4 ms·
can't you just mix bleach with ethanol?
by pazimzadeh 4y ago
can't you just mix bleach with ethanol?
- gus_massa 4y agoYou should ask a real Chemistry [1], but in case there is none nearby Organic reactions are a mess, and there are a lot of side reactions. My guess is that mixing ethanol and bleach produce a mix of chloroform and other stuff. Ethanol is H H | | H-C-C-O-H | | H H and my guess is that the mix has a lot of the thing you get replacing the lash Hydrogen with Chloride H H | | H-C-C-O-Cl | | H H Acetone has no -O-H so you probably don't get too much stuff like that. [1] I only have a specialization in Chemistry Secondary School, it's somewhat similar to 1 or 2 years of a Chemistry Major (of 5 years). I know enough to understand the explanation in the video, but not enough to write them. [I've used similar equipment for other experiments a long time ago. For example, the connector to the water at the top of the condenser, should it be pointing up instead of pointing to one side?]
- kortex 4y agoI'm a bit rusty (worked as a chemist 2011-2015 before going into compsci) but I believe that this reaction produces some chloroform (enough that you should not mix ethanol and bleach inadvertently), but mostly as a side-reaction. The main reaction will be oxidation to acetaldehyde and then acetate. But it's slow, you probably get a bunch of side-reactions, etc. Acetone is a facile haloform reagent because the carbonyl acidifies ("loosens") the alpha hydrogen which allows the chlorine to attack the carbon.