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Gas Chromatography Lab Report

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For this experiment, Gas Chromatography (GC) is utilized to observe the streo- and regiochemistry among four elimination products under either basic or acidic conditions. The reagents used in this experiment include primary and secondary alcohols which are in acidic conditions and dehydrobromintion of primary and secondary alkyl halides in basic conditions. When reacted the gas products are collected and undergo further analysis in the GC which will separate the product into its components and will show the different distributions among the product. Theory In an elimination reaction, the reagents in question proceed in either an E1 or E2 reaction mechanism in order to produce an alkene. For this experiment, 1-butanol and 2-butanol, proceeds …show more content…

The reaction then proceeds in a deprotonation of a beta hydrogen while that remaining bond is turned into an alkene to remove the carbocation. The products for these reagents are different according to the selectivity of the beta protons. A 1- butene product results from a deprotonation of the terminal methyl group and a cis or trans 2-butene product if the beta hydrogen is removed from the methylene group on the other side of the carbocation. 2-butanol will produce these 3 products above; however, 1- butanol will undergo an unstable primary carbocation which will only result in 1-butene. When observed in the GC it will experimentally result in this specific selectivity for these reactions as well. For the reagents in basic conditions however will react with a strong bulky base (potassium tert-butoxide ) which will result in an E2 mechanism with no competition with a substitution mechanism. For this mechanism, 1- bromobutane and 2-bromobutnane, will also result in the 3 products described above, but will proceed in a faster reaction. First the reagent has to rearrange where the beta protons are anti-periplanar to the bromine atom. Unlike the E1 mechanism

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