Appearance Colorless liquid | Formula C7H14O | |
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3-Heptanone (butyl ethyl ketone), is a seven carbon ketone. It is a colorless liquid with a "green odor," also described to have a fruity scent. It is often used as a perfume/fragrance, as a solvent for cellulose, nitrocellulose, or vinyl resins, and as a synthetic building block in the preparation of other organic molecules.
Preparation
3-Heptanone is produced industrially through reductive condensation of propanal with 2-butanone. This reaction does not immediately yield 3-Heptanone. Rather it results in the production of a ketone with an alkene group. This alkene can be removed with hydrogenation.
CH3CH2CHO + CH3C(O)CH2CH3 --> CH3CH2C(O)CH=CHCH2CH3 + H2 --> CH3CH2C(O)CH2CH2CH2CH3
References
3-Heptanone Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA