The Diels-Alder reaction of a diene found in eucalyptus oil lab recording
Channel: Sarah Bartlett
Date: 2020-03-29

Eucalyptus oil contains a diene that reacts with maleic anhydride via a Diels-Alder reaction. The goal of this experiment is to identify the Diels-Alder reaction product to determine which one of three possible dienes is present in the Eucalyptus oil. Since the Diels-Alder reaction is limited to conjugated dienes, reacting Eucalyptus oil with maleic anhydride is a strategy to identify dienes in the presence of the other components of the natural material.