Next it is time to get the phenylacetone out of the reaction mixture.
Once the flask has cooled down, the iron is filtered out by pouring it
through the plug of angel hair described earlier in this chapter. It is a
good idea to rinse down the trapped iron powder with a dash of toluene to
get any clinging phenylacetone off of it. Then the toluene layer is
separated using a sep funnel. It is poured into a round bottom flask. The
water layer has about 100 ml of toluene added to it, and this is shaken to
draw suspended phenylacetone into the toluene. The toluene layer is then
separated and added to the aforementioned round bottom flask. It is then
rigged for fractional distillation as shown in Figure 5. The toluene
distills off first as the toluene-water azeotrope at 85øC, and then as pure
toluene at 110øC. Once the toluene is mostly gone, vacuum is applied, and
phenylacetone is collected at the usual temperature range. The yield is
about 120 ml of phenylacetone.