An oil bath is a laboratory heating device which uses boiling oil as the temperature regulator. Since different oils have different boiling points, it is possible to obtain a temperature near to the desired temperature by selecting an oil with a boiling point as close as possible to the desired temperature. A simple oil bath can be made by heating a dish of oil on a hotplate. The temperature of the oil can be monitored by a thermometer. In this experiment, the temperature of the oil bath is 85 °C. Together with tert-butyl alcohol, heating can convert palladium (II) acetate to reactive palladium (0). Oil bath is similar to ice bath which we frequently used in our CHEM 216H lab. The main purpose of oil bath and ice bath is to keep the reaction mixture at a certain temperature.
