Question

Consider the sodium borohydride reduction of benzil to hydrobenzoin A reaction was performed in which 0.302 g of benzil was reduced by an excess of sodium borohydride to make 0.2071 g of hydrobenzoin. The Theoretical yield was calculated to be 0.646g and the percent yield was calculated to be 32.06% What are some possible explanations of getting a low percent yield in the reduction of benzil by reaction with sodium borohydride?

Answer 1

A low percent yield in the sodium borohydride reduction of benzil could be due to incomplete reactions, product losses during purification, side reactions forming byproducts, or measurement errors.

Step-by-step explanation:

The sodium borohydride reduction of benzil to hydrobenzoin could result in a lower than expected percent yield for several reasons. In this case, the percent yield was calculated to be 32.06%, which is significantly lower than 100%. Possible explanations for a low percent yield include incomplete reaction, wherein not all the benzil is reduced to hydrobenzoin; loss of product during the purification process such as through filtration, evaporation, or transfer; side reactions leading to byproducts; and errors in measurement when weighing reactants or products.