N-Hexacosane

Chemical Properties

white crystalline solid

Uses

Hexacosane can be used:

• To prepare sulfonated hexacosanes, which are used as phase-change materials in the latent heat thermal energy storage process.
• As a model n-alkane to study the solid-liquid equilibrium of binary mixtures in N,N-dimethylacetamide and N,N-dimethylformamide.

Definition

ChEBI: A straight-chain alkane comprising of 26 carbon atoms.

General Description

Colorless crystals. Occurs in many natural products.

Air & Water Reactions

Insoluble in water.

Reactivity Profile

Saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons, such as N-HEXACOSANE, may be incompatible with strong oxidizing agents like nitric acid. Charring of the hydrocarbon may occur followed by ignition of unreacted hydrocarbon and other nearby combustibles. In other settings, aliphatic saturated hydrocarbons are mostly unreactive. They are not affected by aqueous solutions of acids, alkalis, most oxidizing agents, and most reducing agents. When heated sufficiently or when ignited in the presence of air, oxygen or strong oxidizing agents, they burn exothermically to produce carbon dioxide and water.

Fire Hazard

Flash point data on N-HEXACOSANE is not available, but N-HEXACOSANE is probably combustible.

Synthesis

10.0 g of SZV catalyst was added to a clean glass reactor. Cyclohexane and fresh air (containing about 20% oxygen) were allowed to pass through the catalyst at a constant flow rate at room temperature (temperature range 293-298 K) and a total pressure of 1.05 MPa. The moment when cyclohexane was added to the glass reactor was taken as the start time of the reaction. A gas and liquid mixture of fresh air stream and cyclohexane (10:1 by volume) was allowed to pass through the catalyst at a constant flow rate of 40-50 mL/hr. The total volume of reaction reagents was 300 mL. the total reaction time was 7 hours, which was sufficient to equalize the reaction. Air was expelled through a separator. The product was collected and assayed by GC-MS. The process was repeated twice under the same conditions. The title compound n-hexacosane was finally obtained.

Purification Methods

Distil hexacosane under vacuum and recrystallise it from diethyl ether. [Beilstein 1 IV 583.]