NileRed

The Birch Reduction (2016x2)

Air date: Jan 06, 2016

In this video, we explore the Birch Reduction by carrying it out on benzene. This is a very useful reaction and it is pretty cool to carry out too. A photo of a typical mechanism: http://www.chemgapedia.de/vsengine/media/vsc/en/ch/12/oc/radikale/birch_reduktion/birch_mechanismus_en.gif Depending on the groups attached to the ring, the mechanism does change a little bit and it produces a product that is reduced at different places. Nile talks about lab safety: https://youtu.be/ftACSEJ6DZA