerous techniques, including column chromatography, TLC, HPLC, GC-MS, FT-IR, and NMR. Using response factors calculated during the developmental stage, a 1:1:1 ferrocene:acetylferrocene:diacetylferrocene mixture, students are able to use HPLC to determine the relative amounts of these compounds in their crude reaction mixture. The process by which acetylferrocene was synthesized will be integrated into the organic chemistry laboratory curriculum at the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Green acetylation of ferrocene using conventional microwave synthesis

245th National Meeting (2013)

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