Cracking!

By Declan Fleming2019-11-04T12:22:00

An ethanol burner sits on tiles with a pipette above while a clamp holds an inverted syringe in a beaker. A tube goes from the pipette into the liquid in the beaker. A second syringe is attached to the first with a 3-way Luer connector

Source: © Declan Fleming

Here’s how to crack the cracking of long chain hydrocarbons

Cracking long chain hydrocarbons into shorter alkanes and alkenes is a staple of the classroom. Despite this, it’s a practical that opens up the potential for the dreaded ‘suck-back’. To avoid that problem, this approach uses a microscale method.

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