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Synthesis of a Fluorescent Acridone using a Grignard Addition, Oxidation, and Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution
Samuel Goodrich1, Miloni Patel1, Zachary R Woydziak1
1Department of Biology, Nevada State College, Henderson, Nevada 89002, United States.
Abstract:
A three-pot synthesis oriented for an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory was developed to construct a fluorescent acridone molecule. This laboratory experiment utilizes Grignard addition to an aldehyde, alcohol oxidation, and iterative nucleophilic aromatic substitution steps to produce the final product. Each of the intermediates and the acridone product of the synthesis are analyzed by common techniques available in most undergraduate chemistry laboratories, such as melting point, TLC, IR spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Yields for each transformation in the synthesis are generally moderately low to good (20-90%) and nearly all of the students (>90%) who attempted the synthesis were able to produce the final acridone product.
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