3.3.6 Organic Analysis Flashcards
how could you test for alkenes? what is the result?
shake with bromine water, result is bromine water is decolourised (orange to colourless)
how do you test for haloalkanes? what is the result?
add NaOH (aq) and warm, acidify with HNO3, add AgNO3 (aq)
result: precipitate of AgX (for Cl- = white, for Br = cream, for I = yellow.
how do you test for alcohols? what is the result?
acidified potassium dichromate and heat
result: colour change from orange to green for primary and secondary alcohols
no change for tertiary alcohols
how do you test for aldehydes? what is the result?
Fehling’s solution - brick red ppt. forms (from blue solution)
Tollen’s reagent - silver mirror - Ag(s) ppt. forms
how do you test for carboxylic acids? what is the result?
sodium (hydrogen) carbonate (aq)
result: CO2(g) given off, effervescence
What is mass spectrometry? how does it work?
used to find the relative molecular masses of organic compounds
compound is dissolved in solution, ionised by high voltage supply (to 1+ ions), accelerated by a negatively charged plate, becomes a beam of ionised molecules, reach detector and cause a current to flow. Time of flight used to work out m/z value and plot graph.
what does the x axis show on a mass spectrum? What does this effectively show and why?
shows m/z value (mass divided by ionic charge)
since most ions are 1+ , this effectively shows Mr
why are there multiple peaks when molecules are put into a mass spectrometer?
molecular ion is shown as a peak, but it will also fragment into smaller molecules, so these peaks are shown as well
also, due to isotopes of atoms, different peaks may be seen
why do atoms and chemical bonds absorb infrared radiation?
they are constantly vibrating - they can absorb infrared radiation that is the same frequency as their frequency of vibration
what effect does a stronger bond have on the frequency of vibration?
vibrate faster (with higher frequency)
what effect do heavier atoms have on the frequency of vibration?
vibrate slower (with lower frequency)
how does infrared spectroscopy work?
- every bond has a unique vibration frequency in the infrared region of the EM spectrum
- bonds absorb radiation that has the same frequency as their frequency of vibration
- infrared radiation emerged from a sample is missing the frequencies that have been absorbed - can be used to identify a molecule’s functional group
what happens inside an infrared spectrometer?
beams of infrared radiation with a range of frequencies is passed through the sample
radiation that emerges is missing frequencies that have been absorbed by the bonds in the sample.
graph is plotted of intensity against frequency of radiation
what do troughs on an infrared spectrum show?
the frequencies where radiation has been absorbed - match to table to find out which bonds they represent
what is the fingerprint region?
area of IR spectrum below wave number 1500
many peaks caused by complex vibrations of the whole molecule, unique to every compound, so can be used to identify compounds.
