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Dodecafluoroheptanol: Tetrafluoroethylene Joined to Methanol (Joyce 1951)
Heated with methanol and a little peroxide, tetrafluoroethylene adds on to the methanol in short chains: H(CF2CF2)nCH2OH, with n from 1 to 12. Steam carries off the short ones; distilling the liquid part sorts them by boiling point. The cut at 169–170 °C, three units long, is the start of a fluorine soap used to make PTFE dispersions.
Source: R. M. Joyce (du Pont), US 2,559,628 (1951), Example IV. The steam-distillation and fractionating apparatus is ours. Picture drawn by Youblob.
Advanced
2 days
Instructions
1
1
Charge the reactor
Charge the reactor
Put 150 parts of methanol and 2 parts of tert-butyl octyl peroxide in a high-pressure reactor. Close it, cool it, and let in 110 parts of tetrafluoroethylene through a valve. Parts are by weight.
Materials for this step:
Methanol150 parts
Tetrafluoroethylene110 partsTools needed:
tert-Butyl Octyl Peroxide
Pressure Reactor
Pressure Gas Cylinder
Balance Scale2
2
Heat at 170 °C for 10 hours
Heat at 170 °C for 10 hours
Agitate and heat at 170 °C for 10 hours. The pressure rises on its own to about 90 atmospheres.
Tools needed:
Pressure Reactor
Pressure Gauge
Thermometer3
3
Steam-distil the product
Steam-distil the product
Steam-distil the product. What comes over is part liquid and part solid; separate the two. Ours: steam from a boiler through the flask, a condenser, and a separatory funnel for the liquid.
Tools needed:
Steam Boiler
Glass Distillation Flask
Condenser Coil
Separatory Funnel4
4
Fractionate; keep the 169–170 °C cut
Fractionate; keep the 169–170 °C cut
Fractionally distil the liquid part. It separates into the series H(CF2CF2)nCH2OH; collect the fraction boiling at 169–170 °C, where n = 3 (dodecafluoroheptanol). The patent gives no yield for this cut.
Tools needed:
Fractionating StillThermometer
Glass Jars with LidsTools Required
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