Last Update: August 29, 2005
To a flask containing 3 g of acetylacetone was added 40 mL of distilled water and 8 mL of 5 mole·dm-3 NH4OH. This was added in small portions with shaking to a solution of 3 g of aluminum sulfate hexadecahydrate, Al2(SO4)3·18H2O, dissolved in 30 mL of cold distilled water. After the addition of the acetylacetonate solution was complete, the solution was neutralized to blue litmus, if needed, by adding small portions of the 5 mole·dm-3 NH4OH solution. The reaction mixture was allowed to stand for 15 minutes before the cream colored product was collected by vacuum filtration. The product was dried in a vacuum desiccator over CaCl2 and then recrystallized from cyclohexane.
Present clean 1H and 13C NMR spectra to your instructor to obtain the product's elemental analysis and mass spectral data. Use DEPT-135 to correctly assign the 1H and 13C NMR spectra.