^
Top
Org. Synth. 1938, 18, 1
DOI: 10.15227/orgsyn.018.0001
2-ACETOTHIENONE
[Ketone, methyl 2-thienyl]
Submitted by John R. Johnson and G. E. May.
Checked by Reynold C. Fuson and E. A. Cleveland.
1. Procedure
In a 500-cc. round-bottomed, three-necked flask provided with a thermometer, dropping funnel, a liquid-sealed stirrer, and calcium chloride tube are placed 16.8 g. (0.2 mole) of thiophene (p. 578), 15.6 g. (14 cc., 0.2 mole) of acetyl chloride, and 200 cc. of dry benzene. The solution is cooled to 0°, and 52 g. (23 cc., 0.2 mole) of freshly distilled stannic chloride is added dropwise, with efficient stirring, during the course of about forty minutes. The reaction mixture assumes a purple color when the first drops of stannic chloride are added, and soon a purple solid precipitates.
After all the stannic chloride has been added, the cooling bath is removed and the mixture stirred for one hour longer. The addition product is hydrolyzed by the slow addition of a mixture of 90 cc. of water and 10 cc. of concentrated hydrochloric acid. The yellow benzene layer is separated, washed with 25 cc. of water, and dried over 5–10 g. of anhydrous calcium chloride. Benzene and unchanged thiophene (Note 1) are distilled through a short fractionating column (using an oil bath), and the residual liquid is distilled under reduced pressure. The yield of 2-acetothienone, b.p. 89–91°/9 mm., is 20–21 g. (79–83 per cent of the theoretical amount) (Note 2).
2. Notes
1. By shaking the recovered benzene-thiophene mixture with a solution of 5.5 g. of mercuric chloride, 10 g. of sodium acetate, and 10 cc. of alcohol in 80 cc. of water, the unchanged thiophene is converted to the 2-chloromercurithiophene (containing a small amount of the dimercurichloride); from this the free thiophene can be obtained by treatment with hydrochloric acid. The recovered thiophene amounts to 2–2.5 g.
2. 2-Acetothienone has the following physical constants: d204 1.168, n20D 1.566. Its semicarbazone melts at 186–187° (corr.).
3. Discussion
2-Acetothienone has been prepared by treating thiophene with acetyl chloride in the presence of aluminum chloride1 or stannic chloride,2 and by treating 2-chloromercurithiophene with acetyl chloride.3 The present method is essentially that of Stadnikoff and Goldfarb.2 Stannic chloride is superior to aluminum chloride as a catalyst for this reaction as aluminum chloride induces polymerization of the thiophene.
This preparation is referenced from:

References and Notes
  1. Peter, Ber. 17, 2643 (1884); Biedermann, ibid. 19, 636 (1886).
  2. Stadnikoff and Goldfarb, ibid. 61, 2341 (1928).
  3. Volhard, Ann. 267, 178 (1892); Steinkopf and Baumeister, ibid. 403, 69 (1914).

Appendix
Chemical Abstracts Nomenclature (Collective Index Number);
(Registry Number)

benzene-thiophene

dimercurichloride

alcohol (64-17-5)

calcium chloride (10043-52-4)

hydrochloric acid (7647-01-0)

Benzene (71-43-2)

sodium acetate (127-09-3)

acetyl chloride (75-36-5)

aluminum chloride (3495-54-3)

mercuric chloride (7487-94-7)

Ketone, methyl 2-thienyl (88-15-3)

Thiophene (110-02-1)

stannic chloride (7646-78-8)

2-chloromercurithiophene

2-Acetothienone (88-15-3)