Phenylhydrazin

Brady s reagent A solution of 2,4-dinitro-phenylhydrazine sulphate in methanol. Gives characteristic crystalline yellow to deep red 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone products with aldehydes and ketones. 

Phenylhydrazine condenses with acetoacetic ester to give a pyrazolone derivative which on methylation gives phenazone. The sulphonic acid similarly gives rise to the tartrazine dyestuffs. It is used to make indole derivatives by the Fischer process. 

CgH,oN20. Colourless crystalline solid, m.p. 121 °C. Made by reacting phenylhydrazine with ethyl acrylate to obtain the hydrazide which cyclizes to the product. Its major commercial importance is as a photographic developing agent, being used particularly in conjunction with hydroquinone. 

Hydrazine and its alkylated derivatives are used as rocket fuels in organic chemistry, substituted phenylhydrazines are important in the characterisation of sugars and other compounds, for example aldehydes and ketones containing the carbonyl group C=0. 

Fructose (V) under similar conditions gives first the phenylhydrazonc (Va) by the direct condensation of the >C 0 group of carbon atom 2 with one molecule of phenylhydrazine. The second molecule of phenylhydrazine then oxidises the primary alcohol group of carbon atom 1 to the -CHO group by removal of two atoms of hydrogen, which as before serve to reduce the phenyl-hydrazine to aniline and ammonia. The compound (Vb) which is thus produced then undergoes direct condensation with the third molecule of phenylhydrazine, giving the osazone of fructose, or fructosazone (Vc). 

Phenylhydrazine is, however, frequently supplied in the form of its hydro chloride or sulphate, since these salts on exposure to light darken less rapidly than the free base. If these salts are used, however, osazone formation is unsatisfactory, partly because the mineral acid formed by hydrolysis of... 

Dissolve I g. of glucose (or fructose) in 5 ml. of water in a boiling-tube. In another tube dissolve 2 ml. of glacial acetic acid in 5 ml. of water, add 2 ml. of phenylhydrazine, and shake until... 

Dissolve I g. of pinacol (preparation, p. 148) in 20 ml. of water, and add 20 ml. of the 5% aqueous sodium periodate solution. After 15 minutes, distil the clear solution, collecting the first 5 ml. of distillate. Treat this distillate with 2,4-dinitro-phenylhydrazine solution A (p. 263). Acetone 2,4-dinitrophenyl-hydrazone rapidly separates from the solution when filtered off, washed with a small quantity of ethanol, and dried, it has m.p. 126-127°, and after recrystallisation from ethanol it has m.p. 128°. 

Benzenediazonium chloride reacts in solution with sodium sulphite to give benzenediazonium sodium sulphonate, which when treated with sulphurous acid undergoes reduction to phenylhydrazine sodium sulphonate. The latter readily hydrolyses in the presence of concentrated hydrochloric acid to give... 

Benzenediazonium chloride also undergoes direct reduction to phenylhydrazine... 

Suspend the crude hydrochloride in some water in a separating-funnel and add 20% sodium hydroxide solution until the mixture is definitely alkaline and the crude phenylhydrazine base floats as a deep red oil on the surface. Now extract the phenylhydrazine twice with benzene (using about 30 ml. of benzene on each occasion) and dry the united benzene extracts with powdered... 

Phenylhydrazine on exposure to light slowly darkens and eventually becomes deep red in colour salts of the base share this property but to a lesser degree, the sulphate and acetate (of the common salts) being most stable to light. Phenylhydrazine is largely used in organic chemistry to characterise aldehydes and ketones as their phenyl-hydrazones (pp. 342, 345), and carbohydrates as their osazones (pp. 136-140). It is readily reduced thus in the process of osazone formation some of the phenylhydrazine is reduced to aniline and ammonia. On the... 

Add 2 -3 drops of phenylhydrazine to about 2 ml. of Fehling s solution in a test-tube and shake the mixture vigorously nitrogen is evolved and reddish-brown cuprous oxide is precipitated. The reaction proceeds rapidly on gentle warming, more slowly in the cold. 

Phenylhydrazine is usually dissolved in acetic acid for hydrazone formation if a salt of phenylhydrazine with an inorganic acid is used, it must be mixed with an excess of sodium acetate (see preparation of osazones, p. 137). 

Dissolve 0 3 ml. of glacial acetic acid in 2 ml. of water in a 25 ml. conical flask, and add 0 4 ml. (0 44 g.) of phenylhydrazine. Mix thoroughly to obtain a clear solution of phenylhydrazine acetate and then add 0 2 ml. (0 21 g.) of benzaldehyde. Cork the flask securely and shake the contents vigorously. A yellow crystalline mass of the hydrazone soon begins to separate. Allow to stand for 15 minutes, with occasional shaking, and then filter the solid product at the pump, wash first with very dilute acetic acid and then with water, and finally drain thoroughly. Recrystallise the material from rectified or methylated spirit, the benzaldehyde phenylhydrazone being thus obtained in fine colourless needles, m.p. 157 yield, 0 4 g. 

Mix 6 2 ml. (6 4 g.) of pure ethyl acetoacetate and 5 ml. of pure phenylhydrazine in an evaporating-basin of about 75 ml. capacity, add 0 5 ml. of acetic acid and then heat the mixture on a briskly boiling water-bath (preferably in a fume-cupboard) for I hour, occasionally stirring the mixture with a short glass rod. Then allow the heavy yellow syrup to cool somewhat, add 30-40 ml. of ether, and stir the mixture vigorously the syrup may now dissolve and the solution shortly afterwards deposit the crystalline pyrazolone, or at lower temperatures the syrup may solidify directly. Note. If the laboratory has been inoculated by previous preparations, the syrup may solidify whilst still on the water-bath in this case the solid product when cold must be chipped out of the basin, and ground in a mortar with the ether.) Now filter the product at the pump, and wash the solid material thoroughly with ether. Recrystallise the product from a small quantity of a mixture of equal volumes of water and ethanol. The methyl-phenyl-pyrazolone is obtained... 

Dissolve 8 8 g. (9 0 ml.) of cyclohexanone in 50 ml. of glacial acetic acid, add 8 ml. of phenylhydrazine, and boil the solution under reflux for 5 minutes. Cool the solution, when the tetrahydrocarbazole will crystallise out. Filter at the pump, drain well, and recrystallise either from aqueous ethanol or (better) from aqueous acetic acid. The recrystallisation should be performed rapidly, for the tetrahydrocarbazole undergoes atmO" spheric oxidation in hot solutions after recrystallisation, the compound should be dried in a vacuum desiccator and not in an oven. Repeated recrystallisation should be avoided. The tetrahydrocarbazole, after thorough drying, is obtained as colourless crystals, m.p. 118° yield of recrystallised material, 11 g. 

To a few drops of formalin solution add a few drops of dinitro-phenylhydrazine reagent A (p. 263) a yellow precipitate is produced in the cold. Acetaldehyde and acetone give orange-coloured precipitates. Dissolve water-insoluble compounds e.g-y benzaldehyde, salicylalde-hyde, acetophenone and benzophenone) in a small volume of methanol before adding reagent B. With benzophenone the precipitate forms slowly. 

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