Pinacolone
chemical compound
Pinacolone (3,3-dimethyl-2-butanone) is an important ketone in organic chemistry. It is a colorless liquid with a slight peppermint or camphor odor. The molecule is an asymmetrical ketone. The α-methyl group can participate in condensation reactions. The carbonyl group can undergo the usual reactions (hydrogenation, reductive amination, etc.). It is a Schedule 3 compound under the Chemical Weapons Convention 1993, due to being related to pinacolyl alcohol, which is used in the production of soman. It is also a controlled export in Australia Group member states.
Preparation
Most famously, at least in the classroom, pinacolone arises by the pinacol rearrangement, which occurs by protonation of pinacol (2,3-dimethylbutane-2,3-diol).
Industrially, pinacolone is made by the hydrolysis of 4,4,5-trimethyl-1,3-dioxane, which is the product of isoprene and formaldehyde via the Prins reaction. It also is generated by ketonization of pivalic acid and acetic acid or acetone over metal oxide catalysts.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pinacolone” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.