Pain funnel

Summary Safrole can be synthetically prepared by methylating 4-allyl catechol. This 4-allyl catechol is prepared by reacting catechol with allyl bromide, followed by an exhaustive extraction process, and then followed by a pain staking distillation process. Once the 4-allyl catechol has been successfully obtained, it is converted into safrole by refluxing it with methylene chloride and dimethyl sulfoxide in the presence of sodium hydroxide. The resulting reaction mixture is then distilled to remove any unreacted methylene chloride, and the resulting mixture is then steam distilled to collect the oily safrole product, which is then collected via a seperatoiy funnel. 

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