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The Reaction Of The Alcohols

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The alcohols 1-propanol and 2-pentanol were converted into alkyl halides through a certain series of steps. The first step was reflux, and the purpose of reflux is to add energy to the solution and not lose any solution to evaporation. This energy helps initiate the acid-catalyzed dehydration reaction and also promotes rearrangement. The next step was distillation, which functioned to separate liquids based on boiling points. The distillation utilizes boiling points to separate the alkyl halide products from many impurities that might exist. Reflux is the first step instead of distillation because refluxing allows the reaction to progress. If distillation was performed first, separation would begin before the reaction was allowed time to …show more content…

For example, since the voltage adapter connected to the sand bath may not have been working properly, inconsistent heating patterns could have proposed a problem during reflux. Also, a few extra drops of water may have invaded the product while the flask was cooling in the ice bath during distillation. Furthermore, it is possible that not all of the organic layer was drained out of the separatory funnel during separation, and maybe the drying agent was not allowed enough time to remove all of the water. Errors will always hinder the success of a reaction, which will greatly effect the percent yield.

Infrared spectroscopy (IR) is a very useful tool that can read a molecule’s functional groups from a small sample. By monitoring the disappearance and appearance of certain groups, it is possible to confirm wether compounds have formed. In this experiment, for example, the reactants are alcohols, whose IRs will show a large and broad absorption around 3500 cm-1. These hydroxide groups are eventually replaced during the reactions, and the final products will not contain any hydroxides. Therefore, the IR of the products will not show the large and broad hydroxide absorption. Monitoring the disappearance of the hydroxide stretch will allow the reaction progression to be monitored also. The complete disappearance of this stretch will confirm that a new product has been formed. However, IR

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