MAKING PHENYLAMINE
This page looks in
outline at the preparation of phenylamine (also known as aniline or
aminobenzene) starting from benzene. The benzene is first converted to
nitrobenzene which is in turn reduced to phenylamine.
Benzene to nitrobenzene
Benzene is nitrated by
replacing one of the hydrogen atoms on the benzene ring by a nitro group, NO2.
The benzene is treated
with a mixture of concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulphuric acid at a
temperature not exceeding 50°C. The mixture is held at this temperature for
about half an hour. Yellow oily nitrobenzene is formed.
You could write this in
a more condensed form as:
The concentrated
sulphuric acid is acting as a catalyst and so isn't written into the equations.
The temperature is kept
relatively low to prevent more than one nitro group being substituted onto the
ring.
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