Hi everyone,
I'm currently rewriting an old protocol I once did. The procedure is the following:
- Dissolve decylubiquinone in acidic EtOH
- Add a tiny amount of NaBH4
- Vortex until solution becomes colorless
- Add cyclohexane, vortex
- Add a little H2O, vortex, allow for phases to separate
- Remove organic phase, add more cyclohexane, vortex
- Allow to settle, remove organic phase and pool both organic phases
- carefully dry under N2, resolve in acidic EtOH, analyze and quantify
Now the thing is we're moving to a new lab and we've got an ample supply of n-hexane. I don't want to order a bottle of cyclohexane because there's no other use for it outside of this reaction which is very rarely done.
I see no problem in substituting the cyclohexane with n-hexane here, or am I getting something wrong?
Cheers and thank you
Yaschar
There should be no difference as their solvation properties are basically identical. Hexane has a slightly lower boiling point so drying under N2 will be faster.
It appears the hexane/cyclohexane is used to extract the product from the salts, so it either one can be used. People tend to use cyclohexane because it contains fewer impurities than other hexanes.
I think there is no harm except that the hexane should be free from contamination, special care should be taken if you are using commercial grade hexane
It possible to substitute cyclohexane with n-hexane in a reduction involving NaBH4 as both are non polar & for this reduction you can use methanol or ethanol also.
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