Making Tert-Butanol

Welcome to Episode 14 of Molecular Playground! In this video, I hydrolyze a common ester into the strangely rare tert-butanol! Tert-butanol is an incredibly versatile reagent. It can react with alkali metals to make tert-butoxides. It can react with hydrogen halides to form tert-butyl halides. Sulfuric acid can dehydrate tert-butanol into isobutylene. This can add onto aromatic compounds to make tert-butyl substituents.