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Unknown Organic Compounds

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Organic Compounds contain Carbon, a versatile bonding element due to its ability to form four stable bonds. They can be separated from mixtures and identified through Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). TLC is a simple, and rapid analytical technique that provides qualitative information about a sample. It is based on the principle that different compounds will have different attractions to the stationary and mobile phases. Typically, already characterized compounds can be identified chemically. This allows scientists to determine if compounds have desirable structures, and if reaction conditions of unwanted products can be altered. However, with complex compounds that were never characterized, this process is insufficient. Instead, IR Spectroscopy is used. It measures the vibrations of bonds, producing a spectrum of the different energies absorbed by the molecule. By comparing the energies with standard correlation values, the identity of an unknown compound can be determined. In this experiment, the identity of an unknown organic compound will be determined using these methods. Procedure: …show more content…

The solution was placed into a separation funnel, in which the top and bottom layers were slowly filtered out into two different beakers. The bottom layer solution was heated until the ethyl acetate evaporated and only the organic compound remained. Next, a TLC technique was prepared employing silica gel as the stationary phase and 1:1 ethyl acetate hexane as the mobile phase. In order to develop a standard, a TLC plate was spotted with benzoic acid (BA), benzophenone (BZ), biphenyl (BI), and a mixture off the three. After incubating the plate in the chamber with the mobile phase, it was analyzed under a UV light. Then, the Rf values for the known compounds were calculated using the Retention Factor

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