INTRODUCTION The purpose of this experiment is to synthesize trans-9-(2-phenylethenyl) anthracene from benzyltriphenylphosphonium chloride and 9-anthraldehyde through the reaction mechanism recognized as the Wittig Reaction. The Wittig Reaction allows the chemist to synthesize phosphoranes in the lab with relative ease. A more recent and inexpensive version of the reaction is the Wittig-Horner reaction (1). ABSTRACT Georg Wittig was a German chemist and Nobel Prize winner in 1979 for the Wittig reaction (1). He was born in …showed first 75 words of 1077 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1077 total…silver-yellow metallic in nature. After removing from the vacuum apparatus, the crystals fell directly out of the filter paper and held their form, a very interesting structure. A percent yield has been calculated below for reference. Figure 5. Calculation of yield REFERENCE 1.The Wittig Reaction. Available at http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~hs0bcl/org8.htm. Downloaded 2 March 2004. 2.Salvatore RN, Jung KW. experimental organic chemistry: A synthetic & mechanistic perspective. 222 Berkley St. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1999. 102p.