What is the purpose of dissolving the acetanilide in glacial acetic acid prior to beginning the nitration reaction? What happens when you mix sulfuric acid with nitric acid? What is the name of the electrophile used in this experiment? What acts as the nucleophile? Why do you wash the product several times (Procedure Steps 8-10) with water.
How is the product characterized? What major differences in absorption bands would you expect to see in the infrared spectra of acetanilide and p-nitroacetanilide?