Objective: The benefit of this lab was to acquaint oneself with the fundamentals of the Aldol Condensation reaction by demonstrating the synthesis of dibenzalacetone (trans, trans-1,5-Diphenyl-1,4-pentadien-3-one) through the aldol condensation of acetone with benzaldehyde. The synthesis began by using a strong base to generate the acetone enolate ion. The ketone/enol tautomerization is an equilibrium process that produces little of the enol (ppm or less). However, any enol that formed quickly reacted …showed first 75 words of 1126 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1126 total…acetone with the two molecules of benzaldehyde gives dibenzalacetone, otherwise known as 1,5-Diphenyl-1,4-pentadien-3-one. The end product was recrystallized using ethanol. The final weight of my product was .006g. My percent yield was 10.3%, which some may say was less than desired. A melting point was then taken of both my crude product, as well as, my recrystallized product, resulting in identical melting points of 111-112oC, which indicate similar characteristics in my crude and