Chapter 4 – Purification of Organic Chemicals

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the general principles, techniques, and methods of purification of organic chemicals. The chapter includes commercially available organic chemicals. Most organic liquids and a number of solids can readily be purified by fractional distillation, usually at atmospheric pressure. Sometimes, particularly with high boiling or sensitive liquids, or when in doubt about stability, distillation or fractionation under reduced pressure should be carried out. Rapid purification procedures are also focused in this chapter for commonly used solvents and reagents, which make them suitable for general use in synthetic chemistry. Also enlisted are the molecular weights (to the first decimal place), melting points and/or boiling points together with the respective densities and refractive indexes for liquids, and optical rotations when the compounds are chiral. The chapter includes commercially available organic chemicals. Most of the inorganic, metalorganic, organo- bismuth, boron, phosphorus, selenium, silicon and alkali metal compounds and metal ion salts of organic acids are considered.