Qualitative Analysis: Identification of Unknown (Part II)
Yes, after a few months, part 2...
Quali, Chem 31 version! *cue apocalyptic music*
Earlier this evening, I recieved vial number 10, a vial no one else has chosen, since everyone else got their unknowns a week before (stupid, stupid dengue). Anyway... It contained a white, odorless fine powder. And just like Liquid vial 19 and solid vial 19, solid vial 10 was an unknown compound: one I have to identify (otherwise I screw up... again). This time, I have an advantage: I know the compound has carbon! *song of storm and fire* ORLY Bernard, let's go with that over thar.
So yeah. I set about doing the dreaded SODIUM FUSION TESTS, which, as any organic chemist with minimal funds not to afford a spectrometer would know, will allow you to test whether you have sulphur, phosphorus, oxygen, nitrogen or halogen in your compound. *gasp* UNLIMITED POWER WITHIN YOUR GRASP! Oh, and you get to put sodium and watr and break a test tube: two things any juvenilic biochem major would enjoy: or not. The results, after an hour or so of having to endlessly wash pipettes in hard water (and staining my hands with a chemical odor), yielded positive to bromine. OMG I HAS BROMINE!
Then, I went ahead with the solubility tests. It was insoluble to water, so I moved to NaOH, which dissolved it (kinda), and then went ahead with NaHCO3. It was insoluble. WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED? With a little help from CAS lib (and with the lady guard telling me off because OMG LABGOWNS ARE NOT ALLOWED AT CAS LIB!), Ate Fatima and The local kitten of DPSM (no joke here), I learned that my unknown was weakly acidic, which meant it was either a phenol or an enol (I have ruled out others since they were all nitrogen-containing and some of them even had sulfur on them, which I know are not in my sample). So... An Aromatic alcohol and an unsaturated alcohol...
Here comes the crux of my widdle quali... I tested it for aromaticity with Le Rosen test. Le Rosen says NOWAIZ YOU DON'T HAS PHENYL. So phenol is out of the question. Then, I went with test for unsaturation. Bromine in CH2Cl2 says that I don't have any multiple bonds. But Potassium Dichromate test says I have an alcohol. So that means... I have an alcohol halide.
Alcohol halides were not even part of the solubility test. Plus, HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A SOLID ALCOHOL?!? HELLZYEAH. Truth be told, I'm utterly confused.
Wahaha~
Quali, Chem 31 version! *cue apocalyptic music*
Earlier this evening, I recieved vial number 10, a vial no one else has chosen, since everyone else got their unknowns a week before (stupid, stupid dengue). Anyway... It contained a white, odorless fine powder. And just like Liquid vial 19 and solid vial 19, solid vial 10 was an unknown compound: one I have to identify (otherwise I screw up... again). This time, I have an advantage: I know the compound has carbon! *song of storm and fire* ORLY Bernard, let's go with that over thar.
So yeah. I set about doing the dreaded SODIUM FUSION TESTS, which, as any organic chemist with minimal funds not to afford a spectrometer would know, will allow you to test whether you have sulphur, phosphorus, oxygen, nitrogen or halogen in your compound. *gasp* UNLIMITED POWER WITHIN YOUR GRASP! Oh, and you get to put sodium and watr and break a test tube: two things any juvenilic biochem major would enjoy: or not. The results, after an hour or so of having to endlessly wash pipettes in hard water (and staining my hands with a chemical odor), yielded positive to bromine. OMG I HAS BROMINE!
Then, I went ahead with the solubility tests. It was insoluble to water, so I moved to NaOH, which dissolved it (kinda), and then went ahead with NaHCO3. It was insoluble. WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED? With a little help from CAS lib (and with the lady guard telling me off because OMG LABGOWNS ARE NOT ALLOWED AT CAS LIB!), Ate Fatima and The local kitten of DPSM (no joke here), I learned that my unknown was weakly acidic, which meant it was either a phenol or an enol (I have ruled out others since they were all nitrogen-containing and some of them even had sulfur on them, which I know are not in my sample). So... An Aromatic alcohol and an unsaturated alcohol...
Here comes the crux of my widdle quali... I tested it for aromaticity with Le Rosen test. Le Rosen says NOWAIZ YOU DON'T HAS PHENYL. So phenol is out of the question. Then, I went with test for unsaturation. Bromine in CH2Cl2 says that I don't have any multiple bonds. But Potassium Dichromate test says I have an alcohol. So that means... I have an alcohol halide.
Alcohol halides were not even part of the solubility test. Plus, HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A SOLID ALCOHOL?!? HELLZYEAH. Truth be told, I'm utterly confused.
Wahaha~