Progress Report: Theory Test for Alcohol Catalyzed Magnesium Reduction of Sodium (Success!) (Patreon)

Progress Report: Theory Test for Alcohol Catalyzed Magnesium Reduction of Sodium (Success!)

I have a very exciting progress report: I've successfully made sodium by the alcohol catalyzed magnesium reduction approach! After many failures i decided to go to other end of the spectrum and try an experiment constructed under ideal conditions that would have far greater chances of working. While it would be thousands of times more expensive to make sodium this way, it would nonetheless prove or disprove whether it was possible. If it failed, it would show it was impossible or just very hard and thus not worth pursuing with my limited time. To do it, 10mL of 7-hexyl-7-tridecanol were placed in a flask with 0.5g sodium metal (to jump start the reaction). A reflux condenser was fitted over the flask and the contents heated until the sodium melted and dissolved. 3g of magnesium metal was added and heated for another 30 minutes. 4g of sodium hydroxide was added and heated for three hours. Tiny spheres of sodium formed as alcohol catalyzed the reaction of sodium hydroxide and magnesium metal. This was a success. And thus proves that we can make sodium this way and thus it's worth to keep trying for cheaper conditions. Related videos: How to make tertiary alcohols by the grignard reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFQWD7-DCPI Donate to NurdRage! Through Patreon (preferred): https://www.patreon.com/NurdRage Through Bitcoin: 1NurdRAge7PNR4ULrbrpcYvc9RC4LDp9pS Glassware generously provided by http://www.alchemylabsupply.com/ Use the discount code "nurdrage" for a 5% discount. Social media links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/NurdRage Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NurdRageYoutube/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nurdrageyoutube/