| para-Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde | |
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4-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde |
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Other names
4-Formyl-N,N-dimethylaniline |
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| Identifiers | |
| CAS number | 100-10-7 |
| PubChem | 7479 |
| ChemSpider | 7199 |
| Jmol-3D images | Image 1 |
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| Properties | |
| Molecular formula | C9H11NO |
| Molar mass | 149.19 g mol−1 |
| Density | yellow-white powder |
| Melting point |
74 °C, 347 K, 165 °F |
| Boiling point |
176–177 °C |
| Hazards | |
| MSDS | External MSDS |
| EU classification | Xn |
| (verify) (what is: /?) Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa) |
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| Infobox references | |
para-Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde is an organic compound containing amine and aldehyde moieties which is used in Ehrlich's reagent for determination of hydrazine.
Contents |
It is used in Ehrlich's reagent, which may be used as a TLC stain, or as a reagent to detect urobilinogen in fresh, cool urine.If urine sample is left to oxidize in air to form urobilin the reagent will not detect the urobilinogen. By adding few drops of reagent to 3 ml of urine in a test tube one can see a change of color from above, to dark pink or red. The degree of color change is proportional to the amount of urobilinogen in the urine sample.
Ehrlich's reagent is a strong electrophile which reacts with the electron-rich α-carbon of indole rings to form a blue-coloured adduct. It can be used to detect the presence of indole alkaloids. Not all indole alkaloids give a coloured adduct as result of steric hindrance which does not allow the reaction to proceed.
p-Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde reacts with hydrazine to form an azo-dye, which has a distinct yellow color. It is therefore used for spectrophotometric determination of hydrazine in aqueous solutions at 457 nm.[1]
Isaac Asimov, in a 1963 humorous essay entitled "You, too, can speak Gaelic,"[2], reprinted in the anthology Adding a Dimension among others, traces the etymology of each component of the chemical name "paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde" (e.g. the syllable "-benz-" ultimately derives from the Arabic lubān jāwī (لبان خاوي, "frankincense from Java"). Asimov points out that the name can be pronounced to the tune of the familiar jig "The Irish Washerwoman," and relates an anecdote in which a receptionist of Irish descent, hearing him singing the syllables thus, mistook them for the original Gaelic words to the jig. This essay likely inspired the filk song "The Chemist's Drinking Song," set to the tune of that jig, which begins "Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde, / Sodium citrate, ammonium cyanide, / ..."[3]