iranchembook.

ir/edu
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U
Theopen
University RSaC
ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY

The
Molecular
World

Separation, Purification
and Identification
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This publication forms part of an Open University course, S205 The Molecular World. Most of
the texts which make up this course are shown opposite. Details of this and other Open University
courses can be obtained from the Call Centre, PO Box 724, The Open University, Milton Keynes
MK7 6ZS, United Kingdom: tel. +44 (0)1908 65323 1, e-mail [email protected]
Alternatively, you may visit the Open University website at http://www.open.ac.uk where you
can learn more about the wide range of courses and packs offered at all levels by The Open
University.
The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
First published 2002
Copyright 0 2002 The Open University
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
transmitted or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher or a licence from the
Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may
be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London
W1P OLP.
Edited, designed and typeset by The Open University.
Published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Milton
Road, Cambridge CB4 OWF, UK.
Printed in the United Kingdom by Bath Press Colourbooks, Clasgow.
ISBN 0 85404 685 2
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
1.1
s205book 8 il.1
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This series provides a broad foundation in chemistry, The series has been devised as the course material for
introducing its fundamental ideas, principles and the Open University Course S205 The Molecular World.
techniques, and also demonstrating the central role of Details of this and other Open University courses can be
chemistry in science and the importance of a molecular obtained from the Course Information and Advice Centre,
approach in biology and the Earth sciences. Each title is PO Box 724, The Open University, Milton Keynes
attractively presented and illustrated in full colour. MK7 6ZS, UK; Tel+44 (0)1908 653231; e-mail:
[email protected]. Alternatively, the website at
The Molecular World aims to develop an integrated
www.open.ac.uk gives more information about the
approach, with major themes and concepts in organic,
wide range of courses and packs offered at all levels
inorganic and physical chemistry, set in the context of
by The Open University.
chemistry as a whole. The examples given illustrate both
the application of chemistry in the natural world and its Further information about this series is available at
importance in industry. Case studies, written by www,rsc.org/molecularworld.
acknowledged experts in the field, are used to show how Orders and enquiries should be sent to:
chemistry impinges on topics of social and scientific
interest, such as polymers, batteries, catalysis, liquid Sales and Customer Care Department, Royal Society of
crystals and forensic science. Interactive multimedia Chemistry, Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Milton
CD-ROMs are included throughout, covering a range of Road, Cambridge, CB4 OWF, UK
topics such as molecular structures, reaction sequences, Tel: +44 (0)1223 432360; Fax: +44 (0)1223 426017;
spectra and molecular modelling. Electronic questions e-mail: [email protected]
facilitating revisiodconsolidation are also used.

The titles in The Molecular World series are:

edited by Lesley Smart and Michael Gagan

edited by David Johnson

edited by Michael Mortimer and Peter Taylor

edited by Elaine Moore

edited by Peter Taylor and Michael Gagan

edited by Lesley Smart

edited by Charles Harding, David Johnson and Rob Janes

edited by Peter Taylor

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Course Team Chair Tim Martin

Lesley Smart Jessica Barrington
Open University Authors Course Reader
Eleanor Crabb (Book 8) Cliff Ludman
Michael Gagan (Book 3 and Book 7) Course Assessor
Charles Harding (Book 9) Professor Eddie Abel, University of Exeter
Rob Janes (Book 9)
Audio and Audiovisual recording
David Johnson (Book 2, Book 4 and Book 9)
Kirsten Hintner
Elaine Moore (Book 6)
Andrew f i x
Michael Mortimer (Book 5 )
Lesley Smart (Book 1, Book 3 and Book 8) Design
Peter Taylor (Book 5, Book 7 and Book 10) Steve Best
Judy Thomas (Study File) Carl Gibbard
Ruth Williams (skills, assessment questions) Sarah Hack
Other authors whose previous contributions to the earlier Mike Levers
courses S246 and S247 have been invaluable in the Sian Lewis
preparation of this course: Tim Allott, Alan Bassindale, Stuart John Taylor
Bennett, Keith Bolton, John Coyle, John Emsley, Jim Iley, Ray Howie Twiner
Jones, Joan Mason, Peter Morrod, Jane Nelson, Malcolm
Rose, Richard Taylor, Kilu Warr. Library
Judy Thomas
Course Manager
Mike Bullivant Picture Researchers
Lydia Eaton
Course Team Assistant
Deana Plummer
Debbie Gingell
Technical Assistance
Course Editors
Brandon Cook
Ian Nuttall
Pravin Pate1
Bina Sharma
Dick Sharp Consultant Authors
Peter Twomey Ronald Dell (Case Study: Batteries and Fuel Cells)
Adrian Dobbs (Book 8 and Book 10)
CD-ROM Production
Chris Falshaw (Book 10)
Andrew Bertie
Andrew Galwey (Case Study: Acid Rain)
Greg Black
Guy Grant (Case Study: Molecular Modelling)
Matthew Brown
Alan Heaton (Case Study: Industrial Organic Chemistry,
Philip Butcher
Case Study: Industrial Inorganic Chemistry)
Chris Denham Bob Hill (Case Study: Polymers and Gels)
Spencer Harben
Roger Hill (Book 10)
Peter Mitton Anya Hunt (Case Study: Forensic Science)
David Palmer Corrie Imrie (Case Study: Liquid Crystals)
BBC Clive McKee (Book 5 )
Rosalind B i n Bob Murray (Study File, Book 11)
Stephen Haggard Andrew Platt (Case Study: Forensic Science)
Melanie Heath Ray Wallace (Study File, Book 11)
Darren Wycherley Craig Williams (Case Study: Zeolites)
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PART 1 CHEMISTRY: A PRACTICAL

SUBJECT
Adrian D o b b s and Lesley Smart

1.1 Planning a reaction 11

1.2 Assembling the apparatus: doing the reaction 12
1.3 Summary of Section 1 20

2.1 Solvent extraction and separation 23

2.2 Separation by distillation 34
2.3 Chromatography 41
2.3.1 Thin-layer chromatography 41
2.3.2 Column chromatography 45
2.4 Recrystallization 50
2.5 Which technique to use? 51
2.6 Summary of Section 2 52

4.1 How pure is pure? 54

5.1 Elemental analysis 56

5.1.1 Carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen analysis 56
5.1.2 Other elemental analyses 57
5.1.3 Atomic spectroscopy 58
5.2 Finding the empirical formula 63
5.3 Mass spectrometry 65
5.4 Summary of Section 5 73
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PART 2 SPECTROSCOPY
Lesley Smart and Eleanor Crabb
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CASE STUDY: FORENSIC SCIENCE

A n d y Platt, Anya Hunt and Lesley Smart

2.1 The incidents 94

2.2 The investigation 94

3.1 The incident 100

3.2 The investigation 102

4.1 The incident 106

4.2 The investigation 107

5.1 The incident 110

5.2 Original investigation 113
5.3 Recent scientific investigation 114
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Part I

Chemistry:
A Practical Subject
based on 'The Search for Purity'
by Keith Bolton and Malcolm Rose (1 99 1)
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Chemistry is a fundamental science that underpins much of the world around us.
It is also a practical subject. Although much of what we have learnt so far may
have seemed conceptual or theoretical in nature, the basis for it has all come about
through centuries of experimental laboratory work performed originally by
individuals in their own homes, but nowadays by chemists - technicians,
undergraduates, postgraduates and advanced researchers. None of the chemistry that
you have learnt so far would have been known without these skilled experimentalists.
The aim of this book is to introduce you to many of the skills and techniques that
are required by the modern chemist, such as how to perform a reaction, how to
purify the products and finally how to prove your results - that you have actually
made what you set out to make. In the text we can only describe the various
procedures, but you will be able to watch many of them on the associated CD-ROM.
The skills and techniques described here are generally applicable to the whole of
chemistry, whether it be an organic or inorganic experiment. Therefore rather than
subdividing the book on the basis of the different branches of chemistry, we have
integrated the material as far as possible, using examples from all areas of modern
chemistry.

Before chemists can perform a reaction, just as in any profession, they need to plan
exactly what they are going to do. If you were to ask practising chemists, they
would all agree that time spent in planning a reaction is time well spent, and
invaluable to the success of the experiment.
What are the major points which you should consider when planning a reaction?
A list of most of the questions and points is given below.
0
The scale of the reaction - how much product do you want to make?
0
The mole ratios of the reactants; how much of each reactant to use?
0
How expensive are the reagents? Are there cheaper alternatives?
What is the most suitable solvent for the reaction?
0
What temperature will be required?
0
How long will the reaction take?
0
Will you need to work under an inert and/or dry atmosphere?
0
What equipment will be needed?
Can the reaction be performed on the benchtop, or is a fume cupboard needed?
0
What safety precautions will be necessary?
You also have to consider what you are trying to achieve during the reaction. Is the
reaction probing some detailed reaction mechanism or is it preparatory - in other
words, part of a long synthesis directed towards a desired product. An analytical
chemist investigating a mechanism will have a very different set of priorities in
planning a reaction compared to a synthetic chemist.
11
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Chemists find that the careful keeping of a laboratory notebook is essential during
their work. This involves carefully noting down everything that was done during an
experiment from start to finish, recording relevant masses and other data such as
temperature and timings, and noting all observations. If this is done in an orderly
fashion, then it is very easy to draw conclusions from an experiment, to draw out data
for a report or publication, to repeat the reaction, or simply to plan your next reaction.
An extract from a (rather idealized!) well-kept laboratory notebook should look
something like Figure 1.1.
Notice the style and the various conventions that are used. The aim of the
experiment and the equation for the reaction are set out clearly at the start, followed
by the method and finally the results. A note is also made of any safety precautions
necessary. Note that amounts of substances are placed in brackets after the
compounds they refer to and are given in grams (or mls if the compound is a liquid)
and also (preferably) in numbers of moles: this is conventional for formal reports
and publications, so you may as well get used to it from the start.

A template for how you should write-up your experiment in your laboratory
notebook is given in Figure 1.2 (overleaf). You may well see variations on this style
elsewhere and there is nothing wrong with most of these. However, if you follow
this general format, you will not go far wrong when writing-up experiments.

Before we can consider doing a reaction, we need to learn something about the
apparatus that is available to use. You may have encountered some chemical
apparatus before, for example a test tube, beaker or conical flask or even a bunsen
burner. These alone however are insufficient to perform most reactions. Over the
years, chemists have developed specialized apparatus for performing chemical
reactions. In particular, we have glassware which is capable of withstanding extreme
high and low temperatures and corrosive substances, and which can be used to keep
out air and moisture. This specialized glassware consists of a series of interlocking
tapered ground-glass joints (Figure 1.3 overleaf), which permit various pieces of
glassware and apparatus to be connected together without the need for rubber
stoppers, corks or any sort of rubber tubing connectors (the joints only need to be
lightly greased). Collectively, this apparatus is known as Quickfit@apparatus, due
to the easy and rapid way in which the apparatus may be connected and assembled.
Illustrated in Figure 1.4 (overleaf) is a typical set of glassware and Quickfit glass
apparatus which you might encounter in any modern laboratory, whether it be in a
university or in industry. You should try and familiarize yourself with the names and
shapes of each of these pieces of apparatus, so that when you come to follow an
experimental procedure, you know exactly what apparatus you need to assemble.

12
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Title Date

Clear diagram, showing /

reaction sequence being
performed.

!
Note, also includes Clear calculation, laid out
molecular formula and to show number of moles,
molar masses of reagents. molar equivalents and
mass (or volume) for each
reagent.

Some type of safety or risk

assessment for the reaction,
to satisfy legal requirements
and show that the
experimentalist has thought
about the safety
implications and aspects of
the experiment. For
particularly dangerous
reactions or toxic reagents,
a more detailed safety
assessment may be
required.

Experimental details of
reaction performed,
including all
observable changes.

I
Carefully recorded
mass of (each)
product, together
with calculated %
yield(s).
Figure 1.1
An extract from a
laboratory notebook.
13
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Figure 1.2 Template for an experimental write-up.

Figure 1.3
Quickfit glassware. Quickfit is a registered
trademark of Bibby Sterilin Ltd.

14
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Figure 1.4 A selection of laboratory equipment.

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Handling Quickfit apparatus is an acquired skill in its own right and it takes a while
to be familiar with its use and capabilities. Quickfit apparatus comes in a variety of
sizes, each perfectly adapted for large- or small-scale reactions. It is left to the
experimentalist to decide which size of flask or funnel would be best for the
particular reaction that is to be performed.

At some point in the near future you should watch the video entitled Looking
at Glassware in the multimedia activity called Practical techniques on the
Experimental techniques CD-ROM that accompanies this book. This activity
demonstrates how to assemble various pieces of chemical apparatus and
illustrates the advantages of the interlocking Quickfit style of glassware. This
activity should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Under legislation known as COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health),

a detailed risk assessment has to be made, documented and filed for every
experiment performed. This may indicate that special safety precautions are deemed
necessary, such as using a fume cupboard, or a face-mask. How to make these
assessments is beyond the scope of this book *.
Once we have assembled the apparatus, we can start the reaction. Part of a typical
experimental procedure may read as follows:
‘Place 2-methylpropan-2-01 (25 g; 0.34 mol) and concentrated hydrochloric acid
(85 mlt) in a 250 ml separating funnel and shake the mixture from time to time
over 20 minutes.’
What exactly does this mean and how can we relate this to the apparatus you have
just been learning about? From Figure 1.4, we can see what a separating (or
separatory) funnel looks like. However, there are also certain assumptions in any
given experimental procedure. For example, all apparatus should always be clamped
securely (Figure 1.5a) so that it does not drop or fall over, and you may have noticed
this as you watched Looking at Glassware in Computer Activity 1.1. This is always
assumed rather than stated, as an experienced chemist knows that a separating
funnel or round-bottomed flask cannot stand on its own. If we were to write this
experimental procedure out in full, it is actually telling you to:
Put on laboratory coat, goggles and gloves.
Clamp a 250 ml separating funnel securely and close the tap.
Place 2-methylpropan-2-01 (25 g; 0.34 mol) and concentrated hydrochloric acid
(85 ml) inside the separating funnel, pouring them in carefully from a measuring
cylinder, using a funnel.
Place a stopper in the separating funnel and shake the mixture from time to time
for a period of 20 minutes. Between each shaking, invert the funnel carefully,

* Risk assessments are considered further in Exploring the Molecular World’.

t In practical work it is common to use ‘ml’ rather than the equivalent cm-3.

16
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holding the stopper tightly in place, and open the tap to release any excess
pressure of gas. The reason for carrying out this last procedure, rather than the
more obvious loosening of the stopper, is that if there is a pressure of gas inside
the vessel, when you loosen the stopper it could blow hydrochloric acid fumes
into your face. By inverting the funnel and releasing the gas through the tap,
you can point it safely away from yourself. (Figure 1.5b).

Based on your knowledge of the reactions of alcohols *, write an equation for

the reaction being performed in the experiment we have just described.
The experiment described the reaction of 2-methylpropan-2-01 with
concentrated hydrochloric acid, the product that we hope to obtain is 2-chloro-
2-methylpropane, via a nucleophilic substitution (SNl) reaction mechanism.

H
.-&OH ,)-6<
H
-
C
c1l-’

This was a fairly simple experimental procedure. Another is described below, for the
preparation of carbonatotetraamminecobalt(II1) nitrate from cobalt(I1) nitrate,
ammonia, ammonium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide, by the unbalanced equation (a>

Co(NO3)2 + NH3 + (NH&C03 + H202 +[ C O ( N H ~ ) ~ C O ~ ]+NNH4N03 O~ + H20

‘Dissolve (NH4)2C03(20 g; 0.21 mol) in distilled water (60 ml) and add
concentrated aqueous ammonia (60 ml). While stirring, pour this solution into
an aqueous solution of Co(NO3)2 (15 g; 0.052 mol, 30 ml of distilled water).
Slowly add hydrogen peroxide (8 ml, 30% solution). Pour into an evaporating
dish and concentrate to 90-100 ml over a bunsen burner (do not allow the
solution to boil). During the evaporation time add (NH4)&03 in small portions
( 5 g; 0.05 mol).’
This reaction would be done in a fume cupboard because ammonia fumes are
extremely pungent and lachrymatory (they make you cry). No special equipment is
required and it is a case of making a sensible choice of vessels for the mixing and
heating. A fuller explanation of what we would actually do in each step of the
procedure is:
Weigh the solid (NH4)$03 (20 g; 0.21 mol) using a top-loading balance and
place in a 250 ml beaker. (b)
Figure 1.5
Measure 60 ml of water using a 100ml measuring cylinder, add it to the beaker (a> Separating two layers using
and stir with a glass rod to dissolve the solid. a separating funnel.
Measure 60 ml of conc. ammonia in the measuring cylinder and pour into the (b) Pressure from a
beaker carefully. separating funnel.

Prepare the aqueous solution of Co(NO3)2 (15 g; 0.052 mol, in 30 ml of distilled

water) similarly, in a small conical flask.
Mount the conical flask on a magnetic stirrer, put in a magnet bar, and set the
stirrer going.

* The reactions of alcohols is one of the subjects discussed in Chemical Kinetics and Mechanism2.

17
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Add the ammonia solution from the beaker to the flask by pouring carefully
either through a funnel or down a glass rod (Figure 1.6a).
Measure the hydrogen peroxide (8 ml of a 30% solution) in a clean, dry 10 ml
measuring cylinder and pour into the reaction mixture while maintaining
stirring.
Transfer the solution to a large evaporating dish which is supported over a
bunsen burner using a tripod stand (Figure 1.6b).
Heat very slowly and carefully to prevent spitting while gradually spooning in
the previously weighed (NH&C03 ( 5 g; 0.05 mol) using a spatula.
Both these experimental procedures are comparatively straightforward, since no
precautions have to be taken to exclude air, moisture, heat or light. Unfortunately,
this is rarely the case and more often than not, chemists have to take specific
precautions to exclude at least one of these factors, most commonly air (particularly
oxygen) or moisture (as water vapour in the air). Our next experimental procedure
shows the precautions that must be taken when performing a moisture-sensitive
reaction - in this case the preparation of the organometallic complex
[ {Fe(C0)2(rl"-C~H5) 121

co
+ C10H12 - t 6CO + H2

Figure 1.6
(a) Transferring a solution from one vessel to another.
(b) Evaporating a solution over a bunsen burner.
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(Note that q5 (pronounced 'eta five') refers to the way in which the C5H5ring is
bonded to Fe.)
'This procedure must be carried out in a fume cupboard. Assemble the
apparatus shown in Figure 1.7, and perform the reaction under an atmosphere
of dry nitrogen. Add Fe(CO)j (14.6 g, 10ml; 70.5 mmol) and dicyclopentadiene
(60 g, 64 ml; 455 mmol) to the flask. Reduce the nitrogen flow and heat the
reaction mixture under reflux to 135 "C for 8 to 10hours. (It is important not to
let the temperature go below 130 "C (as no reaction will occur) or above 140 "C
(decomposition of the product will occur). After the reaction period, allow the
mixture to cool slowly to room temperature.'

Figure 1.7
Typical arrangement of apparatus
for an inert-atmosphere experiment.
Note that the surrounding bath may
be used to heat (oil bath) or cool
(ice bath) a reaction. When heating,
a reflux condenser would be placed
in one of the necks of the reaction
flask.

A fuller explanation of what we would actually do in each step in the procedure is:
Assemble the apparatus as shown in Figure 1.7.
Flush the system for 5 minutes with a rapid stream of nitrogen.
With the nitrogen stream still flowing rapidly, remove the thermometer and add
dicyclopentadiene (60 g, 64 ml, 455 mmol) to the round-bottomed 3-necked
flask. To minimize your exposure to Fe(CO)j, use a syringe to measure out and
introduce the Fe(CO)5 (14.6 g, 10 ml, 70.5 mmol) through the rubber septum
into the flask. The constant stream of nitrogen will minimize air (which contains
water vapour) entering the flask while the reactants are being added.
Placing a reflux condenser between the flask and bubbler, turn the nitrogen flow
down very low (one or two bubbles a minute). Using an oilbath, heat the
reaction mixture under reflux to 135 "C for 8 to 10hours. 'Heating under reflux'
means that you use a reflux condenser to prevent the volatile chemicals from
escaping from the flask. The reflux condenser is cooled by circulating cold

19
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water; when hot vapours rise up through it, they meet the cold surface, condense
and drip back into the reaction mixture. The reaction temperature cannot rise
above the boiling temperature of the solvent (you will see this demonstrated in
Computer Activity 2.3).
Carefully adjust the thermostatic control to maintain steady boiling, checking
the temperature remains between 130 "C and 140 "C.
After the reaction period, allow the mixture to cool slowly to room temperature,
increasing the nitrogen flow slightly. (The nitrogen flow will prevent air from
being drawn into the reaction vessel as it cools.)
We can immediately see that such a procedure is going to take a lot more time and
will also require a great deal more care and skill from the experimentalist.
Practical chemistry is a manual skill in much the same way as cookery, woodwork
or embroidery. It takes time and practice to learn and develop the right skills to be
able to perform a reaction or synthesis with confidence.
Simply doing a reaction is not the end of the story; it is really just the beginning of a
long process as we will see in the following sections.

1 Chemistry is a practical subject, requiring specialist apparatus to perform most

chemical reactions.
2 Chemists have a unique style of describing and writing-up experiments.
3 A risk assessment must always be made before performing any experiment.
4 It is sometimes necessary to perform reactions under a dry, inert gaseous
atmosphere, to exclude all traces of moisture and oxygen.

The following is taken from a student's badly written laboratory notebook.

Can you spot the mistakes and rewrite it in a proper scientific style?
'The three chemicals were put in a flask with a white plastic bar. A change had
happened after 35 minutes, so I stopped the reaction and then added solvents
and separated them. I evaporated one layer to give the product. The reaction
was done under dry conditions. The starting material was a white solid and the
product a yellow oil, which I got lots of.'

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Now that the reaction is over, you may think that the hard work is finished. Not so.
Chemists often refer to the next stage of the process as the work-up of a reaction.
A typical work-up procedure may be as simple as the addition of another reagent
(in organic reactions this is often water or dilute acid) in order to finish or quench
a reaction; but it may be a lengthy series of procedures, taking far longer than the
actual reaction itself. Nevertheless, the work-up stage of a reaction may be critical
to its success.
Sometimes the work-up of a reaction is simple. Take the case of the last of the three
experiments that we considered, the preparation of the complex [ { Fe(C0)2(q5-C5H5)}2]
Here we saw a sophisticated experiment where we had to take precautions to
exclude air and moisture in order to ensure success. This reaction has a very easy
work-up procedure. After the reaction mixture has cooled to room temperature,
deep-red crystals of the desired product form. The crystals are simply filtered off
from the solution and dried in the air. This is an example of a complicated reaction
where the desired product is the only solid obtained and so its isolation is very simple.
Now let us consider the reaction of a carbonyl group with a Grignard reagent
(CH3MgBr) to produce an alcohol *. You will often see this reaction written as

CH3MgBr
R

This is not quite a true representation of the experiment. The methyl group adds to
the carbonyl group, but the product is not the alcohol, but a species known as a
metal alkoxide (an ionic complex between the negatively charged oxygen atom and
the positively charged metal)

CH3MgBr
R

It is this alkoxide that is the product of Reaction 2.2 depicted above. The desired
product, the alcohol, is only produced when dilute hydrochloric acid is added to the
reaction flask at the end of the reaction, during the work-up procedure. So here, the
work-up procedure is the second step of the reaction scheme.

R w,, CH3MgBr
*
H3C

R
O-+MgBr

Thus the correct way to write Reaction 2.1 would be

-dil. HCI
(2.3)

(i)CH3MgBr
(ii) dil. HCl * (2.4)
R R
* The use of a Grignard reagent is discussed in Mechanism and Synthesis3

21
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As HC1 is not the only acid that can be used, you will also see the abbreviations
H+/H20or H30+to mean ‘add dilute acid’; all are perfectly acceptable alternatives.
The addition of an acid or a base to a reaction is a very common work-up procedure
and it normally performs a dual function. It is the final step of a reaction sequence,
liberating the desired product (such as forming the alcohol in the above sequence)
while at the same time it destroys excess reagents and stops any further reaction
taking place, This is particularly true of dry reactions, where we have taken special
precautions to exclude all moisture from the reaction. Adding water to a dry
reaction, destroys any excess moisture-sensitive reagent that may still be present, as
well as performing any other work-up function (such as liberating the desired
product in the above example).

Why is it particularly important to exclude moisture from many reactions?

Water (or water vapour in the air) can itself react with some of the reagents,
thus destroying them.

In the above reaction, any moisture present would have destroyed the Grignard reagent.
Now we return to one of the other experiments that we considered in Section 1: the
preparation of 2-chloro-2-methylpropane from 2-methylpropan-2-01

OH + HC1 --.+ C1 + H20

2-methylpropan-2-01 2-chloro-2-
methylpropane

We saw that this is an easy experiment to perform. But how can we be sure that a
reaction has taken place, and if the reaction has finished? Can we be sure that
2-chloro-2-methylpropane has been produced and not something else? Sometimes it
is easy to know a reaction has occurred because something visible happens, for
instance, the colour changes, or a precipitate forms, or a gas is evolved. In this case
we only see a clear solution both before and after reaction. One possibility would be
to test the reaction mixture for the presence of 2-chloro-2-methylpropane. But how?
How do we identify the products of the reaction?

What substances could be present in the reaction flask at the end of the
preparation of 2-chloro-2-methylpropane?
At the end of the preparation, we would hope that 2-chloro-2-methylpropane
would be present. We would also expect to find some water (the other reaction
product) and possibly some unreacted starting materials, HC1 and (CH3)3COH.
There may also be products of other possible side-reactions, such as
elimination, or of reactions between the reactants and the products - in other
words, we could have a complex mixture.

So, we do not just have to check that the desired product has been formed, but
must also identify it from among a mixture of many possible components. As in
most reactions, there is likely to be a variety of different substances present at
the end of the reaction time, and the problem of identifying and isolating
2-chloro-2-methylpropane is not straightforward. Thus it is fortunate when crystals
such as [ { Fe(C0)2(q5-C5H5)}2]can be isolated so easily.

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In order to complete a reaction, therefore, chemists require in their armoury:

techniques for the separation of compounds from a mixture;
methods for purifying separated components;
a means of identifying which elements a compound contains;
a method of determining the amount of each element in a compound (and thus
determining the formula);
a means of determining the structure of the compound.
There are very few techniques that allow a compound to be identified in the
presence of many other compounds. Those that are available tend to be very specific
and often expensive. So how do we proceed? We need to separate the components
of the mixture before attempting an identification of each of them.

In our experiment to produce 2-chloro-2-methylpropane, we reacted an organic

compound (2-methylpropan-2-01) with an aqueous mineral acid (HCl) and produced
an organic product (2-chloro-2-methylpropane) and water. At the end of the
reaction, the reaction flask probably contained a mixture of these four components,
in varying amounts, along with some by-products. The first step towards
purification that a chemist normally performs is a solvent extraction and separation.
The amount of a substance that dissolves in a particular solvent is the solubility of
that substance.

Solubility is a physical property, and its value depends on the substance being
dissolved, on the solvent and on the temperature. So at any particular temperature,
different substances will have different solubilities in the same solvent. We can
make use of this fact in the technique of solvent extraction.

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Table 2.1 Common solvents, listed in decreasing order of polarity

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In our synthesis of 2-chloro-2-methylpropane, assuming that there are only four

components in the reaction flask (i.e. some unreacted starting materials and the
two products), which do you think are likely to dissolve if we added (a) an
organic solvent, (b) water?
We have just seen that like dissolves like. The starting material,
2-methylpropan-2-01 and the product, 2-chloro-2-methylpropane will dissolve
in an organic solvent, but not in water as they are non-polar molecules. If we
add water, the unreacted HCl dissolves, but not the organic components.

Imagine now what would happen if we added equal volumes of an organic solvent
and water. The two solvents will not mix, and so they will form two immiscible
layers. The organic components will dissolve in the organic layer, and the ionic
components will dissolve in the aqueous layer. By adding two different solvents to
the reaction, one organic and one aqueous, we have a method for the separation of
the organic and inorganic components of the reaction mixture. As we saw earlier, we
do this by transferring the mixture into a separating funnel (Figure lS), adding
water and an organic solvent, shaking well to mix the solvents thoroughly, leaving
for a while to allow the layers to separate completely, and then running the bottom
layer off through the tap into a flask or beaker, leaving the top layer behind in the
funnel. This piece of apparatus makes separation of the two layers particularly easy.
Typical organic solvents, which are immiscible with water and which are commonly
used in solvent extractions are the ether, ethoxyethane (diethyl ether), ethyl
ethanoate (ethyl acetate) and toluene (all of which have a lower density than water
and thus float on water and form the top layer in a separating funnel) and
dichloromethane (which has a greater density than water and thus sinks below water
in a separating funnel). It is most important to remember which layer is which -
many a time students have discarded the wrong layer and watched their precious
compound disappear down the drain! Extraction and separation thus appears to be
an ideal method for the separation of organic and inorganic materials.
Unfortunately, the extraction and separation are not always complete. The situation
just described, where components are perfectly soluble in one type of solvent and
completely insoluble in another, is the exception rather than the norm. Most
substances are somewhat soluble in both organic and aqueous solvents, even if the
solubility in one of these is particularly low. This feature is illustrated by the
following example. Consider the preparation of pentane- 1,5-dioic acid from
pentane- 175-dinitrileaccording to the following reaction

NC / \ / \ C N -
H2S04
H20
HOOC -COOH
pentane- 1,5-dinitrile pentane- 1,5-dioic acid (2.6)

If we were to perform an aqueous/organic extraction and separation at the end of

this reaction, in which layer do you think that the product, pentane- 175-dioicacid,
will dissolve? The structure of this organic acid has both polar (two carboxylic acid
groups) and non-polar (hydrocarbon chain) parts, neither of which dominates the
other, and the acid dissolves in both polar and non-polar solvents, and so some of
the product would be in the organic layer and some would be in the aqueous layer.
Obviously, this is not very helpful to the chemist who would like a clean separation
of the product into one layer or the other. Although the case of this acid is an
extreme example, this is not an entirely unusual occurrence.

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How do you think the organic acid can be extracted from the solution in
Reaction 2.6?
Earlier, you were told that like dissolves like. Therefore, if we add an organic
solvent to the mixture, the organic acid (together with any remaining starting
dinitrile) should be extracted, to some extent, into this solvent, leaving the
sulfuric acid, water and other polar substances in the aqueous layer.

So if a proportion of the acid dissolves in the organic layer, how do you think we
might be able to extract the remainder of the product from the aqueous solution?
The simplest answer is to remove or separate the organic layer, and then add a
further quantity of organic solvent and repeat the extraction.

In practice we do the extraction several times, as this maximizes the yield. After a
reaction such as the synthesis of the dioic acid above, the aqueous solution is
transferred to a separating funnel. Ethoxyethane (diethyl ether) is chosen as the
organic solvent in this case. A 150 ml volume of ethoxyethane is added and, after
shaking, the two liquids are allowed to separate. Ethoxyethane is almost insoluble in
water, and a distinct boundary is observed between the water and the ether. The
aqueous layer is run off into a separate container, and the remaining ethereal layer
contains the organic acid. This organic layer (containing our product) is now stored
in a separate container and the aqueous layer transferred back into the separating
funnel. A further portion of ethoxyethane is added and the procedure repeated.
Chemists normally go through this process three or four times as this ensures
maximum efficiency in extracting the product from the aqueous layer.

Why is it preferable to extract four times with small portions (e.g. 4 x 150ml)
of the ether, rather than extract once with a large volume (600 ml) of ether?
Extracting with four portions of 150 ml of solvent is much more effective than
extracting with a single volume of 600 ml. We know this from everyday
experience; for instance, if we are extracting paint from paintbrushes, much
cleaner brushes will result from washing with five portions of 20 ml of white
spirit than with one portion of 100 ml of white spirit.

After extracting the aqueous solution from the reaction with four successive 150 ml
portions of ethoxyethane, the ether extracts are combined. Water is not completely
insoluble in ethoxyethane, and the small quantity of water present is removed from
the ether by stirring it with a solid drying agent such as anhydrous magnesium
sulfate. (Anhydrous means ‘without water’: not only is the magnesium sulfate dry,
but it does not have any water of crystallization.) This is known as drying the
soZvent. The solid drying agent is removed from the ether solution by filtration.
Finally, the solvent is removed from the dioic acid product by distillation over a hot
water bath. (Distillation is covered in detail in Section 2.2.)The resulting residue in
this case is fairly pure pentane- 1,5-dioic acid.

A reaction mixture contains the following components:

Toluene; sodium chloride; benzyl bromide; ethoxyethane; potassium bromide
and sodium hydrogen carbonate.
If equal volumes of water and ethoxyethane were added to this mixture in a
separating funnel, what would be observed? Where would each component reside?
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You should now be getting familiar with reading and understanding

experimental procedures. Try and write an experimental and work-up procedure
for the preparation of pentane- 1,5-dioic acid from pentane- 1,5-dinitrile. Figure 2.1
The experimental procedure for the preparation of pentane- 1,5-dioic acid is The preparation of
illustrated schematically in Figure 2.1. pentane- 1,5-dioic acid.

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Extraction techniques were also employed in the preparation of another compound which
we discussed earlier, 2-chloro-2-methylpropane. However, at the end of this reaction
there were already two liquid layers present, without the addition of any extra solvent:
an essentially organic layer, consisting of the unchanged alcohol and the product
chloroalkane,
an essentially inorganic, aqueous layer, containing hydrochloric acid, which
becomes more dilute as the acid is used up and water is formed.
So here, a crude separation is straightforward, as shown in Figure 2.2; the two layers
are allowed to settle and then the lower layer (the aqueous layer) is run off and set
aside. The upper (organic) layer is then extracted again with water to remove traces
of acid and other water-soluble impurities. (Notice that this is the reverse of the
previous reaction: pentane- 1,5-dioic acid was extracted from water using an organic
solvent. Here we are using water to extract unwanted inorganic materials from an
organic solvent.) Any residual water dissolved in the organic phase is removed by
shaking it with anhydrous calcium chloride (a solid drying agent, like anhydrous
magnesium sulfate). So we have rapidly achieved a separation of the organic
components of the reaction mixture from the inorganic water-soluble ones. However,
we are still faced with a common problem: the organic layer is still not the pure
product (it contains at least two compounds - the starting material and the product),
and further separation and purification are required.
The separation achieved using the extraction procedure is usually quite crude, but it
often provides the first step in a series of purification steps, and can be particularly
important where organic material needs to be separated from inorganic material.
(Depending on the experiment, it may either be the organic or inorganic material
that is required.) We shall return to the problem of the separation of the various
components of our mixture shortly.

At some point in the near future you should watch the video entitled Solvent
Extraction - one organic in the multimedia activity Practical techniques on the
Experimental techniques CD-ROM that accompanies this book. This activity deals
with a case where the product to be extracted from the reaction mixture is that from
a typical oxidation of a primary alcohol. Benzoic acid has been produced by the
oxidation of benzyl alcohol with acidified potassium dichromate, and the organic
product has to be separated from the remaining inorganic reagents. This activity
should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.
0

benzyl alcohol benzoic acid

Separation is also useful when an organic mixture contains a mixture of acidic, basic
and/or neutral organic substances. A chemical reaction with an added basic or acidic
solution can be used to effect a separation.

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Figure 2.2
The preparation of
2-chloro-2-methylpropane.

In Computer Activity 2.2, we see how two organic compounds, an amine and a
carboxylic acid, are separated from each other. This reaction mixture was formed by
the hydrolysis of an amide
0 0
.
H+/H20
R'
+ R~IGH~

The first stage of the separation involves dichloromethane extraction of the acidic
aqueous solution, containing the carboxylic acid and amine.

Assuming that the aqueous acid was HCI, what chemical forms of the acid and
amine will predominate in the 'acidified water'?

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The acid is in equilibrium with its conjugate base, R'COO-

R'COO- + H30+6R'COOH + H 2 0
The high concentration of H30+will force this equilibrium to the right, so the
acid will exist predominantly in its neutral state.
The amine is in equilibrium with its conjugate acid

R2NH2+ H30+ R2kH3+ H20

The high concentration of HC1 will force this equilibrium to+theright also,
so the amine will exist mostly in its conjugate acid form, R2NH3.

The alkyl ammonium ion, R2&H3,having a positive charge, will dissolve

preferentially in the more polar of the two immiscible solvents, water. The less
polar acid, R'COOH, will prefer to dissolve in the solvent with lesser polarity,
dichloromethane. So, by separating the solvents using a separating funnel, the
carboxylic acid can be tapped off in the non-polar dichloromethane, leaving the
amine behind in the acidic aqueous layer as its ammonium salt. After drying,
evaporation of the dichloromethane then gives us the solid carboxylic acid.
The amine can be subsequently isolated by making the aqueous layer basic with
aqueous sodium or potassium hydroxide, and then extracting the amine into
ethoxyethane (diethyl ether).

Give a chemical equation that describes this procedure.

R2kH3+ HO- +R2NH2+ H 2 0
The equilibrium is forced to the right by a high concentration of hydroxide.
Therefore, the amine will be predominantly in its neutral form under these alkaline
conditions and, on the principle of like dissolves like, the amine will prefer a non-
polar solvent like ethoxyethane. After separation and drying of the ethoxyethane
layer from the aqueous layer, evaporation of the ethoxyethane gives the liquid
amine. Now watch the procedures in the following Computer Activity.

At some point in the near future you should watch the video entitled Solvent
Extraction - two organics in the multimedia activity Practical techniques on
the Experimental techniques CD-ROM that accompanies this book. This
activity deals with the separation of an amine from a carboxylic acid. This
activity should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

The amine and acid could have been isolated in the reverse order. If the original mixture
had been made alkaline first, the neutral amine would have been extracted by the
non-polar solvent, and the acid would have remained behind in the water in the form
of its highly polar conjugate base (RlCOO-). Acidification of the water would then
have returned the carboxylic acid to its neutral form (RlCOOH), allowing extraction
into a non-polar organic solvent. This second approach is illustrated in Figure 2.3.
R2&H3+ HO- 6R2NH2+ H 2 0
R'COOH + OH- +R'COO- + H20

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Figure 2.3 One method for separating an organic acid and an amine by solvent extraction.

Although the separations achieved using extraction procedures are crude, the
technique can be applied to large volumes of mixtures, and is therefore important on
both an industrial scale and on a laboratory preparative scale. In fact, in very simple
mixtures, extraction procedures may provide the required degree of separation.

What is the rationale behind the separation schemes used in the following
preparation?
1,5-dibromopentane can be prepared by the action of HBr in H2S04on
pentane- 1,5-diol

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HO(CH&OH + 2HBr - Br(CH2)SBr + 2Hz0

pentane- 1,5-diol 1,5-dibrornopentane

Place a mixture of 47% hydrobromic acid (125 g; 85 ml) and concentrated

sulfuric acid (37.5 g; 20.5 ml) in a 250 ml round-bottomed flask; add pure
pentane- 1,5-diol (17.5 g), attach a reflux condenser, and reflux gently for
2 hours. Allow to cool. Use a separating funnel to separate the lower layer of
crude dibromide, and wash it with water (three 10 ml portions). Dry the product
with anhydrous magnesium sulfate.

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We must now move on to consider how we can separate the various components
contained in one layer after solvent separation and washing. There are several
possible techniques that we could use to separate mixtures of organic compounds, and
all have the added advantage that they also purify the compound at the same time.

Distillation is a separation method that utilizes the different boiling points of the
various components in a mixture to effect separation. Although distillation has been
employed for centuries as a separation technique, the theory of the process for any
but the simplest mixtures is extremely complex. However, here we are less
interested in the theoretical aspects of distillation than in the factors that influence
the technique as a tool for separation.
Let's consider the results of a simple distillation. At a pressure of 1 atm, pure
benzene, C6H6,boils at 80 "C and pure methylbenzene (toluene), C6H5CH3,boils at
110 "C. Now consider putting equal masses of benzene and toluene in the distillation
apparatus shown in Figure 2.5 and slowly raising the temperature.

Figure 2.5
A simple distillation apparatus.

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At what temperature do you think the mixture will start to boil?

(a) at 80 "C
(b) at 110°C
(c) at a temperature midway between 80 "C and 110 "C
(d) at some other temperature
Answer (d) is correct. The mixture starts to boil at 92 "C; there is no simple
relationship between the boiling temperature of the mixture and the boiling
temperatures of the pure substances. (If you selected the wrong answer don't be
too alarmed: there are still some modern chemistry textbooks that would tell
you that the mixture would boil at 80 "C!)

However, as a separation technique, we are not so interested in the boiling

temperature as in the nature of the liquid that is collected in the receiver.

In the above distillation, what do you think will be collected in the receiver?
(a) a liquid that has the same composition as the original
(b) a liquid that is richer in benzene than the original
(c) a liquid that is less rich in benzene than the original
(d) virtually pure benzene
The correct answer is (b).

You may be surprised at the separating efficiency; the first drop of liquid collected
consists of 70% (by mass) of benzene and 30% (by mass) of toluene; that is, we
have produced a 70 : 30 mixture from a 50 : 50 mixture. As you can see, the
separation is not ideal. Furthermore, the first drop of liquid provides the best
separation; as distillation proceeds, the boiling temperature increases as the relative
amount of toluene distilling over increases. So, even for components with a
difference in boiling temperature as great as 30 "C, the separation is poor. Such a
procedure is useful only when there is a very large difference between the boiling
temperatures of the components that are to be separated.
However, this separation can be improved. If we take the first sample of mixture
that is collected in the receiver and repeat the distillation just on this small amount
of liquid, then from this second run the first drop of liquid to distil over consists of
85% (by mass) of benzene. By repeating the process again, a further improvement
in separation can be obtained. This time-consuming, repetitive process can be
carried out in one piece of apparatus - a distillation apparatus known as a
fractionating column (Figure 2.6 overleaf').
This fractional distillation greatly increases the speed and efficiency of the
separation process. The column is packed with glass beads or some other inert
material which has a large surface area. The vapour from the boiling liquid can
condense on the surface of the inert material and can then be boiled again by the
hot vapours coming up the column as the condensing liquid runs down. In this way
the distillation process is repeated many times within the column. The column is
therefore equivalent to many single distillation systems such as that shown in
Figure 2.5. If the packing material and the length of the column are carefully
chosen, fractionating columns are capable of efficiently separating liquids with
boiling temperatures only 2 "C apart.

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Figure 2.6 Distillation using a fractionating column.

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At some point in the near future you should watch the video entitled Distillation
in the multimedia activity Practical techniques on the Experimental techniques
CD-ROM that accompanies this book. This activity should take approximately
10 minutes to complete.

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Distillation is very good for separating large volumes of liquid mixtures containing
a small number of components, but it is not useful for separating each component of
a complex organic mixture. Distillation is used industrially to separate the different
fractions of crude petroleum in the oil-refining process.

Figure 2.8
Industrial fractionating columns
used in an oil refinery.

The statements in the preceding paragraph might appear to be contradictory, but

in fact they are not. Why?
Distillation of crude oil on an industrial scale requires a vast array of giant
fractionating columns (Figure 2.8), but even then the separation is only partial.

For example, the gasoline fraction of crude oil contains all the many compounds
with boiling temperatures between approximately 40 "C and 150 O C , but further
separation is not required for most uses. The internal combustion engine runs better
on a mixture of compounds than it does on any individual component. So distillation
is useful for separating the components of the complex mixture of crude oil into
approximate boiling ranges, but the separation is far from complete.
If we now return to our synthesis of 2-chloro-2-methylpropane, it turns out that a
fractional distillation is the method of choice for the final separation of the product
of the reaction. If you recall, we had successfully separated (by washing techniques)
the organic and inorganic materials. We were left with two organic compounds,
2-methylpropan-2-01 (starting material) and 2-chloro-2-methylpropane (product), in
an organic solvent. By performing a fractional distillation and collecting the boiling
fraction between 49 "C and 51 "C we are able to obtain a pure sample of the desired
product. Therefore the entire experimental procedure should read
'Place 2-methylpropan-2-01 (25 g; 0.34 mol) and concentrated hydrochloric acid
(85 ml) in a 250 ml separating funnel and shake the mixture from time to time
during 20 minutes. Draw off and set aside the lower acid layer. Wash the organic
layer with water (20 ml). Dry the organic layer with anhydrous calcium chloride
(5 g). Distil, collecting the fraction boiling between 49 "C and 51 "C.'

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Notice again how in written experimental procedures, the fine details such as the
assembly of glassware, and filtering off the solid drying agent, are all left out from
the written instructions and are simply assumed knowledge; however, the
experimentalist must still perform these steps.
We have now completed our synthesis of 2-chloro-2-methylpropane. We have
performed a reaction, carried out a work-up and separated our product. In this case
the final separation technique, fractional distillation, has also produced a pure
product, so no further purification step is needed. All that remains for the chemist
now is to confirm that the pure product obtained is actually the product that we set
out to make originally. How this is done is the subject of Section 5. But before we
do this, we must consider some other separation and purification techniques, for
cases where we cannot use distillation (e.g. if the product is a solid).
Finally, what would happen if the boiling temperature of our desired fraction is very
high (e.g. 160 "C)? It might well be dangerous to heat the mixture of compounds to
such a high temperature. Even if your target compound is stable at these high
temperatures, some of the other components in the mixture may not be, and may
even decompose dangerously or explosively. Therefore, chemists have developed a
technique known as distillation under reduced pressure. By lowering the pressure,
any liquid will boil at a lower temperature. This is a relatively straightforward
procedure; by reducing the pressure in the distillation apparatus using a pump, the
boiling temperatures of all the components in the mixture are considerably lowered.
Providing there is still a reasonable difference in the reduced boiling temperatures,
separation will still be effected.
It turns out that distillation as a separation technique, is very much the domain of the
organic chemist rather than the inorganic. One important exception is the cross-over
area of organometallic chemistry: for example, many tin-containing compounds, such
as tetraethyltin and tri-n-butyltin hydride, are high boiling-temperature liquids, which
are separated from the reaction mixture and purified by distillation. Tetraethyltin is
prepared by the reaction of tin tetrachloride with ethylmagnesium bromide
SnC14 + 4C2H5MgBr+Sn(C2H5)4+ 4MgBrC1
and the product is the fraction boiling at 180 "C to 182 "C under normal atmospheric
pressure.
It is interesting that as soon as some of the organic part of the molecule is replaced,
as in diethyltin dichloride, the compound is a solid
SnC14+ Sn(C2H.J4 -+

What is the rationale behind the separation scheme used in the following
preparation?

-
Pentanoic acid is prepared by the hydrolysis of pentanenitrile according to the
following reaction
CH3(CH2)3CN + 2H20 NaOH
CH,(CH2)3COOH + NH3
Place pentanenitrile (15.0 g; 15.8 ml) and a solution of pure sodium hydroxide
(14 g) in water (40 ml) in a 250 ml round-bottomed flask, and reflux until the
pentanenitrile layer disappears (5 to 10 hours). Allow to cool, add water (15 ml)
then slowly, and with external cooling, add 50% (by volume) sulfuric acid
(20 ml). Separate the upper layer of pentanoic acid and dry it with anhydrous
calcium sulfate. Distil and collect the pentanoic acid at 183 "C to 185 "C.
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We now introduce a new technique known as chromatography, which can separate

the components of quite complex mixtures. Chromatography is probably the most
useful method for separating compounds to purify and identify them. There are
many different forms of chromatography, and we shall start by concentrating on
two types, thin-layer chromatography, usually called TLC, and column
chromatography. In both of these methods, we use a stationary, solid phase over
which flows a mobile, liquid phase. The separation works on the principle that each
of the components in a mixture will have a different polarity and will adsorb
(adsorption, refers to the ability of a substance to adhere to the surface of a solid)
onto the stationary phase, the adsorbent, and dissolve in the mobile phase to a
different extent. Thus, each of the components of the mixture will be pulled along
by the mobile solvent at different rates.
The most commonly used adsorbents for both TLC and column chromatography are
silica gel and alumina. Silica gel (SO2) is a general purpose adsorbent useful for a
broad range of organic and ionic compounds. Alumina (ultrafine aluminium oxide,
A1203)is available in acidic, basic and neutral forms. The basic form is used to
separate basic and neutral compounds that are stable to base. The basic form is the
most active, the neutral less active (but very good for separating strongly adsorbing
groups like ketones and esters) and the acidic form the least active of all, but very
useful for separating acids.

2.3.I Thin-layer chromatography

In thin-layer chromatography (TLC), the solid phase, the adsorbent, consists of
many small particles attached to a flat plate (which can be glass, plastic or metal
foil) in a very thin layer; this is known as the TLCpZate. A small amount of the
reaction mixture to be separated is dissolved in the minimum amount of a solvent
that dissolves all components of the mixture. A small spot of the mixture is then
applied to the plate about 10 mm from the bottom (Figure 2.1Oa). (This process can
be repeated several times to ensure there is a sufficient amount of material for
separation.) The plate is then placed in a covered glass container containing a
different solvent which is called the eluant (Figure 2.10b). The solvent slowly rises
up the silica gel (a process known as elution) and, if a suitable solvent has been
chosen, the compounds move up the plate at different rates, and the mixture will
begin to separate on the plate as they gradually move up the plate behind the
solvent. When the solvent has moved about three-quarters of the way up the plate,
the plate is removed from the solvent and the position of the solvent front marked
quickly before the plate dries (Figure 2 .1 0 ~ ).The distance from the starting line to
the solvent front can be measured, as can the distance from the starting line to the
centre of each spot. A retardation factor, the Rfvalue, can then be calculated for
each spot using the following equation
distance of spot from origin
Rf =
distance of solvent front from origin

Using the values given on the left of Figure 2 . 1 0 ~

calculate
~ the Rf values for the
pink and blue spots.

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Figure 2.10 (a) A TLC plate before elution (spot 1 contains one application, spot 2, two applications and spot 3, three applications);
(b) Running a TLC chromatogram; (c) Example after elution.

b 5.6
&(pink) = - = -= 0.82
a 6.8

c 2.8
&(blue) = - = -= 0.41
a 6.8

A difficult choice is always that of which solvent to use to ‘run’ or elute the TLC
plate. There is no easy answer to this question. Chemists choose using a
combination of experience and trial-and-error; they would normally run several
TLC plates, each using a different solvent or mixture of solvents, and find which
gives the best separation. Table 2.2 lists common solvents in order of increasing
polarity, as a guide to solvent selection.
Say we have a strongly polar reaction mixture on the plate. If we elute with
petroleum ether or hexane, we have a non-polar solvent running over the very polar
silica gel - these of course are opposites and so the solvent is not held strongly to
the adsorbent. When the solvent encounters the reaction mixture, which is strongly
attracted to the adsorbent, the non-polar solvent will not be able to displace it and so
the mixture will not move. If instead, we elute with methanol which is highly polar,
the solvent also adsorbs strongly to the adsorbent and so will displace almost every
molecule that it encounters and everything in the reaction mixture moves together at

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the solvent front. In this case neither of the two extreme solvents, hexane or
methanol would effect a good separation. The interesting solvents are those with
intermediate polarity. For most organic separations, chemists usually start with
hexane and then gradually introduce a more polar solvent, such as ethoxyethane or
ethyl ethanoate, in varying amounts until good separation is achieved.
TLC is an ideal technique for monitoring the progress of a reaction, where you do
not want to lose large quantities of material from the reaction mixture as this would
diminish the overall reaction yield. At the start of a new preparative reaction, a
chemist would typically run a TLC of the starting materials. At regular intervals,
they would sample the reaction mixture and again run a TLC of this mixture
alongside samples of all the starting materials. As the reaction proceeds and starting
materials are converted to products, the spots in the reaction mixture due to starting
materials should gradually disappear, while new spots should appear elsewhere on
the plate - hopefully corresponding to the desired product. When all the starting
material spots have disappeared, the chemist knows that the reaction is complete
and can stop the reaction and work it up. Therefore by using TLC we have answered
one of the fundamental questions that we posed at the start of this book - how do
we know when a reaction is complete?
The main drawback with TLC, is that it can only be performed on a very small scale,
and so is not useful for separating the entire reaction mixture into its various
components - for this we need a large-scale version of TLC, which we discuss in the
next section. Now try doing a TLC experiment for yourself in the next Computer Activity.

At some point in the near future you should watch the video entitled Thin-layer
chromatography in use: an application from the food industry in the multimedia
activity Practical techniques on the Experimental techniques CD-ROM that
accompanies this book. There you will see an experiment on the separation of
food colourings. At various times you will be asked to take notes or make
measurements from the screen, so you should make sure that you have an
experiment notebook and pen to hand. This activity should take about

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20 minutes to complete.
The structural formulae and European list numbers of the food colours used are
shown in Figure 2.11.
When you have finished, try to answer Questions 2.5 to 2.7 below.

Na' -0,s &OH

Quinoline Yellow (E 104), bright yellow Sunset Yellow (E 1 lo), orange yellow

Na' -0
I
S03H I I
Carmoisine (El 22), dark red Erythrosine (E 1 27), pink-red

Na'-O?S c: Brilliant Blue (E 133), bright blue

The compounds we used in the experiment in Computer Activity 2.5 were coloured,
Figure 2.11
The structural formulae
and European list numbers
of the food colours in
Computer Activity 2.5.

and the spots were easily visible on the plate. To make a colourless compound
visible on a TLC plate, we would have to allow the compound to interact, while it is
being adsorbed on the surface of the plate, with something that will bring about a
colour change. Many organic compounds are oxidized by potassium permanganate,

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which is itself reduced to manganese dioxide (brown). Silica gel does not react with
potassium permanganate, so oxidized compounds show up as brown spots on a
purple background when the plate is sprayed with dilute potassium permanganate
solution. Many organic compounds adsorb iodine vapour, giving brown spots, or
show up as bright (or dark) spots under the light from an ultraviolet lamp.

R f values of between 0.2 and 0.8 are considered satisfactory. Why do you think
values outside this range are not as good?

Is thin-layer chromatography very sensitive to the amount of mixture applied in

the spots? Is this an advantage or a disadvantage?

How do you think the technique of thin-layer chromatography could be useful

to (i) a chemist working in an analytical laboratory; (ii) a chemist trying to
isolate and identify compounds from natural sources (a natural products
chemist); (iii) a chemist preparing complex compounds from simpler starting
materials (a synthetic chemist)?

2.3.2 Column chromatography

Thin-layer chromatography can only be used to separate small amounts of a
mixture. If we want to separate larger amounts, we clearly need to use more of the
solid phase and the solvent. This is achieved using column chromatography. Here,
the solid particles are packed into a column, and the solvent flows down through the
particles by gravity. The mixture is put on top of the column and, as the solvent
flows through the column the different components move down (with the solvent)
at different rates. Each component flows out of the other end of the column at a
different time. By collecting the solvent in portions called fractions, we can isolate
each component of the mixture as it comes out of the column. By changing the
solvent running through the column, we can increase the polarity of the mobile
phase, and thus remove the more polar components in turn from the column.

At some point in the near future you should watch the video entitled Column
Chromatography in the multimedia activity Practical techniques on the
Experimental techniques CD-ROM that accompanies this book, There you will
see a video of this technique using aluminium oxide (alumina) as the stationary
phase. This activity should take approximately 5 minutes to complete.

Let’s now look at the chromatographic process in a little more detail, as illustrated
schematically in Figure 2.12 (overleaf). Different substances are adsorbed to different
extents on a particular material. The plates used for TLC in Computer Activity 2.4
were coated with a very fine layer of silica, a polar material. As a mixture of
substances, dissolved in a suitable solvent, passes over the silica, different substances
become adsorbed onto the silica surface to different extents. Polar organic compounds
will be more strongly adsorbed than non-polar organic compounds, and so the
progress of polar organic compounds up the silica surface will be slower. Note that the

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separation is talung place at the molecular level; each time a small collection of
molecules of the mixture comes into contact with the surface of the grains of silica,
adsorption is possible. This is why the chromatographic technique is so powerful at
separating the components of a mixture, compared with distillation and solvent
extraction. We saw in Section 2.2.1, how much more efficient the extraction technique
is if, instead of using one batch of solvent, we use the same amount of solvent to
extract the organic material in several smaller batches. As the number of extractions
increases, so the separation improves. In chromatography the separation is conducted
at the molecular level, so we are essentially increasing to the maximum the number of
opportunities for separation. You could say that chromatography is equivalent to
solvent extraction using a vast number of portions of solvent.

Figure 2.12
A schematic diagram illustrating the
column chromatography process. A
mixture of molecules X and Y is
placed on a column of silica as the
stationary phase, where Y is more
polar than X and so adsorbs on the
column more strongly. As the solvent
passes down the column, the
molecules of X are eluted more
easily and so travel down the column
more quickly than Y, thus effecting
separation.

High-performance liquid chromatography, HPLC

A more sophisticated method of column chromatography is known as HPLC, high-
performance liquid chromatography.This employs very fine solid particles which
pack closely together. This increases the surface available for adsorption, and so
improves the separation, but because the solid particles are packed tightly together,
a pump is needed to force the mobile liquid phase through the column.

Gas-liquid Chromatography, GLC

Another variant is GLC, gas-liquid chromatography *. In this case the mobile
phase is a gas, known as the carrier gas, and the stationary phase in the column is
a liquid - a non-volatile oil or grease. This liquid can be coated on the surface of
small particles of an inert solid, which is called packed-column GLC, or
alternatively it is simply coated on the inside wall of a very long narrow column.
In GLC, the point at which the sample is introduced has to be heated so that the
components in the mixture vaporize and pass down the column in the gas phase.
* This is also commonly known as gas chromatography (GC).

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By slowly heating the column, the time that the less volatile components spend on
the surface of the stationary phase can be decreased, and thus the time taken for
them to pass along the column (that is, their retention time) is reduced.
The essential design of both HPLC and GLC instruments is similar (Figure 2.13).
A small amount of the mixture is added into the flowing, mobile phase by injection
using a syringe. After passing along the column, the individual components are
detected in some way as they come off the column, to give a graphical representation.
Figure 2.14 shows a typical output from GLC, known as a chromatogram, where a
mixture of hydrocarbons has been separated into its components.

Figure 2.13
The design of HPLC and GLC
instruments.

Figure 2.14
An example of a chromatogram
from GLC.

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* Gel electrophoresis is explained in the Case Study, Polymers in Mechanism and Synthesis3.

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Figure 2.15 A DNA fingerprint.

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Solid substances are often purified by a procedure known as recrystallization.The

impure solid is dissolved in the minimum amount of an appropriate hot solvent and,
after filtration of the hot solution to remove any insoluble impurities, the solution is
allowed to cool. Crystals of the required substance start to crystallize out, leaving
the soluble impurities in solution. When cool, the crystals can be filtered off.

In this book, we have talked about filtration a great deal -

such as filtering off a drying reagent like magnesium
sulfate or filtering a hot solution during a recrystallization.
You should be familiar with filtration from everyday life:
for example, every time you drain some vegetables or
pasta in a colander, you are effectively performing a
filtration! The solid (food) remains in the colander
while the water drips through and away (Figure 2.16).
It is the same with a filtration in the laboratory - the
solid (crystals) remains in the funnel on the filter paper
while the liquid runs off and into a collection flask.
There are several different methods for the filtration
of a material; the two primary methods being filtration
under gravity and filtration under suction. You should
recall the contrasting appearance of the samples of
suction-filtered and gravity-filtered crystals of benzoic acid.
Figure 2.16 ‘Filtering’ peas in a colander.

Recrystallization is an excellent method for the purification of solids and is the last
of the major purification techniques. It is used by both inorganic and organic
chemists. The preparation of many inorganic salts and complexes leads to the
formation of solid crystals, which can be purified by recrystallization and filtration.

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For example, transition metal complexes such as [ C O ( N H ~ ) ~ Cand

~]C~~
[CO(NH~)~](NO main-group
~)~, species like [PC14][SbC16], and the inorganic
heterocyclic compounds
c1

c1 c1

are all inorganic compounds that are typically purified by crystallization and
filtration with appropriate solvents.
Before we move on to the next step in preparation, let’s first summarize our
separation and purification techniques and consider when to use each one.

For a particular mixture of substances, how do we go about selecting a method of

separation? The technique chosen depends very much on the type of problem we’re
faced with. You have probably realized that the technique of recrystallization is
applied to both organic and inorganic compounds, since many of the former and
most of the latter, are solids. By a similar argument, you should understand that
distillation can only be applied to liquids and tends to be used mostly during organic
preparations. Any material that may be dissolved in an organic solvent (irrespective
of polarity) may be subjected to chromatographic techniques and so this applies
equally to organic and inorganic materials.

Fill in Table 2.3, giving three ticks for a technique that completely satisfies the
criterion on the left, down to one tick where the fulfilment is poor.

Table 2.3 The choice of techniques for separation

The important points to note are that for the separation of small amounts of a
complex mixture, chromatography is supreme. The technique is simple to operate,
comparatively cheap to run, and is quick, especially in the case of gas-liquid
chromatography (GLC). As the amount of material increases, or the complexity of

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the mixture decreases, the other techniques increase in applicability and become
most powerful as methods for the industrial separation of simple mixtures.
Distillation and solvent extraction at the industrial level are fairly comparable in
speed, cost and simplicity.
As we shall see, in order to identify substances, we utilize techniques that require
only very small amounts of the pure substances. Thus, if we are presented with the
task of identifying the components of an organic mixture, we need to take only a
small sample, so the technique to choose to separate these components is invariably
chromatography.

1 Performing a chemical reaction is often easier than the reaction work-up,

purification and characterization of the reaction products.
2 The techniques of separation and purification most commonly employed are
solvent extraction, distillation, chromatography and recrystallization. More than
one of these techniques may be needed.
3 Solvent extraction takes advantage of differences in solubility in particular
solvents. The separation achieved is somewhat crude, but the technique can
cope with large amounts of material.
4 Distillation is appropriate for separating large amounts of a liquid mixture
containing a small number of components with large differences in boiling
temperature.
5 The best separation of components is provided by the chromatographic
techniques, but TLC, GLC and HPLC can separate only relatively small
amounts of material. These techniques are ideal for separating the components
of a mixture prior to molecular identification. Column chromatography is useful
for handling larger amounts of mixtures, but the separation is less efficient than
HPLC or GLC.

Which technique would you employ to purify large amounts of an organic

liquid?

Which technique would you employ to separate small amounts of benzene

(boiling temperature 80.1 "C) and cyclohexane (boiling temperature 80.8 OC)?

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Once you have completed a reaction, separated and purified the product(s), there are
still questions to be answered:
How much compound have you made?
Are you sure it is pure?
What is the formula?
What is the structure?
The first question is addressed by working out the percentage yield *, and Table 3.1
gives an idea of the expectations here. Section 4 addresses the problems of checking
purity and Section 5 considers identifying the new compound. Determining the
structure of a compound is a very complex process, and we devote all of Part 2 of
this book, which is to be found on the Spectroscopy CD-ROM, to answering this
question.

Table 3.1 Reaction yields

Chemists, particularly when considering a reaction for a commercial purpose, are

only interested in yields in the last two categories. In research and development
work, smaller yields are acceptable because only small quantities of reactants are
usually used.

* Percentage yield is discussed in Alkenes and Aromatics4

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It is easy to assume that a substance you have prepared is pure - that it contains no
substances other than the one of interest. However, it is always the case that, on
preparing a compound, the initially isolated product is the required substance
contaminated with small amounts of by-products and starting materials.
We cannot claim absolute purity for any substance because of the limitations of the
techniques used for detecting the presence of impurities. In other words, purity can
only be guaranteed to within the limits of detection. Nevertheless, if the level of
purity is acceptable for our purposes, then we can consider the substance as pure.
The purity required of the product depends on what it is needed for. Take the
example of tap water: when we drink it, we take its purity for granted. However,
drinking water is far too impure to use to top up a car battery or a steam iron:
it contains antibacterial agents such as chlorine, and also calcium and magnesium
salts which have been dissolved during the percolation of rain water through the
soil into the reservoirs and rivers. When pure water is needed we used deionized
or distilled water.
Purity is usually expressed as a percentage, e.g. 99.9% pure. Chemicals for
experiments can normally be purchased in two grades. The standard laboratory
reagents will be about 99% pure, sometimes less, depending on the chemical and
how it has been made and purified. The impurities and their concentrations are listed
on the bottle. The analytical reagents, when available, will be of the order of 99.9 or
99.99% pure: they are much more expensive, and may only be used for specialist
purposes such as spectroscopy and analysis.
A final drug substance, which will be sold by the pharmaceutical industry, must be
free of even the smallest trace impurities. The chemist must remove the impurities,
using the various separation techniques that we have already discussed in the
previous section.

Once a technique has been used to purify a product, what means do we have of
testing the purity?
You might suggest a number of possibilities: chromatography can tell us how
many different components are present. Melting temperatures and boiling
temperatures can be determined as they are sensitive to purity.

We have already seen examples, when in Computer Activity 2.4 TLC was used to
separate several components, and in Computer Activity 2.7 GLC was employed to
examine the spirit distilling in whisky production. The 2-chloro-2-methylpropane
product of the preparation discussed in Sections 1 and 2 is known to boil at 49 "C to
51 OC, so if the product of the reaction boils in the same narrow temperature range,
it is likely to be pure 2-chloro-2-methylpropane.

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Many solids have very high boiling temperatures, so it is more appropriate to

measure their melting temperatures than their boiling temperatures, and this is an
easy and quick measurement to make. However, whether it be melting or boiling
temperature, the principle is much the same in either case: if a solid is pure, it will
melt sharply (that is, over a narrow range of temperature) and a pure liquid will have
a well-defined boiling temperature.

Samples can be claimed to be pure only to the extent that, for all practical purposes
and with currently available techniques, no impurity is detectable.

Which technique(s) would you employ to check the purity of a commercial

sample of (i) an organic solid, (ii) an organic liquid?

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Thus far we have seen how to plan and perform a reaction, to separate and isolate the
various products, and check for purity. Sometimes we know what the product or products
of a reaction are likely to be, for example, if we are repeating a procedure which is
already published in a book or scientific paper. On other occasions, as is the case in
research, we know what we hope the product will be, but we cannot be certain. So
what do we do in these cases? There is no advantage in obtaining a pure, but unknown,
product from a reaction, we have to be able to characterize it. The identification
techniques available are mostly applicable to both organic and inorganic chemistry,
but the priority that each branch of chemistry gives to each technique tends to vary.
If the preparation has been previously published in a book or scientific paper, then
it is usually possible to identify it by comparison with various data listed in the
literature. However, the compound may be completely unknown, or maybe it has
never been made before so there is no data for comparison, or we may have an
unexpected product. We shall see that the methods that are of most use to us in
identification through comparison, also allow us to identify molecules when no
comparison is possible; that is, they allow us to infer the molecular identity.
Many identification procedures that we use for previously recorded compounds are
based on the measurement of some physical property of the compound. We will
already have noted some physical properties when the separation was carried out.
For example, if we used distillation, we would have noted the boiling temperature;
if we used chromatography, we would have noted the time taken for the component
to travel a certain distance (or the Rfvalue); or in the case of solvent extraction, we
would have noted the solubility characteristics in various solvents. There are many
other measurements that we can make. We could determine the mass of the
molecule (relative molecular mass), the density of the substance, the acidity, or the
amount and frequency of electromagnetic radiation absorbed.
There is therefore a range of analytical techniques we can employ, but we need to
decide which would help most towards the identification of a particular compound.
We will start by looking at the techniques which identify the different elements, and
which measure how much of each element is present. This allows the formula of the
compound to be determined. These techniques are expensive and destructive (you
cannot recover your sample) so they tend to be used only as a final check before the
publication of results.

5 . 1 . I Carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen analysis

For inorganic and organic compounds the most common analysis undertaken is the
determination of the amounts of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen present. The usual
method used is known as combustion analysis, where an accurately weighed
amount of the compound is burnt in oxygen to form C02, HzO, and N2 respectively.

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These are then selectively collected on weighed adsorbents, and the increase in mass
of the adsorbent is determined. Note, however, that combustion analysis is a
destructive technique, and can be expensive, and so it is often not employed until
other characterization has taken place, and only then if you are publishing your
work and have to prove beyond doubt that you can substantiate your claims.

At some point in the near future you should watch the video entitled
Combustion Analysis in the multimedia activity Practical techniques on the
Experimental techniques CD-ROM that accompanies this book. The sequence
shows the operation of a laboratory elemental analyser for C , H and N. This
activity should take approximately 5 minutes to complete.

5.1.2 Other elemental analyses

A number of other common elements can be analysed using similar principles to
the C, H and N analysis. In fact the only element which is not easily determined
is oxygen - the oxygen content is usually inferred as a residual mass from the
quantities of the other elements.

Sulfur
The sulfur in organic and biological materials is determined by burning in a stream
of oxygen. The SO2 produced is reacted with hydrogen peroxide to form sulfuric
acid, which can then be titrated *
s+0 2 w +S02(g>
s02(g> -k H2°2(aq) H2S04(aq>
Nitrogen
An alternative to combustion analysis is the Kjeldahl method; the nitrogen-
containing sample is decomposed in hot concentrated sulfuric acid which converts
the bound nitrogen to the ammonium ion. The solution is cooled, diluted and made
basic to release ammonia. The released ammonia is collected and titrated. This is the
standard method for the determination of the protein content of grains and meats, as
multiplication of the percentage of nitrogen by a suitable factor (6.25 for meats and
5.7 for cereal) will give the percentage of protein in the sample. Table 5.1
summarizes a few of these methods.

Table 5.1 Summary of some elemental analysis methods

* Titration is discussed in Exploring the Molecular World'

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5. I.3 Atomic spectroscopy

Atomic spectroscopy in various forms, is used for the qualitative and quantitative
analysis of about 70 elements. First, we revise the principles behind the technique.
Each free uncombined atom or ion of a chemical element has a set of electronic
energy levels characteristic of that element. The electrons occupy the levels of
lowest energy, when the atoms are said to be in their electronic ground state. The
electrons can however be excited to higher energy levels, when the atoms are said to
be in an excited state. In order to reach the excited state, the atom or ion must take
up the exact amount of energy to transfer it to the excited state - a process known
as absorption (Figure 5.1). Conversely if the atom is in an excited state, it can return
directly to the ground state when it gives out this same amount of energy as a
photon of radiation, a process called emission * (Figure 5.1).
The energy difference between the two energy levels, AE is related to the frequency
of the light that is emitted, v, by the Einstein relation
A E = hv (5.1)
where h is Planck’s constant and has the value h = 6.626 x J s. In spectroscopy,
the frequency of radiation is usually denoted by the Greek letter nu, v.

Figure 5.1
The absorption of energy
and subsequent emission
of radiation by an atom.

You will be familiar with this phenomenon from the atomic spectrum of the
hydrogen atom, which is shown with that of some other elements in Figure 5.2, and
in the characteristic flame tests for some of the metals, which emit bright colours
when vaporized in a hot flame (Figure 5.3). If you need to refresh your memory, this
topic is revised in the first section of the Spectroscopy CD-ROM, ‘Introduction to
Spectroscopy’.

At some point in the near future you should study An Introduction to

Spectroscopy on the Spectroscopy CD-ROM that accompanies this book. The
principles of atomic spectroscopy are revised in this sequence. This activity
should take approximately 1.5 hours to complete.

* There is another process by which an excited species can return to the ground state, known asfiuorescence,
which is not discussed in this book.

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Figure 5.2
The emission spectra of hydrogen,
helium, mercury, cadmium and zinc
in the visible region of the
electromagnetic spectrum.

Figure 5.3
Characteristic colours produced
in flame tests for the metals
(a) sodium
(b) strontium
(c) barium
(d) potassium
(e) calcium

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Each atom or ion has a characteristic set of electronic energy levels, and so either
absorbs or emits a particular set of frequencies in its atomic spectrum. By measuring
these frequencies and their intensity we are able to identify a particular element and
measure the amount present. Figure 5.4 shows some of the energy levels for sodium,
and the characteristic absorption pattern that they would produce. The full spectrum
of sodium consists of about 40 peaks, but for elements that have several outer
electrons that can be excited, the spectrum can be very complex, sometimes
consisting of hundreds of peaks.

Figure 5.4 (a) Partial absorption

spectrum for sodium vapour.
(b) Electronic transitions responsible
for the lines in (a).

The excited state of sodium which gives rise to a characteristic orange-yellow

light, lies 2.1 eV above the ground state. (i) What is the frequency of the orange
light? (ii) Determine the wavelength of the orange light and thus what transition
it is due to. (1 eV = 1.602 x J) Take any other data from the Data Book
(available on the CD-ROM).
Spectroscopic determination of atomic species can only be carried out in the gas
phase, where the individual atoms or ions are well separated. Consequently, the first
step in the process is atomization, where the sample is volatilized (heated to the gas
phase) and decomposed to produce an atomic gas. The differences between the
various atomic spectroscopy techniques available, largely lie in the different ways of
doing this. The most widely used method isflame atomization, where the sample is
decomposed in a flame (a sophisticated version of the common flame test), but other
common methods (Table 5.2) are
electrothermal,
inductively coupled plasma,
direct-current plasma.
We look below at how electrothermal atomic absorption spectroscopy works in
some detail.

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Electrothermal atomizers offer unusually high sensitivity for small volumes of

sample because the whole sample is atomized in a very short time. Figure 5.5 shows
a particular set-up used for the determination of the lead content in a food sample,
such as apple juice.
The centrepiece is the electrothermal atomizer. It consists of a graphite platform
seated inside a graphite tube through which a large electric current can be passed. A
small sample is delivered by microsyringe through the hole in the top. The electric
current is used to heat the sample in three stages. In the first stage at about 150 "C
the sample is dried by the evaporation of water; in the second stage, at about 600 O C ,
it loses any volatile organic matter and is charred to an ash; in the third stage, the
temperature is raised to 2 000 "C, when the lead and other elements are vaporized
and converted to free atoms.

Figure 5.5
An atomic absorption spectrometer
using electrothermal atomization.

The lead-bearing vapour lies in the path of radiation arising from a source of lead
atoms in excited electronic states. The radiation is produced in a special lamp, by
bombarding a target made of metallic lead with fast-moving noble gas positive ions
such as neon, Ne+. The excited lead atoms will quickly revert to the ground state,
and as they do so, emit radiation of characteristic frequency, v.
If there is no lead-containing vapour above the graphite platform, the light will pass
through the tube without losing any intensity.

What happens if there is a vapour containing lead atoms above the platform?
If there is a lead-containing vapour present, then some of the characteristic
radiation will be absorbed by the lead atoms, thus reducing the intensity of
the radiation.

The amount of light absorbed is usually plotted out as the absorbance, A, which is
proportional to the lead concentration of the sample (Figure 5.6)
A = ECI (5.2)
where c is the molar concentration of the absorbing species, I is the pathlength (the
distance the light travels through the sample) and E is a proportionality constant,
known as the molar absorption (extinction) coe8icient. The absorbance is calculated
by measuring the intensity of the incident light on the sample, Io, and the intensity
of the light after it has travelled through the sample, I:"
* The ratio Z/Zo is known as the
(5.3) transmittance.

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On the left of Figure 5.6, the first three signals record the absorbances of three
‘standards’ with known concentrations of lead. These were solutions of lead nitrate
in water containing 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 micrograms of lead per millilitre of solution
(fig ml-l). Samples of these solutions with a volume of 2 microlitres (2 pl) were
dispersed in turn on to the platform of the electrothermal atomizer.

Figure 5.6 Typical output from an atomic absorption spectrometer fitted with an
electrothermal atomizer, which is being used to determine the concentration of lead in
apple juice. Absorbance is plotted on the vertical axis.

How do the three signals bear out our claim that the absorbance, A of a sample
is proportional to its concentration?
The absorbances (measured as the peak areas, which are proportional to the
peak heights) are in the same ratios as the concentrations. Thus the third peak is
twice as high as the second, and the second peak is twice as high as the first.

The remaining peaks record the absorbance of a 2 pl (= 2 x lop6litres) sample of

apple juice. In this case, the sample also contains organic materials, and these give
rise to vapours which absorb radiation of the chosen frequency during both the
drying and the charring stages; this is the origin of the peak marked ‘dry’ and the
two peaks marked ‘char’. Only during the last stage, atomization, do the lead atoms
get into the light beam, so the final peak on the right is the one that yields the lead
concentration.

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Use this peak and that for the standard of concentration 0.2 pg ml-’ to calculate
the concentration of lead in the apple juice.
Because absorbance is proportional to concentration

concentration of lead in juice --

absorbance for juice
concentration of lead in standard absorbance for standard
Now the absorbance of the apple juice is the height of the peak marked
‘atomize’ when read off on the vertical axis; this is 0.20. Likewise, for the
standard of concentration 0.2 pg rnl-l, this height or absorbance is 0.32. Thus

concentration of lead in juice - 0.20

-
0.2 pg ml-l 0.32
Therefore

0.20
concentration of lead in juice = -x 0.2 pg ml-l
0.32
= 0.125 pg ml-l

Table 5.2 Some of the atomic spectroscopy techniques commonly available and their acronyms

If we take any hydrocarbon and burn it completely in oxygen, the products of the
reaction are C 0 2 and H20. For example, if 56 g (one mole) of C4H8were burnt
completely in oxygen, 176 g of C 0 2 and 72 g of H 2 0 would be produced, in
agreement with the balanced equations
C4H8 + 6 0 2 = 4CO2 + 4H2O
5 6 g + 192g= 176g+72g
So, can we take a known mass of a hydrocarbon, weigh the products of the combustion
reaction and hence determine the molecular formula of the hydrocarbon, C4H8in
this case? Let’s consider combusting the above amount of substance (although
in practice milligram amounts are used). We take 56 g of the hydrocarbon C,H,,

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burn it, and the result is 176 g of C 0 2 and 72 g of H20. Can we determine the values
of x and y? Unfortunately we can’t because burning 56 g of C2H4, C3H6,C5HI0,or
indeed C37H74,would also produce exactly the same amounts of products. Let’s
check that this is so.

Write the equation for the burning of C2H4in oxygen.

C2H4 + 302 = 2C02 + 2H20

According to this equation, the molar mass of C2H4(28 g) would give twice the molar
masses of carbon dioxide (2 x 44 = 88 g) and water (2 x 18 = 36 g). If 28 g of C2H4
give 88 g of C 0 2 and 36 g of H20, then starting with double the amount of C2H4
(56 g) would give double the quantities of the products, that is, 176 g of C 0 2 and
72 g of HzO, that is, the same amounts generated from 56 g of C4H8.If you still need
convincing, check that 56 g of C3H6,C5HI0and C37H74give exactly the same results.

Why do all these different compounds give the same results?

Because they all have the same empirical formula namely, CH2.

So, although we cannot determine the values of x and y in the hydrocarbon, what we
can do is determine the percentage by mass of a particular element in the compound,
and thus the empirical formula. Now have a go at another example.

0.023 4 g of an organic compound produced 0.079 2 g of carbon dioxide and

0.016 2 g of water on combustion analysis. Given that the relative atomic
masses of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are 12, 1 and 16 respectively, calculate
the percentage carbon, hydrogen and oxygen present in the compound.
The oxygen content of a compound is not usually detected by elemental analysis,
but is normally determined by difference, i.e. the remainder when all the other
percentages have been subtracted from 100.
Once all the percentages are known, it is possible to calculate the empirical formula
of the compound by converting mass ratios into atomic ratios. The method is
illustrated with the following example.

You may receive the following data: an organic compound contains 40% carbon
and 6.7% hydrogen by mass.

Step I : Find the percentage by mass of oxygen in the compound (by difference).
In this example
100 - (40 + 6.7) = 53.3%.
Step 2: Assume you have lOOg of the compound, find the number of moles of
each element present; this gives you the atomic ratios.

To do this you divide the number of grams of each element by the relative
atomic mass of the element. In this example there would be
6.
40
12 1
53*3 = 3.33 moles of 0
= 3.33 moles of C ; - = 6.7 moles of H; and -
16
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Thus the atomic ratios are

C : H : 0 = 3.33 : 6.7 : 3.33
Any other elements such as metals in an inorganic compound are treated in
exactly the same way - find the number of moles by dividing the number of
grams by the relative atomic mass in grams.

Step 3: Divide through by the lowest atomic ratio to give whole numbers; this
gives the empirical formula. In this example the lowest atomic ratio is 3.33, so
we divide through by 3.33 to give the atomic ratios,
C:H:0=1:2:1
giving the empirical formula CH20.

It can be helpful to tabulate the calculations.

Table 5.3 Summary of the calculation in Example 5.1

Thus from the percentage masses of the elements, it is possible to determine the
empirical molecular formula. If we were expecting to prepare a compound with
an empirical formula of CH20, then these results indicate that we may have the
correct compound. If we had inadvertently prepared the wrong compound, then
this formula would not fit.

Try Question 5.3 now. There are more questions at the end of the section.

Calculate the empirical formula of an organic compound containing 8 1.8%

carbon and 18.2% hydrogen.
The only problem as far as structural determination is concerned is that elemental
analysis only gives us the empirical formula and not the molecular formula. That is
where another very important technique comes in - mass spectrometry.

Mass spectrometry can be used to separate the different isotopes of a single element
or can be used to fragment a molecule and separate out the different molecular
fragments - a technique used to help in the identification of a molecule.

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Natural lead contains four isotopes 204Pb,206Pb,207Pband 208Pb.In a mass

spectrometer a lead compound is heated by a thermal ion emission source, which
consists of a tungsten metal filament in a high vacuum. This breaks down the lead
compound and creates individual positively charged lead ions, Pb+. These ions are
accelerated by a high voltage, and at the same time subjected to a strong magnetic
field at right angles to their direction of motion (Figure 5.7). The charged species
are deflected by the magnetic field. Since each species carries a single positive
charge, the amount of deflection in the magnetic field is dependent solely on the
mass of the ion. Ions of high mass are deflected to a smaller extent than those of a
lower mass, so the ions 204Pb+,
206pb+, 207pb+ and 208pb+
separate into four different
trajectories. The four ions are
collected separately and
recorded as a mass spectrum.
The amount of deflection allows
the mass of the ion species to be
calculated. The separated species
can each be collected by an
electronic measuring device.
The size of the electric current
measured by this device tells us
the abundance of the species.
Figure 5.8 shows a mass
spectrum for a lead sample;
there is a peak for each isotope,
and the peak heights are
proportional to the abundances.
Figure 5.7 The principles and components of a mass spectrometer.

Figure 5.8 The mass spectrum of a

sample of naturally occurring lead.

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What are the most common and least common isotopes of naturally occurring
lead? How many atoms of 208Pbare there for every atom of 207Pb?

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When mass spectrometry is used to analyse organic molecules, positively charged

ions are created by bombarding the sample with energetic electrons; this tends to
remove an electron from the molecule, leaving a positively charged ion known as
the molecular ion. The bombardment with electrons is of sufficient energy to cause
some of the molecules to fragment to smaller charged particles which are called
fragment ions. As all we have done in producing the molecular ion is to remove
one electron, the mass of the original molecule is virtually identical with the mass of
the molecular ion, and so we can determine the mass of a molecule, that is, the
relative molecular mass. The masses of the fragment ions are also measured in the
experiment, and a characteristic pattern is obtained for a particular molecule. The
mass spectrum of benzene is shown in Figure 5.11.
There are other types of mass spectrometer besides the ones described here, but they
all have the same common feature that they allow species to be sorted and measured
according to their mass.

Do you think that the determination of the relative molecular mass of an

unknown substance would yield an unambiguous identification?
No, there would be far too many possible atomic combinations.

Excluding inspired guesses, we can no more answer the question, ‘This molecule
has a relative molecular mass of 78; what is it?’ than we can answer ‘A book weighs

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Figure 5.11
The mass spectrum of benzene.
Note that the large peak at mass
78 corresponds to benzene’s
relative molecular mass.

360 g; which book is it?’ There are many different molecules with a relative molecular
mass of 78, and probably many books that weigh 360 g. But, all is not lost! Different
structural features can be identified by the nature of the fragment ions produced.
The mass spectrum of benzene, with a relative molecular mass of 78 (Figure 5.11)
shows that a mass spectrum is a record of the abundances of the molecular and
fragment ions versus their masses. Such a spectrum can be used as a ‘molecular
fingerprint’ to identify a molecule by comparison with a data bank of standard spectra.

At some point in the near future you should watch the video entitled Mass
Spectrometer in the multimedia activity Practical techniques on the
Experimental techniques CD-ROM that accompanies this book. This sequence
shows you how a mass spectrum is recorded. This activity should take
approximately 5 minutes to complete.

But we can use mass spectrometry to do more than this.

How could you determine if a sample contained 2-methylpropane or

2’3-dimethylbutane?
This is a trivial task for mass spectrometry. The former weighs in at a relative
molecular mass of 58, and the latter at 86. This is a case in which determination
of molecular mass to the nearest whole number is perfectly adequate to clear up
an ambiguity. Not all tasks are this simple!

2-methylpropane has a molecular formula of C4HI0.Is this the only formula

with a relative molecular mass of 58 (to the nearest whole number)? See if you
can find any others.
No. Table 5.4 shows some of the molecular formulae with the same integer
relative molecular mass.
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Table 5.4 Some molecular formulae with relative molecular mass (M,) of 58, and their
accurate masses, calculated by summation of the masses of the most abundant isotopes

On the relative atomic mass scale, the 12Cisotope is given a value of 12.000 0, and
the masses of all the other elements are defined relative to this reference. It turns out
that isotopes of all of the other elements have relative masses that are slightly greater
or slightly less than whole numbers. For example, 'H and l 6 0 have relative masses
of 1.007 83 and 15.994 91, respectively. Table 5.4 also gives the accurate relative
molecular masses of the formulae shown, calculated by adding together the accurate
masses of the principal isotopes of each element present. The general conclusion
from Table 5.4 is that molecules with the same integer masses but different molecular
formulae have different relative molecular masses when measured to four or five
decimal places. Conversely, if we measure accurately the mass of a molecule using a
mass spectrometer we can calculate the molecular formula of that molecule.

Suggest a molecular formula for an unknown compound whose relative

molecular mass was measured as 58.041 7.
Examination of Table 5.4 would suggest C3H60.Notice that there's always a
little experimental error in the mass measurement: the calculated and measured
values will almost never be exactly the same.

Think back to what we have just been learning about combustion analysis and the
information that such analysis gave us - the empirical formula of a compound. We
can now combine the results from the two techniques: combustion analysis gives us
an empirical formula of C3H60,and from mass spectrometry we know that the
compound has a molecular mass of 58.041 7. We can see straight away that the
empirical formula must also be the molecular formula, i.e. C3H60.

Suppose the mass spectrum had given a molecular ion of 116 for this sample?
Clearly, the empirical formula of C3H60does not correspond to the molecular
formula, as this would only give a molecular ion of 58. Instead we need to find
what factor by which to scale the empirical formula to give a molecular mass of
116. In this case, multiplying 58 by 2 gives 116. Therefore the empirical
formula must also be doubled to give the molecular formula, i.e. the molecular
formula is C6H1202.

If a compound has an empirical formula of C2H602Nand a molecular ion of

228, what is its molecular formula?

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The determination of molecular formula in this way is enormously helpful for

structure elucidation. For example, an unknown compound with a molecular formula
of C3H60cannot possibly be an amine (no nitrogen present), an ester or carboxylic
acid (both requiring two oxygen atoms). In other words, the molecular formula, once
determined, can be used to eliminate some structural types from consideration.

What class(es) of compounds is(are) consistent with C3H60?

Because a single oxygen atom is present, the compound could be an ether, an
alcohol, a ketone or an aldehyde.

The next important question to answer is: does the unknown molecule contain any
double bonds, triple bonds, or rings? We can answer this question by examining the
molecular formula and working out the number of double-bond equivalents in the
molecule. A saturated acyclic (non-cyclic) hydrocarbon has a molecular formula
CnH2n+2-
A compound with a molecular formula CnH2, must have one double bond or one
saturated ring in it; such a compound is said to contain one double-bond equivalent,
for example

Check that this is true for the following compounds by working out their
molecular formulae

The molecular formulae are (a) C6H12; (b) Cl0HZ0;(c) C6H12.

A compound of molecular formula CnH2n-2contains two double-bond equivalents;

these could be two double bonds, or two rings, or one ring and one double bond, or
one triple bond.

Check that this is so for the following compounds

The molecular formulae are: (a) CloHls;(b) C6H10; (c) C5Hs; (d) C4H6.
In general, for every two hydrogen atoms less than the fully saturated
compound (CnH2n+2),we have one double-bond equivalent. The presence of an
oxygen atom in a molecule does not affect the calculation; all that you need to
remember is that oxygen can be part of a double bond (C=O) or part of a ring.

How many double-bond equivalents has C3H60?

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If we set n equal to 3 and ignore the oxygen, then the saturated compound
would be C3H8,so the number of double-bond equivalents is one, that is,
(8 - 6)/2. The molecule must contain one ring, or a C=C bond, or a C=O bond.

Although you can ignore 0 when working out double-bond equivalents from
molecular formulae, you must take N into account. It’s not difficult: before working
out the number of double-bond equivalents as shown above, assume that each
nitrogen in the molecular formula is equivalent to a CH unit (it has the same number
of electrons). For example, consider C6H4N204. Ignore oxygen altogether and
replace each N with CH:
C6H4and 2N is equivalent to
C6H4+ 2(CH) which is equivalent to C8H6
The fully saturated hydrocarbon with eight carbons would be CgH1g.
Therefore the number of double-bond equivalents in C6H4N204 is given by
(18 - 6)/2 = 6.

Work out the number of double-bond equivalents in each of the following

formulae: (a) C6HI1N;(b) C27H460;(c) C10H22.
Detailed interpretation of mass spectra is beyond the scope of this book. Also,
although taken together, combustion analysis and mass spectrometry can give the
molecular mass and empirical and molecular formulae, they do not give us any
further information about the compound under study, such as the linkage of the
atoms within the molecule. How we solve this will be dealt with in Part 2,
Spectroscopy (on the CD-ROM).
The other main drawback with both combustion analysis and mass spectrometry is
that they are destructive techniques, i.e. we lose our sample; we cannot get it back
for use in further tests. Fortunately, only small amounts of sample are required for
both tests (about g for mass spectroscopy and 10 to 20 mg for combustion
analysis). So although extremely valuable for the data they deliver, in this respect,
they are not ideal techniques.

List the characteristics that you believe the ideal identification technique should
have.
The ideal technique should be (i) very sensitive, so that only small amounts of
substance are required, (ii) non-destructive, (iii) capable of yielding an
unambiguous result, (iv) fast, (v) cheap!

We have already seen that mass spectrometry and combustion analysis do not
satisfy all these requirements. Does the determination of the boiling temperature
fulfil all these requirements?
A boiling temperature determination is fairly rapid, it is certainly cheap, it is
non-destructive (in most cases), and it can be performed on a fairly small
amount of substance. Thus, it fulfils many of the requirements, but fails on one
very important respect - the third criterion. There are many compounds with
very similar boiling temperatures, and so unambiguous identification is
impossible. If we could determine boiling temperatures to within a thousandth

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of a degree, then we might be in business; but boiling temperature is very

dependent on sample purity and on atmospheric pressure, and these two
quantities are very difficult to take into account to this degree of accuracy

Is there then a technique that we can adopt which fulfils all of these requirements?
The answer must be no; life can't be that easy! So identification is normally brought
about by the accumulated information from the application of several techniques: the
more data we collect, the greater the chance of unambiguously fixing the identity of
the substance. The degree of sophistication required, however, depends on the degree
of uncertainty in the molecular identity. If we were fairly confident about molecular
identity, then we might try to confirm our suspicions by the determination of the
boiling temperature; however, the wise chemist would not stop there, but would seek
confirmation by the application of some further technique.
The technique of X-ray crystallography * has been employed with increasing
frequency in recent years. Modern X-ray diffractometers and computational
methods can determine the crystalline structure of a compound relatively routinely,
often in a day or less, whereas not many years ago, a structure determination could
take weeks or even months. This technique gives a fully determined structure for a
compound, with each atomic position, and therefore all the bond lengths and angles,
determined. Such instruments are, however, not cheap and not available everywhere.
It also frequently quite difficult to make a suitable single crystal, so the technique
cannot always be used. However, when it is available and possible, it is the
technique of choice.
There is one set of techniques that is very sensitive, is fast, goes a long way to
giving an unambiguous identification, is non-destructive and is widely available.
This set of techniques is called spectroscopy. Spectroscopy provides one of the
most versatile and widely used methods of molecular identification. Although the
instrumentation associated with some forms of spectroscopy can be far from cheap
- anything up to &500000 per instrument at 2002 prices - the cost per substance
identified is very low. One instrument can record many thousands of spectra in its
lifetime, and, since identification via this process is made relatively quickly, there is
a huge saving in time, and saving time saves money. The remainder of the teaching
in this book now continues in Part 2 on the Spectroscopy CD-ROM.

There are many methods available to help with identifying a compound.

Elemental analysis is an excellent technique for identifying the elements present
in a compound. Carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen are determined by combustion
analysis; sulfur is determined by burning in oxygen and reaction with hydrogen
peroxide. Nitrogen can also be determined by the Kjeldahl method. The oxygen
content of a compound is usually determined by difference.
Elemental analysis is a destructive technique.
Spectroscopy offers an alternative non-destructive technique, and takes many
forms. Every element has a unique atomic absorption and emission spectrum.
Elemental analysis and spectroscopy may be used together to determine the
empirical formula of a compound.

* X-ray crystallography is discussed briefly in The Third Dimension'.

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6 Mass spectrometry can help determine the molecular mass and thus the
molecular formula.
7 An ideal identification technique should be sensitive, non-destructive,
unambiguous, fast and cheap. Unfortunately there is no ideal technique but
chemists instead use a combination of methods in order to determine the
structure of a compound.

On reacting compound A with an excess of aqueous sodium hydroxide, a

compound B is obtained. Combustion analysis of B gave C 53.3 1% and
H 11.18%. Mass spectrometry gave a molecular ion of value 90.12 and
fragment peaks at mass numbers 73.11 and 56.10.
Suggest
(a) the empirical formula of B,
(b) the molecular formula of B,
(c) a possible structure for B,
(d) a possible structure for starting material A.

Calculate the empirical formula of a compound containing C 62.07% and

H 10.34%.

A molybdenum complex contains one molybdenum (18.6%) and two

iodines (49.2%), as well as carbonyl (CO) and acetonitrile (CH3CN) ligands.
The combustion analysis gives C 16.3%, H 1.2% and N 5.4%. Determine
the empirical formula. Assuming that the molecular formula is the same as the
empirical formula, determine the number of acetonitrile and carbonyl ligands.

When [W12(C0)3(NCCH3)2]is reacted with triphenyl stibine, Sb(C6H5)3,

only one of the acetonitrile ligands is replaced by the stibine. Determine the
percentages of C, H, N and 0 in the new complex.

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You should now be able to plan a basic chemical reaction, to know the types of
apparatus that you would need to employ and have an idea about how to perform the
reaction. Hopefully you will also now be aware of the vast armoury of tools the
modern chemist has available for the purification and identification of compounds
generated during a chemical reaction. It is worthwhile at this point thinking back to
a point that we made in the introduction to Part 1. Much of the chemistry that you
have learnt thus far has been known for many years and was discovered by the early,
pioneering chemists. While apparatus and glassware may not have changed much
over the years, these early chemists had none of the modern methods of compound
identification and characterization available to them. It is to their considerable credit
that they made the compounds and scientific advances that they did, given the
extremely difficult circumstances under which they were working. Modern chemists
have far more techniques available, but against that, the compounds that the modern
chemist typically analyses tend to be far more complex than the early chemists
would have ever considered tackling.
In Part 2, you will now use the Spectroscopy CD-ROM to tackle the principles of
vibrational (infrared and Raman) and NMR spectroscopies and explain how they
may be used in molecular identification.

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When you have completed Part 1, you should be able to:

1 Define in your own words, recognize valid definitions of, and use in a correct
context, the scientific terms, concepts and principles listed in the following
table. (All questions)

List of scientific terms, concepts and principles used in Part 1 of this book.

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2 Be familiar with the language of chemistry and the way in which scientists
report and write-up their experiments. (Question I . 1)
3 Be familiar with common laboratory glassware and apparatus. Be able to write
an experimental report in an appropriate style, and be able to follow a written
experimental procedure. (Questions 2.1 to 2.4)
4 Describe the common techniques of separation and purification, and indicate the
most appropriate technique to use for the separation of a given mixture.
(Questions 2.1 to 2.10,4.1)
5 Compare and contrast the common methods of separation and purification.
(Questions 2.2 to 2.10,4.1)
6 List the features of an ideal method for the identification of molecules via
comparison with standard data, and describe how a given physical measurement
compares with this ideal. (Question 4.1)
7 Interconvert given values of energy, frequency, wavelength and wavenumber
units. (Question 5.1)
8 Be able to calculate reaction yields, empirical and molecular formula, double-
bond equivalents and elemental percentages from numerical data. (Questions
5.2 to 5.10)

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There is obviously a lot wrong with this particular experimental write-up!

First, the student should have identified what the three chemicals were, stated the
amounts of each one used and if there were any particular hazards or safety issues
connected with the reagents. The flask was a round-bottomed flask and the white plastic
bar was an internal magnetic stirrer. The student should also have stated from the outset
that the reaction had to be performed under dry conditions and what precautions were
taken to ensure that it stayed dry. What temperature was the reaction performed at? We
have no indication of what happened after 35 minutes and if it was gradual or sudden.
Similarly, when the student stopped the reaction, how was this done? Were other
reagents added? What were the solvents the student added? Which layer contained
the product? And what does ‘lots of’ equate to in terms of mass or percentage yield?
If we call our three starting materials X, Y and Z, then a better experimental procedure
might read something like:
X (number of g, number of moles), Y (number of g, number of moles) and 2
(number of g, number of moles) were placed in a clean, dry, nitrogen-flushed round-
bottomed flask, equipped with a magnetic stirring bar. Nitrogen was bubbled slowly
through the apparatus throughout the experiment. The reaction was stirred at room
temperature for 35 minutes, during which time the solution changed from clear to a
pale yellow colour. Water (volume) was carefully added to the reaction, followed by
ethoxyethane (diethyl ether) (volume). The solution was transferred to a separating
funnel and the lower aqueous layer removed. The upper organic layer was washed with
water (volume) and then dried using anhydrous magnesium sulfate. The filtered organic
layer was evaporated to yield the crude product as a yellow oil (amount, g or moles,
percentage yield). The product was purified by ... (state purification method(s) used).

Water and ethoxyethane are immiscible and form two layers in the separating funnel;
the ethoxyethane has a lower density than water and so forms the top layer, with the
aqueous layer at the bottom.
Remember that the key concept of solvent separation is that like dissolves like.
Therefore any organic compounds tend to dissolve in the ether, and ionic compounds
dissolve in the water. From the reaction mixture, toluene, and benzyl bromide dissolve
in the ethoxyethane, which is the top layer in the separating funnel, whereas sodium
chloride, potassium bromide and sodium hydrogen carbonate are found in the aqueous
(bottom) layer.

Reflux a mixture of pentane- 1,5-dinitrile (insert the number of g and mol to be used)
and sulfuric acid (ml) in water (ml) for 10 hours and allow to cool. Using a separating
funnel, extract the solution with ethoxyethane (4 x 150 ml portions). Dry the ethereal
extracts with anhydrous magnesium sulfate. Distil off the ether to yield the desired
product, pentane-l,5-dioic acid.

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The procedures adopted in this preparation are very similar to those used in the
preparation of 2-chloro-2-methylpropane discussed in Section 2. I . At the end of the
reaction there are two liquid layers present - an organic layer containing the dibromide
and any other water-insoluble substances such as starting material, and an aqueous layer
containing sulfuric acid, any unchanged HBr and other water-soluble substances. A
separation of organic from inorganic components is possible without the addition of
solvents. By separating the layers using a separating funnel, we separate the required
product from the inorganic material. By adding water and ‘washing’ the organic layer,
we effectively improve the organic/inorganic separation. The 1,5dibromopentane is
then separated from other organic material by distillation (see Section 2.2) after
removing traces of water with the drying agent, anhydrous magnesium sulfate.

At the start of the reaction there will be two liquid phases present: an organic layer of
pentanenitrile, and an inorganic/aqueous layer containing sodium hydroxide and water.
The product of the reaction is an acid but, because this is being formed in an alkaline
(NaOH) solution, the product will be the sodium salt of the acid. This salt will be
soluble in water. Therefore the reaction is continued until all the organic layer
disappears; at this point, all the pentanenitrile will have been consumed. At the end
of the reaction there will be one aqueous layer containing the required product (as
the sodium salt) plus all the other possible products and unused reagents, etc. How
then is this organic acid separated from the aqueous layer? The aqueous solution is
acidified with sulfuric acid; this produces the organic acid, which is insoluble in
water and forms a separate liquid layer. The solution is transferred to a separating
funnel, and the aqueous layer is run off and set aside. The upper layer - almost
pure pentanoic acid - is dried with anhydrous calcium sulfate, and the remaining
solution is distilled to remove the final traces of impurity.
However, often after the addition of sulfuric acid, the organic acid does not form a
separate layer but remains as a suspension in the water. In this case, the organic acid
is usually removed from the inorganic layer by shaking with an organic solvent such
as ethoxyethane; that is, a simple solvent extraction is used.

An R f value outside the range 0.2 to 0.8 may not indicate the true chromatographic
behaviour of the substance. Compounds running close to the solvent front may never
have been properly adsorbed onto the coating of the plate, and compounds staying
near to the baseline may have moved only under the influence of other components
of the mixture or unevaporated traces of the solvent used to dissolve the mixture.
Also, outside this range, mixtures of fast-running or slow-running compounds may
remain unresolved.

The amount of material applied is not critical, although small spots tend to give better
results, and this makes TLC a very good technique to use.

(i) TLC is routinely used in analytical laboratories to detect and identify components
of mixtures, for example drugs in a forensic or hospital laboratory, or food additives
(flavourings and colourings) in the Laboratory of the Public Analyst.

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(ii) A natural products chemist could use thin-layer chromatography to discover

how many components a plant extract contained, and to compare extracts from
different plants of the same family, or extracts from, say, the roots, leaves and
flowers of a single plant species.
(iii) The synthetic chemist uses TLC for quality control of the products isolated at
the end of a reaction. The technique can also be used while the reaction is running,
to check the extent to which starting materials have been used up, or to establish
whether the reaction is complete.

Compare your completed table with Table Q. 1. Don't be too alarmed if your version
does not correspond exactly with ours, because the questions are fairly subjective.

Table Q.l Completed table for choice of separation techniques

The important points to note are that for the separation of small amounts of a
complex mixture, chromatography is supreme. The technique is simple to operate,
comparatively cheap to run, and is quick, especially in the case of gas-liquid
chromatography (GLC). As the amount of material increases, or the complexity of
the mixture decreases, the other techniques increase in applicability and become
most powerful as methods for the industrial separation of simple mixtures (sum the
ticks in each column in rows 1 and 4). Distillation and solvent extraction at the
industrial level are fairly comparable in speed, cost and simplicity.

If we wish to purify an organic liquid, the implication is that only a few components
are present. Therefore we require a technique to separate a small number of
components in large amounts. This can be found from Table Q.1 by looking for the
technique that gives the greatest number of ticks for rows 1 and 4 combined. This
can be either distillation or solvent extraction. Further information would be
required to select the more appropriate of these two techniques. If the main impurity
is water, then drying over an anhydrous inorganic solid might be most appropriate.

There are only two components present, benzene and cyclohexane. To separate
small amounts of this mixture we sum the ticks in rows 1 and 3 of Table Q.1 to
reveal the most appropriate technique: chromatography beats distillation and
solvent extraction. We have some additional information in the question here;
the boiling temperatures of the two components are very close, and so separation
could not be effected even by fractional distillation (which needs at least 2 "C
difference in boiling temperatures). This confirms chromatography as the preferred

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technique, although even this may not be easy, as both solvents have similar
polarity. As both components are relatively volatile, gas-liquid chromatography
would be the first choice.

If we wish to check the purity of a sample, we might favour a technique that will reveal
the number of compounds present, and give some guide as to their relative amounts.
If we are checking for purity we must assume that the substance is relatively pure,
and therefore we are looking for a technique that will separate small amounts of a
mixture with a relatively small number of components. This can be found from Table
Q.1 by summing the ticks in rows 1 and 3: chromatography is the choice.
(i) For an organic solid, high-performance liquid chromatography is probably the
ideal technique, although thin-layer chromatography would be favoured for being
quick, simple and cheap. If the solid is relatively volatile, then gas-liquid
chromatography (GLC) could be used.
(ii) For an organic liquid, GLC is probably the ideal technique. The liquid at room
temperature would be injected into a column at elevated temperatures, and would be
carried through the column by a gaseous ‘solvent’ such as nitrogen gas. High-
performance liquid chromatography, HPLC, may also provide the required
information.
Alternatively, the boiling temperature of a liquid, or the melting temperature of a
solid, might be measured. The temperatures will be sharp and agree with published
values only if the compounds are pure. A common purity check involves
combustion analysis (see Section 5.1). If the experimentally determined empirical
formula matches that of the required organic compound, it is likely to be pure. With
all three of these methods, if the temperature or formula turns out to be incorrect,
the sample is impure. However, there is no way of identifying the impurities using
these methods.

(i) Converting from eV to J: AE = 2.1 x 1.602 x 1 0 4 J = 3.364 x 10-19 J.

Planck’s constant, h = 6.626 x 10-34 J s, (to four sig. figs.), so using AE = hv
3.364 x 10-19 J = (6.626 x 10-34 J S) x v
therefore v = 3.364 x 10-19 J/6.626 x 10-34 J s
= 5.077 x 1014s-l, or 5.1 x 1OI4 to 2 sig figs.
(ii) Converting 5.1 x 1014 s-l to wavelength we use c = vA where c, the velocity of
light, is 3.0 x 108ms-1.
A = 3.0 x 108ms-1/5.1 x 1014s-1 = 5.9 x 10-7m = 590nm.
The emitted orange light is thus due to the 3p +3s transition (Figure 5.4b).

44 g of carbon dioxide contain 12 g of carbon

12
:. 0.0792 g of CO2 contain - x 0.0792 = 0.0216 g of carbon
44
0.021 6
:. % carbon in compound = 0.023 4 x 100 = 92.3%
~

18 g of water contain 2 g of hydrogen

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2
:.0.0162 g of water contain - x 0.0162 = 0.0018 g of hydrogen
18
0.00 18
:. % hydrogen in compound = ____0.023 4
x 100 = 7.7%
The oxygen content of a compound is not usually detected by elemental analysis,
and is normally determined by difference, i.e. the remainder when all the other
percentages have been subtracted from 100. In this case the percentages of carbon
and hydrogen total loo%, so there is no oxygen present, and we are dealing with a
hydrocarbon.

This time, the percentages add up to 100% and so there is no oxygen present. Once
again we tabulate our calculation.

Table Q.2 For Question 5.3

Since the carbon to hydrogen ratio of 1 : 2.67 is too far from a whole number to be
attributed to experimental error, the empirical formula must be the lowest multiple
to give a whole number ratio, and 2 x (1 : 2.67) gives 2 : 5.34, still not a whole
number, but 3 x (1 : 2.67) gives 3 : 8.01, which is a whole number ratio within the
experimental error. It is difficult to be precise about the experimental error that is
acceptable in determinations of this kind, but the percentage of C, H, or N
determined by combustion analysis is usually quoted to 0.1 %.
Therefore the empirical formula is C3Hg.

208Pb is most abundant and 204Pb is the least abundant - they have the largest and
smallest peaks respectively. The peak heights for 208Pb and 207Pbare in the ratio
2.5 to 1, so there are five atoms of z08Pb for every two atoms of 207Pb.

The empirical formula corresponds to a mass of 76, clearly short of the desired
molecular ion. Dividing 228 by 76 gives us a factor of three for scaling the
empirical formula. Therefore the molecular formula of this compound is
(3 X C2H602N) = C ~ H I ~ O ~ N ~ .

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(a) After we substitute CH for N, C6HlIN becomes C7H12.The saturated C7

hydrocarbon would be C7H16.
:. Number of double-bond equivalents = (16 - 12)/2 = 2.
(b) After ignoring 0, we are left with C27H46. The saturated C27 hydrocarbon would
be C27H56*
:. Number of double-bond equivalents = (56 - 46)/2 = 5.
This is the molecular formula of cholesterol, which occurs in cream and human
arteries amongst other places. It has one double bond and four rings, so its formula
should reveal five double-bond equivalents.
(c) You should have spotted that C10H22 is the formula of a saturated, non-cyclic
alkane CnHzn+2,where n = 10. Therefore, without bothering with maths, we can say
that this molecule has no double-bond equivalents.

(a) The empirical formula of B is derived in Table Q.3. By difference, the oxygen
content must be (100 - (53.31 + 11.18)) = 35.51% oxygen.

Table Q.3 For Question 5.7

(a) Allowing for experimental error, the empirical formula of compound B is C2H50.
(b) The empirical formula of B is C2H50. If we sum the atomic masses, this gives a
relative molecular mass for B of 45. However, we know from mass spectrometry
that the molecular ion of B occurs at 90.12. Therefore the empirical formula cannot
be the molecular formula for B. Instead, as we can see, it is one-half the relative
molecular mass of B. Therefore the molecular formula must be double the empirical
formula, i.e. C4H1002.
(c) B contains no double-bond equivalents. There are many possible compounds
that could be drawn for B incorporating two oxygen-containing functional groups.
Notice however that the mass spectrum shows two fragment peaks, both
corresponding to losses of 17 mass units. Both of these may be attributed to loss of
an alcohol group, -OH, which has a mass of 17. Therefore we are probably looking
for a molecule containing two alcohol groups such as

C4H1002
R.M.M. = 90.12
C, 53.31; H, 11.18; 0, 35.51

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(d) The reaction conditions described correspond to an SN2 reaction. You should
recall that primary alkyl halides are by fdr the best substrates for this type of
reaction. Therefore the most likely substrate would be a primary alkyl halide.
However, as we are producing two alcohols in the product, the starting material
must contain two primary alkyl halides. Therefore a possible structure for A is

B r w Br

By difference, the oxygen content must be (1 00 - (62.07 + 10.34)) = 27.59% oxygen.

Table Q.4 For Question 5.8

Allowing for experimental error, the empirical formula of the compound is C3H60.

The C, H, N and 0 must account for (100 - (18.6 + 49.2)) = 32.2%. Within this
allowance, 0 accounts for (32.2 - (16.3 + 1.2 + 5.4)) = 9.3%.

Table Q.5 For Question 5.9

The empirical formula is C ~ H ~ N ~ O ~Further

I ~ M Ospectroscopic
. evidence is necessary
to show that the molecule is a seven-coordinate complex: [Mo12(C0)3(NCCH3)2].

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The molecular formula of the new complex is [WI,(CO)3(NCCH3)Sb(C6H5)3].The

empirical formula is therefore: C23H 1gN0312SbW.
We need to determine the relative molecular mass of the complex, and the
contribution of each element (working to one decimal place). This is tabulated
below, with the percentage contribution calculated in the final column.

Table Q.6 For Question 5.10

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1 SXR205, Exploring the Molecular World, The Open University (2002).

2 M. Mortimer and P. G. Taylor (eds), Chemical Kinetics and Mechanism,
The Open University and the Royal Society of Chemistry (2002).
3 P. G. Taylor (ed), Mechanism and Synthesis, The Open University and the
Royal Society of Chemistry (2002).
4 J. M. Gagan and P. G. Taylor (eds), Alkenes and Aromatics, The Open University
and the Royal Society of Chemistry (2002).
5 J. M. Gagan and L. E. Smart (eds), The Third Dimension, The Open University
and the Royal Society of Chemistry (2002).

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to

reproduce material in this book:
Figure 2.7a: Courtesy of Speyside Distillery; Figure 2.7b: Courtesy of Bushmills;
Figure 2.8: 0BP plc (2002); Figure 2.15: James Holme/Cellmark Diagnostics/
Science Photo Library; Figure 5.9: Courtesy of CalTech.
Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright owners, but if any has been
inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary
arrangements at the first opportunity.

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 Part 2

Spectroscopy
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The material for studying Separation, Purification and Identification, Part 2:

Spectroscopy is all contained on the CD-ROM. There are eleven multimedia activities
available together with their summaries and learning outcomes, and a set of questions.
This suite of programs explores the theory and practice of three spectroscopic
techniques; infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. These techniques are used frequently by chemists
to give an insight into the shapes and bonding of molecules. We suggest you work
through the programs in the following order:
1 Introduction to spectroscopy starts by looking at the properties of
electromagnetic radiation. Emission and absorption processes in atomic
spectroscopy are revised. The interaction of radiation with a vibrating diatomic
molecule is considered for both infrared and Raman spectroscopy.
2 Practical infrared spectroscopy is a video sequence showing the operation of a
modern infrared spectrometer.
3 The harmonic oscillator model allows you to explore the factors affecting
molecular vibration frequencies using both a computer-based simulation and a
video of a real experiment.
4 Theory of vibrational spectroscopy considers the energy of a vibrating molecule
and the selection rules governing absorption and emission processes. We
calculate the number of normal modes of vibration for linear and non-linear
(bent) molecules, and view a computer simulation of the normal modes for both
linear and bent triatomic molecules.
5 Diatomic vibrations is intended to be used for the comparison of the vibrational
behaviour of some common bonds as they vary with temperature.
6 Interpreting infrared spectra introduces you to the process of interpreting the
infrared spectra of organic molecules by assigning peaks in the spectra to
particular groups in the molecule.
7 Inorganic spectroscopy examples applies the spectroscopic techniques studied
to inorganic examples.
8 Interpreting NMR spectra briefly covers the basic theory of nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and the process of interpreting the I3C NMR
spectra of simple organic compounds.
9 Practical NMR spectroscopy is a video sequence showing the operation of a
modern NMR spectrometer.
10 The Java Molecular Editor (JME) is used to input answers to questions in the
multimedia activities. Java is copyright of Novartis AG, Switzerland.
11 Integrated spectroscopy brings together skills learned in the other spectroscopy
activities with a set of spectroscopy problems involving more than one technique.
Questions is a set of interactive self-assessment questions which you may use to test
your understanding of Separation, Purification and Identification Part 2.

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Summaries and learning outcomes summarize the material in Part 2, and are
provided in a form that can be printed off. They are intended as a revision aid.
Use the tabs on the sides of the computer screen to select which activity you wish to
run. Where there are bars on the tabs, these will fill with red as you complete the
programs, to give you an ‘at a glance’ view of your progress.
That completes the Preamble. When you have completely studied all the material on
the CD-ROM, return to this text for the case study on Forensic Science.

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Case Study
Forensic Science
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In its broadest definition, forensic science is the application of science to law. Many
of the physical and spectroscopic techniques used in forensic science are covered in
the earlier sections of this book. The series of cases described below will help to
show how these techniques are used in forensic investigations.
A large number of individuals have been cited as contributing to the early
development of forensic science. In 1814 Mathieu Orfila published the first known
treatise on the detection of poisons and their effects on various animals. Later, in
1879, Alphonse Bertillon began to develop the science of anthropometry, a
systematic procedure of taking a series of body measurements as a means of
distinguishing individuals. This was used for about 20 years before being abandoned
in favour of Francis Galton’s fingerprint technology. Galton’s results, published in
1892, were the first statistical proof supporting the uniqueness of fingerprints as
personal identification, and fingerprints were first used in a trial in the UK in 1902.
Several million sets of fingerprints have now been catalogued and no two sets have
been found to be identical. It was, however, Hans Gross who first published (I 892) a
detailed description of how the application of scientific disciplines could be used
successfully in the field of criminal investigation. His work detailed the usefulness
of microscopy, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, anthropometry and fingerprinting as
tools for the criminal investigator.
In the early 1900s Edmond Locard began to develop forensic science as it is known
today. In 1910 he persuaded the Lyon Police Department to give him rooms and
assistance to start the first police laboratory. It was Locard’s belief that when a
criminal came into contact with an object or person that a cross-transfer of evidence
occurred - this is known as Locard’s exchange principle. Thus every criminal could
be linked to a crime scene by particles transferred.
The function of the forensic scientist today is largely based around Locard’s
exchange principle. The expertise available in an operational forensic science
laboratory covers a range of disciplines and uses a number of scientific techniques.
Forensic scientists must therefore be skilled in many scientific areas. They must also
be aware of the demands and constraints of the legal system, so that the results of
analysis satisfy the criteria of admissibility as evidence that have been established
by the courts.

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Between 1979 and 1981,28 young black people were slain in Atlanta, Georgia. On
26 February 1982, a Fulton County Superior Court jury returned a verdict of ‘guilty
as charged’ on two counts of murder brought against Wayne Bertram Williams.
Williams had been on trial for the murder by asphyxiation, in April and May 1981,
of two young blacks, Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne. During the trial,
evidence linking Williams to those murders and to the murders of ten other boys or
young men was produced, and immediately after Williams’ conviction the district
attorney closed 21 of the other cases.

The ‘Atlanta child murders’ were linked by the presence of some yellow-green
nylon fibres and some purple acetate fibres on the body or clothing of the victims. In
February 1981 an Atlanta newspaper published an article that reported that several
different fibres had been found on a number of the murder victims. Following the
publication of this article further bodies recovered from Atlanta rivers were either
nude or dressed only in underpants. This was a blow to the investigation since it
drastically reduced the likelihood of fibres being found adhering to a body.
An essential part of the case against Williams was the association of the fibres
removed from the bodies of the twelve murder victims with similar ones from his
home. Fibre evidence is often used to corroborate other evidence in a case, but this
was not the situation in the Williams’ case, rather the reverse: there were no eye-
witnesses to any of the murders, and although other evidence and aspects of the trial
were important, they were used to support and complement the fibre evidence.
The yellow-green fibres were very coarse, and microscopy revealed that they had an
unusual delta-wing cross-sectional appearance with two long lobes and one short
one (Figure 2.1). The thickness indicated that they may have originated from a rug
or carpet and that tracing their source could be possible.
On 24 May 1981, the nude body of Nathaniel Cater was pulled from the
Chattahoochee River approximately one mile downstream from the James Jackson
Bridge in Northwest Atlanta. Yellow-green fibres were found in his hair. Two days
earlier Wayne Williams had been seen driving across this bridge, and he became a
Figure 2.1
possible suspect in the murder case.
A scanning electron micrograph of
Williams’ bedroom was found to contain a yellow-green carpet and thus a match the cross-section of a fibre removed
was sought between fibres from this and those found on the murder victims. from a sheet used to transport the
body of a murder victim.
It was determined that the carpet fibres were manufactured by the Wellman
Corporation, and it was confirmed that no other fibre manufacturer was known
to have made fibres similar in all respects - composition, cross-section and

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dye-type - to those found in Williams’ carpet. Fibres of this type were sold only
between 1967 and 1974. Prior to 1967, the company manufactured fibres of a
similar composition but they had a different cross-section. Through numerous
contacts with yarn spinners and carpet manufacturers, it was determined that the
West Point Peperell Corporation had manufactured a line of carpet called Luxaire
which was constructed in the same manner as Williams’ carpet. One of the colours
offered in the Luxaire line was called English Olive, visually the same as that of the
Williams’ carpet. It was now important to prove that the fibres on the victims were
identical with those in Williams’ carpet.
Several methods of investigation were used, following a logical sequence of tests. In
all forensic science investigations, the non-destructive techniques should always be
performed prior to any destructive analytical techniques. Only the minimum amount
of sample that will give meaningful results should be used. This is important for two
reasons. First, it allows a second analysis to be performed whenever possible.
Second, it allows the ‘other side’ (defence or prosecution) to carry out their own
investigation: this principle of equal opportunity is very important in forensic science.
It also important that the sample taken is representative of the item in question.
The fibres for investigation having been selected, they were first examined by
microscopy to determine their morphology, then subjected to UV/visible and
vibrational spectroscopic analysis to reveal the type of fibre and the dyes used.
Other techniques available are destructive to the sample and are used only if
absolutely necessary. Thus thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance
liquid chromatography (HPLC) are possible as further methods of dye identification,
and pyrolysis gas chromatography (see Box 2.1) can also be used to characterize
the polymer type.

Although two fibres may seem to have the same colour when viewed
microscopically, the dyes used to achieve the colour could be compositionally
distinct. Most textile fibres are impregnated with a mixture of dyes selected to give
the desired shade. The significance of the fibre evidence is therefore enhanced when
the forensic scientist can show that a questioned fibre (removed from a crime scene)
and control fibre (from the source to be eliminated, such as the home of the suspect)
actually have the same dye composition.
For known fibres, at least five spectra should be obtained for synthetic fibres and
ten spectra for natural fibres, along the fibre length. This is to take into account the
natural variation in the fibre due, for example, to differential uptake of the dyes,

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and also to take into account any damage which may have occurred to the fibre - for
example twists, cracks or irregularities in the fibre shape.
The spectrophotometric analysis confirmed that the dyes used in the control fibres,
removed from the carpet found in the home of Wayne Williams, and in the yellow-
green fibres removed from the hair of Cater, were identical (Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.2
UVhisible spectra of the dyes in the
fibres found A on the victims and
B in Williams’ carpet.

Infrared spectroscopy provides a powerful means of analysing fibres, and sample

integrity can be preserved with the use of modern techniques. Most synthetic fibres
are organic polymers, and like any organic compound their infrared spectra
comprise absorptions from the characteristic functional groups present. Thus it is
possible to identify major constituents, but more importantly for the forensic
scientist the spectra from different types of fibre can be readily distinguished.
Infrared spectroscopy clearly distinguishes between nylon (2.1) and acetate (2.2)
fibres (Figure 2.3). Note the characteristic ester carbonyl stretch at 1 750 cm-1 for
acetate, whereas the amide carbonyl stretch in nylon appears at a much lower
frequency, around 1 690 cm-l. The N-H stretch in nylon gives the strong peak at
3 300 cm-l. The band at 3 500 cm-l in the acetate spectrum is thought to be due to an
overtone of the carbonyl stretch.

nylon-6,6, 2.1 acetate, 2.2

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Figure 2.3
Infrared spectra of acetate fibres
and nylon fibres.

For fibres of the same polymer from different manufacturers the ‘fingerprint region’
of the spectrum may often differ, if only subtly in some cases. Figure 2.4 shows a
comparison of the spectra of the nylon fibres from Williams’ carpet with those from
a different manufacturer. As can be seen there are sufficient differences to allow a
distinction to be made between them.

Figure 2.4
Comparative infrared spectra
of nylon fibres.

The infrared results and those obtained from pyrolysis GC showed that the chemical
compositions of the nylon fibres were the same. More specifically, all the fibres
were identical with those produced by the West Point Pepperell Corporation and
these were most probably Wellman 181B fibres. The microscopy of these fibres, and
their unusual cross-section, all helped to show that they had originated from the
same source, i.e. the carpet found in Williams’ bedroom.

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The value of fibres as evidence is related to the forensic scientist’s ability to trace
their origin. Often only a limited number of fibres need to be characterized, and the
source identified. In summary, in the Williams’ case the photoelectron micrograph
indicated that the cross-section of the fibre was in fact rare, and would therefore aid
the identification process. The spectroscopic analysis confirmed that the dyes used
in the control fibres, removed from the carpet found in the home of Wayne Williams,
and those used in the yellow-green fibres removed from the hair of Cater were
chemically the same. The dye used was confirmed as English Olive, and in each
case the composition of the dye was the same, as the UV/visible spectra were
indistinguishable. The infrared results and those obtained from pyrolysis GC
showed that that the chemical compositions of the fibres were the same. Close
inspection of the spectra showed that the fibres had functional groups indicative of
nylon fibres. More specifically, the fibres could not be discriminated from those
fibres produced by the West Point Pepperell Corporation and were highly likely to
be Wellman 181B fibres.
The West Point Pepperell Corporation had manufactured the Luxaire line from 1970
to 1975, but it had purchased the Wellman 181B fibre for this line only during the
first year of production. This change of carpet fibre was yet another factor that made
the Williams’ carpet unusual. In order to quantify its unusual nature, statistical
analysis was undertaken, something that had previously not been attempted in a case
dependent on fibre-transfer evidence. It was estimated that a total of 16 397 square
yards of carpet containing the Wellman 181B fibres dyed with English Olive was
sold by the West Point Pepperell Corporation to retailers in ten States. By estimating
the size of an ‘average’ room, and assuming that equal amounts of carpet were sold
in the ten south-eastern States, it was estimated that 82 rooms with this carpet
should be found in the State of Georgia. Using census details of the number of
households and rooms, it was determined that the likelihood of finding another
home in Atlanta with a room having carpet like Williams’ was about 1 in 400 000.
This case helps to show a number of instrumental methods that can be widely
applied in forensic science. This case was solved using only minute traces of fibrous
material. Spectroscopy and chromatography demonstrate that fibres from the crime
scene could be linked to Williams’ home environment. Clearly, all the techniques
were important as was the use of statistics to show that these particular fibres were
very rare, thus adding strength to the case against Williams.
Williams has always maintained his innocence and is appealing against his
conviction. He has been refused parole four times and his next parole review is due
in 2005.

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During a police drugs raid, a quantity (about 100 g) of white powder was seized. Of
the three people present in the room, two were dividing the powder at a table whilst
the third was standing nearby. On questioning, the two seated at the table claimed
that they were cleaning a spillage of caster sugar, and the third denied any
knowledge of the substance. From information received, the police had reason to
believe that heroin was being supplied (Box 3.1 and Figure 3.la) and the white
powder and the clothing of all involved were sent for forensic examination.

Figure 3.1
(a) Heroin powder;
(b) the opium poppy Papaver
somniferum.

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Chromatographic methods are widely used in forensic science because they are
sensitive, quick and reliable. For example, illicit street drugs may be diluted with
practically any material that is at the disposal of the drug dealer. The task of
identifying the active component in an illicit drug preparation is made relatively
easy by use of extraction, TLC, UV/visible, GC and GC-MS (Box 3.2). Knowledge
of the purity of drugs can be useful for police intelligence purposes, because drugs
that contain similar amounts of different diluents may be linked and provide
information about how drugs are distributed. Similarly, the forensic toxicologist can
use these chromatographic and spectroscopic methods to devise an analytical
scheme that will successfully isolate, detect and specifically identify a toxic
substance in body fluids.

In this drugs case, initial screening of the bulk sample was carried out by qualitative
chemical tests commonly called spot tests. These tests are very useful for rapidly
eliminating particular classes of drugs from consideration. The chemistry of the spot
tests for barbiturates and for heroin is outlined in Figures 3.2 and 3.3, respectively.
A barbiturate deprotonates on coordination to the cobalt ion in basic solution.
The resulting complex has the characteristic intense violet-blue colour of many
tetrahedral Co2+complexes, such as CoC142-or CoC12(PR&. In this case, testing
with a methanolic mixture of Co2+and 2-aminopropane did not give the
characteristic colour, and thus an entire family of illicit drugs was excluded.
The presence of morphine and its derivatives was tested for by adding a small
amount of the powder to a dilute solution of methanal in sulfuric acid. The rapid
development of the purple colour characteristic of heroin-based drugs gave a
positive test in this case.

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H,
N N co2+
2 *

0 >NH2

violet-blue coloured complex

Figure 3.2 The production of the blue colour for barbiturates with Co2+in a basic medium.

'OH ___ 'OH

9f
H ~ = C H ~
I
OH

'OH Hm
I
H -0:

H
3

'OH
r
I I
'OH

OH
highly coloured tropylium ion

Figure 3.3 The production of the purple tropylium ion from acidified methanal and heroin.

Spectroscopic techniques were used to confirm the presence of heroin. The UV

absorption spectrum showed a band at 280 nm, which is characteristic of the Z-K*
transition in heroin. Owing to the broad nature of bands from electronic transitions,
this was not sufficiently specific to allow unambiguous identification.
Analysis by infrared spectroscopy served only to confirm that the sample was a
mixture, as the spectrum did not correspond to that of any single pure substance in
the database. As organic compounds have many similar absorptions, it proved
difficult to obtain a clear identification in this case.
With the large amount of sample confiscated, analysis by TLC was possible in this
case. A small amount of the powder was dissolved in methanol, spotted onto a TLC

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plate and eluted with methanol. Standards were also spotted onto the same plate for
comparison. The plate, shown in Figure 3.4, has the case sample, standard pure
heroin, sugar, and quinine (a common diluent for heroin). After development of the
plate, two spots were seen from the case sample, which by comparison with the
retention times of the standards, corresponded to heroin and quinine. The bulk
sample was thus proved to contain heroin mixed with quinine. No sugar was
detected by any of the tests.
Examination of the clothing of the man standing by the table revealed traces of
white powder adhering to the fibres of the inside jacket pocket. The particles were
removed and submitted for analysis, with the suspicion that they too were heroin.
Analysis of such small amounts of materials requires particularly sensitive
instrumental techniques, which should ideally be able to provide separation from
any contaminants and an unambiguous identification. GC-MS is the ideal tool for
this as this not only provides a separation from any impurities, but also gives an Figure 3.4
absolute identification in the mass spectrum. Thin-layer chromatography plate of
the bulk sample.
The sample solution was subjected to GC-MS, which automatically records the
mass spectrum of each compound as it emerges from the column. Modern
instruments have a searchable database of mass spectra, which allows the best
match between the case sample and known substances to be found very quickly. The
results in this case are shown in Figure 3.5. Here the best match with the mass
spectrum identified by the computer is with heroin. Visual examination by the
human operator (still an essential part of the process!) confirms that the two spectra
are virtually identical. There are small differences between the two spectra, but
these are accounted for by noise in the sample spectrum (probably due to the very
low concentration used) and the fact that the library spectra were probably recorded
on a different instrument. The other heroin derivatives found from the database,
have obvious differences in their mass spectra and can be ruled out.
All three suspects were eventually convicted of dealing in dangerous drugs.

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Figure 3.5 Comparison of the mass spectra obtained from the case sample and library
standards.

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Mr Smith, a bank manager, was driving to work at about 7.30 a.m. on the morning
of Monday 14 October 1996, when his car swerved off the road and crashed into a
ditch. Mr Smith was badly injured in the crash and did not fully recover for a
number of months. Several eye witnesses reported hearing a ‘loud bang’ and seeing
dense white smoke coming from the car. The area was sealed, and police forensic
scientists examined the wreckage of the car and the damage to the road surface in
the vicinity of where the explosion was thought to have occurred (Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1 The aftermath of a car-bomb.

Figure 4.2 A battle re-enactment involving the use of blackpowder.

Most bombing incidents are politically sensitive, so this case is fictional.

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After research into the business background of Mr Smith’s local branch of the bank,
a list of possible suspects who might have had a motive for the attempted murder
was drawn up. After preliminary enquiries Mr Jones, the owner of a toy and model
shop, was thought to have both a motive (the bank had recently filed for the
bankruptcy of Mr Jones’ shop and was in the process of repossessing his home) and
the opportunity, having no supportable alibi for his actions the previous weekend. A
search of Mr Jones’ premises revealed quantities of ‘blackpowder’, a commercial
explosive. However, Mr Jones stated that one of his hobbies was participating in re-
enactments of historic battles (Figure 4.2) and that this hobby required the use of
considerable quantities of blackpowder.
Blackpowder is the name given to a commercially available form of gunpowder. Its
composition by weight is 75% potassium nitrate (KN03), 15% charcoal (C), and
10% sulfur, (S). Explosions can be put into two broad categories: ‘deflagration’ or
‘low-order’, where the decomposition occurs at a speed equal to or less than the
speed of sound, usually less than 2 000 m s-l; and ‘detonation’ or ‘high-order’,
where the speed of decomposition is greater than the speed of sound within the
compound and can reach velocities up to 8 500 m sP1in compounds such as
nitroglycerine, TNT, and RDX. Blackpowder is a low-order explosive. Both high
and low explosives are dangerous when ignited in confined spaces as both rapidly
release large amounts of gases. In any explosion it is very rare for all the charge to
be consumed. Generally traces of uncombusted material are scattered by the blast
and deposited on nearby objects. The recovery and analysis of uncombusted
explosive is the role of the forensic explosives investigator, who may use a wide
variety of techniques to identify the explosive used.
For blackpowder, the equation representing its explosive decomposition is:
~ C ( S+) S(S) + 2KN03(~)+3C02(g) + N2(g) + K ~ S ( S ) (1)
Initial screening of the area was carried out with an EGIS detector. This samples the
air for volatile organic compounds, traces of which remain from organic-based high
explosives, and has to be carried out as soon after the explosion as possible. The
vapours are screened by GC followed by pyrolysis of each component as it leaves
the first GC column. The pyrolysis products are then passed through a second
GC column, and the peak profile of retention times and relative intensities gives a
characteristic signature for a particular residue. Further tests in the laboratory on
known standards can give proof of the presence of an individual explosive. In this
case the EGIS detector found no traces of organic vapours from explosives, only
residual hydrocarbons from petrol and oil.
Evidence recovered from the scene included powder residues from the car itself and
a crater in the road. These were thought to have originated from the explosive and
were subjected to scientific investigation.
The infrared spectra shown in Figure 4.3 were obtained from collections of small
particles of powder and are representative across about 50 such samples recovered
from the scene; they are compared with the infrared spectra of a sample of the local
soil and potassium nitrate. Several features were assigned to the presence of
substances that would be found under normal circumstances: for instance, the strong
band at 1 100 cm-l was assigned to the Si-0 stretch in silicates from soil, and the
features above 3 000 cm-l were thought to be due to the 0-H stretch from moisture
adsorbed to the surface of the soil.

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Figure 4.3
Comparative infrared spectra.

The band at about 1 400 cm-l was assigned to nitrate. The lower than expected
frequency of the 0-H stretch could reasonably be attributed to different extents of
hydrogen bonding of the adsorbed water to the silicates in the soil.
Initial conclusions were that the match provided reasonable evidence that
‘blackpowder’ was involved in the explosion. A link between Mr Jones and the crime
had thus been established and he was charged.
But was this really conclusive? Do the spectra match sufficiently closely? What about
the peaks at about 800 cm-l in K N 0 3 and soil? Why aren’t they present in the spectrum
from the case sample? What about the peak at about 600 cm-’ in the case sample, how
can this be explained?
Fortunately for Mr Jones, senior scientists felt that the analysis of the residues was
not complete, and that the differences in the frequencies between the spectra obtained
from the crime scene and standards, whilst small, were still, perhaps, significant. They
therefore carried out other tests and comparisons. In particular, they ran Raman spectra
of the recovered materials and also of reference samples in an effort to detect traces
of sulfur and charcoal which should be present in residues from blackpowder. These
spectra were obtained using a ‘Raman microscope’ , which has sufficient resolution to
obtain spectra from individual particles within the sample. The particles recovered
from the explosion scene gave spectra summarized in Table 4.1.
Comparison of the spectra obtained with reference spectra indicated that neither the nitrate
ion nor sulfur was present, as some characteristic features are absent in the spectra from
the residues. The results suggested that blackpowder was not the explosive used.
These results led the forensic scientists to propose that a different type of explosive had
been used, which was not nitrate-based. Ammonium perchlorate (NH4C104)is a strong
oxidant, and when mixed with aluminium powder, or other reducing agents, forms a
particularly potent explosive (a mixture of aluminium and ammonium perchlorate is
used as the solid fuel for the US space shuttle). The Raman spectra of K N 0 3 and
NH4C104(Figure 4.4) clearly show the differences between the two compounds.

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Table 4.1 Raman spectra of particles (A and B) recovered from the crime scene, and of reference substances

a Most intense peak marked (s) for strong Mode active in the infrared.

Figure 4.4
Comparative Raman spectra.

The Raman spectra of the particles were assigned by comparison with authentic samples:
Type A: silica particles from the soil.
Type B: residual ammonium perchlorate, which has an intense band at 934 cm-'.
To give further proof, these conclusions must also explain the observed infrared
spectra. The infrared spectrum of ammonium perchlorate has bands at 3 145cm-l
due to N-H stretching, 1 400 cm-1 due to bending modes in the NH4+ion, and
1 120 cm-I due to (21-0 stretching modes. Thus the original initial incorrect
assignment of nitrate was due to the proximity of the N-0 stretch in nitrate
(1 390 cm-') and the N-H bending mode in ammonium (1 400 cm-') with the
C1-0 stretching being masked by the Si-0 stretch in the silicates of the soil.
The use of infrared spectroscopy alone gives ambiguous results in this case: a
combination of infrared and Raman spectroscopy was critical in establishing the
identity of the recovered evidence.
Once the new interpretation was presented it was decided not to proceed with
charges against Mr Jones, and the investigation was continued for a new suspect.

I09
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The airship Hindenburg was due to arrive at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New
Jersey, at 6 a.m. on 6 May 1937. It was delayed by about 12 hours by strong head-
winds over the Atlantic and finally approached from the north in the late afternoon
just as a thunderstorm was gathering in the west. It detoured towards Atlantic City
and started to make its final approach to the mooring tower from the south-west at
7.00 p.m. in light rain, then disaster struck (Figure 5.1): 36 of the 92 passengers and
crew were killed.

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Figure 5.1
(a) A diagram of the internal structure of the
Hinden bu rg .
(b) The Hindenburg intact; it was 825 feet long.
(c) The airship bursts into flames.
iranchembook.ir/edu

The demise of the Hindenburg has attracted particular interest for a number of
reasons. The arrival of the Hindenburg was newsworthy in its own right, and its
spectacular end was not only the subject of a radio broadcast (see Box 5.2), but was
also captured on film.
iranchembook.ir/edu

Following the disaster several lines of investigation were pursued.

Owing to the highly charged political climate of the time, speculation about
sabotage against the Third Reich was rife and the FBI conducted a lengthy
investigation into this possibility. The documents from that investigation are now
released under the US Freedom of Information Act (Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2
Document from the
original FBI investigation.

PEF:RP

"q

Yr. Cornelley called with reference to this matter and etated t h a t

Comander Rosendabl has been very favorzibl- p- COPE.
merce Committee. He stated that the
G G r s comnl'ttee at wehurst, coionei
been appo;inted as Technical Adviser-
Commander R o a e n d a or the Cbnerce
but they have n o t taken any a c t i o n against them except to listen to t h e i r suggestioas.
Mr. Cowelley said t h a t the first thfng they had In mind was the foot tracks which
came In from t h e back gate OD the west side of' the reservation. There is a road
rUnning along there to vihich the public ha8 acc888 but there is a barbed mire fence
between t h e rQ8d and the reservation i t s e l f . At the t i n e of the landing of the
ship there were many spectators and automobiles outside of the fence, but after
the crash the general public ewwmed over the I"ie3.d from aiT &i.rectiane a d it wag
6ome three or four hours before a ' p i l i t a r y patrol was established and the public
was excluded. These tracks were found leading from this g a t e i n the back where two
per80m had undoubtedly climbed over the fence and walked into the reservation-
Mr. Conneuey stated that it WBS first believed t h e t these tracks were made by two
boys who were picked up on %he seventh, but it was further learned that the b y e
have no part in t h e picture and t h a t they did not leave the tracks in question.
The tracks were apparently made by some of fbe people who swarmed over the f i e l d .
Rawever, Williamson has talked with Senator Copeland and has put emphasis on the
f&ct t h a t t b s e prints a r e there and evldmt3.y Senator Copsland has become interested
In it. Mr. Cormelley s t e t e d t h a t they fiave photographed the prints and a l s o takeq
ph&8r caste of them and that we could undoub$e-m 2dentification if we could
find the p e r s t o nhbm they belonged. Rowever, Mr. ConneUey stated t h a t there
c

must be zlumerous other tracks of t h i s kind In every direction from the reservation,
m d he does n o t believe that they bear any significance but ag& they might lead
to gomeone lrho went to the post and d i d something there. Yr. Cowelley 8 b t e d that
one of the ideas advanced is that somebody went to the post and poesibly shot the
s h ip down 86 it bas been i n d i c a t e d that a survey is bzing made sf tbe ground with a ,t
pseitil;iy of finrng eo;;iB mpt3- shel;sD
-
. ' I , \ ~ . . F \ LP
Yr. Cormelley stated t h a t Coumanddr Rosend&Z-fia
t w ' 6i:-B/fjY
pproached-
tl
2 <

-HI----
1

t h e suggestion t h a t he assim a number of enlisted @rsoxkel t o m a k e a very cai%?f'ul,

ZTZZEX' t h e f i e l d m d i t K ~ Ssuggested thet R e T e put in chwgq o$ fhe inve-stigatioy
i i <' L <

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No definite proof of sabotage was ever found, although numerous threats against the
airship had been made.
A combination of structural damage and lightning strike was also proposed. The
Hindenburg underwent a series of sharp turns at full speed before the attempted
mooring, and it was thought that bracing wires may have broken under the stress
puncturing a gas cell, the ignition of the escaping hydrogen then causing the
disaster. (A similar fate befell the R38 which broke in two during a sharp turn with
the front section subsequently exploding.) Although no conclusive evidence was
ever obtained, the explanation that lightning had ignited a hydrogen leak was widely
held to be the cause of the Hindenburg disaster.

More recently, a retired NASA scientist, Addison Bain, proposed that several
features of the incident were inconsistent with a hydrogen leak.
The photographs of the early stages of the fire show that the airship was
still level. If the fire was due to burning hydrogen, there would be a loss
of buoyancy in the tail section leading to a ‘nose-up’ attitude. This is very
apparent in the later stages of the fire when the tail gas cells had definitely
ruptured.
The Hindenburg did not explode, but burned rapidly in all directions.
Falling pieces of fabric were burning and not self-extinguishing.
Although all pictures of the incident were taken in black and white, eyewitness
accounts have allowed a ‘colouring’ of the original photographs to be done.
These reports all state that the flames were an intense orange-yellow in colour.
This is inconsistent with a pure hydrogen flame, which is almost colourless.
(However, it could well be due to the presence of salt on the outside covering,
as the Hindenburg had just flown across the Atlantic.)
No major gas leak was detected on board the Hindenburg itself, where the
pressure sensors on the gas cells had all registered their normal readings
throughout the flight.
No-one smelled garlic, even though this scent had been added to the hydrogen
to help to detect a leak.
The airship made a ‘high’ landing, and was winched down using landing lines -
this would make a ground-to-cloud electrical path in the highly charged
atmosphere.
The proposed explanation of the fire focused on the nature of the covering of the
craft. Although exact details of the original construction are not known, several
fragments of the fabric from the Hindenburg survived the fire, and were available
for analysis. The infrared spectra showed that inorganic nitrate and cellulose acetate
(Figure 5.3) were used as conditioners for the fabric for strengthening and water-
proofing. Also, to avoid excessive heating of the gas cells, the outer skin was also
covered with a layer of highly reflective aluminium metal and iron oxide. These two
components are not detectable by infrared spectroscopy but can be analysed directly
by scanning electron microscopy.

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PH I OH 1

L OH
1, OH

cellulose

Figure 5.3 The structure of cellulose. Cellulose acetate is a polymer made by substituting one, two
or three (but most commonly two) of the -OH groups on the ring with an acetyl, -OCOCH3, group.

The importance of the reflective coating can be understood by simple calculations.

The Hindenburg had a hydrogen gas capacity of about 200 000 m3. Assuming this
behaves as an ideal gas, the volume change if the temperature of the gas were to rise
by 5 "C from 298 K to 303 K is given by

an increase of more than 3 000 m3!

The mixture of materials used is a highly combustible cocktail of oxidants and fuel.
The components of the reflective paint, iron oxide and aluminium, under the right
circumstances will react together violently:
2Al(s) + Fe203(s)= 2Fe(s) + A1203(s)(2)
The combination of cellulose acetate and nitrate ion has similar properties, with
nitrate being a good oxidant and cellulose-based materials a good fuel (wood is
largely cellulose-based). Normally, there would be no reason for any of these
components to ignite spontaneously. Even in a lightning strike the charge would be
safely spread over the entire surface of the ship, being harmlessly earthed, for
example by the landing ropes on mooring. However, an eyewitness had reported
seeing a blue glow of electrical activity dancing on top of the Hindenburg before the
fire started. This led Bain to propose that an electric charge built up on the craft as it
flew in the vicinity of thunderstorms in the area. The grounding of this charge by the
mooring ropes would cause sparking between an earthed and an adjacent unearthed
panel, which could set the covering fabric on fire. Normally, all the panels would be
electrically connected, but the potential difference between a single unearthed panel
and the grounded adjacent sections would be sufficient to cause sparking across the
gap. The resulting fire would then spread rapidly along the ship, bursting the gas
cells and igniting the hydrogen in the process.
To test this theory a series of experiments was carried out on samples of fabric of
similar composition to those believed to have been used on the Hindenburg and
finally on samples of the original fabric itself, and it was found that:
the behaviour of the fabric under simulated lightning strike conditions (with the
discharge perpendicular to the surface) failed to cause ignition;
an electrical discharge along the surface of the fabric had a very different result,
initiating a vigorous reaction, and rapidly destroying the fabric.
The colour of the flame does not completely prove that hydrogen was not involved
in the initial fire. The Hindenburg had flown over the Atlantic at low altitude (by

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today’s standards) at about a thousand feet, and would certainly have had salt
coating its outer skin. Similarly, the inorganic nitrate used to dope the outer skin
would probably contain sodium or potassium ions. Almost any sort of flame is
sufficiently hot to produce the characteristic, very strong emission spectrum from
sodium atoms, giving the vivid orange-yellow colour. Thus although there is no
reason to doubt the eyewitness accounts of the colour of the flame, it is consistent
with either a hydrogen fire burning through the skin of the craft or a fire of the skin
alone.
All the evidence thus seemed to point Bain towards an aluminium fire in the fabric
of the Hindenburg.
A final piece of corroboration came when a letter was uncovered in the Zeppelin
Archive in Friedrichshafen, Germany, handwritten by an electrical engineer, Otto
Beyersdorff. On 28 June 1937, he wrote:
The actual cause of the fire was the extreme easy flammability of the covering
material brought about by discharges of an electrostatic nature.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to

reproduce material in this book:
Figure 3.l a : Photography Library; Figure 3.I b : Oxford Scientific Films; Figure 4.I :
Associated Press; Figure 4.2: Courtesy of The Sealed Knot; Figure 5.1 : Topham
Picturepoint.
Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright owners, but if any has been
inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary
arrangements at the first opportunity.

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Note: Principal references are given in bold type; picture references are shown in italics.

carbon dioxide, supercritical, 32

carbonatotetraamminecobalt(II1) nitrate, preparation of, 17- 18
absorbance, 61-3
carboxylic acids, separation from amines of, 29-30
absorption (of energy), 58
carpet fibres, identification of, 96-8, 99
absorption spectra, 60, 63
cellulose acetate, 1 14, 115
acetate fibres, identification of, 96-7
2-chloro-2-methylpropane, preparation of, 16-1 7, 22
acids, addition to reaction of, 21-2
purification of product, 23, 25, 28,29, 38-9, 54
adsorbents, 41
chromatography, 41-9,51,54,102
adsorption, 41
codeine, 101
airships, 110-16
coffee, decaffeination of, 32
alcohols, preparation of, using Grignard reagents, 21-2
column chromatography,41,45-6
alumina, as adsorbent for chromatography, 41
combustion analysis, 56-7, 63-4, 72
aluminium, role in Hindenburg disaster, 114-16
completion of reaction, testing for, 43
amides, hydrolysis of, 29-3, 31
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health legislation; see COSHH
amines, separation from carboxylic acids of, 29-30 legislation
ammonium perchlorate, identification of, 108-9 COSHH legislation, 16
analytical reagents, 54 Crick, Francis, 48
anhydrous substances, 26 crude oil, refining of, 38
apparatus, 12-16
Atlanta child murders, 94-9
atomic absorption spectroscopy, electrothermal, 6 1-3 diamorphine, 101
atomic ratios, 64-5 see also heroin
atomic spectroscopy, 58-63 dichloromethane, solvent extraction by, 25, 29, 30
atomization (for spectroscopy), 60-1 dicyclopentadiene, reaction with iron pentacarbonyl of, 18-20, 2 1
diethyl ether; see ethoxyethane
dirigibles; see airships
Bain, Addison, 114 distillation, 34-40,51, 52
barbiturates, spot test for, 102, 103 fractional, 35, 36, 38-9
bases, addition to reaction of, 22 under reduced pressure, 39
benzene, DNA fingerprinting, 48
mass spectrum of, 68, 69 DNA sequencing, 49
separation from toluene of, 34-5 double-bond equivalents, 71-2
benzoic acid, preparation of, 28 drugs,
benzyl alcohol, oxidation of, 28 identification of, 102-4
blackpowder, identification of, after explosion, 107-8 purity of, 54
boiling temperatures, drying agents, 26, 28
at reduced pressure, 40 dyes, identification on fibres of, 95-6, 98
determination of, 54-5, 72-3

Einstein relation, 58
car bomb case, 106-9 electronic energy levels, 58, 60
carbon, determination of, 56-7

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electronic ground state of atom, 58

electrothermal atomization, 60-1
eluants, in TLC, 41-3 heroin, 100-4
elution, in TLC, 41 high-performanceliquid chromatography (HPLC), 46,47
emission (of radiation), 58 Hindenburg disaster, 110-16
emission spectra, 59, 63 Human Genome Project, 49
empirical formulae, 63-5 hydrogen,
enkephalins, 101 determination of, 56-7
ethoxyethane (diethyl ether), solvent extraction by, 25, 26, 30 use in airships, 110, 114, 115-16
ethyl ethanoate (ethyl acetate), solvent extraction by, 25
evaporating solution, 18
ice, determination of lead in, 67, 68
excited state of atom, 58
identification of reaction products, 22, 56-73
explosives, detection of, 107-9
by elemental analysis, 56-63
extinction coefficient, 6 1
by finding empirical formula, 63-5
by mass spectrometry, 49, 65-72
fibres, identification of, 94-9 inert-atmosphere experiments, 19-20
filtration, 50 infrared spectroscopy,
fingerprints, 93 airship covering studied by, 114
flame atomization, 60 explosives identification by, 107-9
flame tests, 58, 59 fibre identification by, 96-7, 98
fluorous solvents, 33 heroin identification by, 103
food colours, separation of, 43-4 ionic liquids, 32-3
iron pentacarbonyl, reaction with dicyclopentadiene of, 18-20, 2 1
forensic science, 93
Atlanta child murders, 94-9 isotope dilution analysis, 67
attempted car bomb murder, 106-9 isotopic analysis by mass spectrometry, 66
DNA fingerprinting, 48
heroin possession, 100-4
Jeffreys, Alec, 48
Hindenburg disaster, 110-1 6
fraction, 45
fractional distillation, 35, 36, 38-9 Kjeldahl method for nitrogen determination, 57
fragment ions, 68,69

laboratory notebooks, 12, 13, 14

Galton, Francis, 93 lead,
gas chromatography (GC); see gas-liquid chromatography (GLC); determination of
pyrolysis gas chromatography in apple juice, 6 1-3
gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), 102 in Arctic ice, 67, 68
heroin identification by, 104, 105 isotopic analysis of, 66
gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), 46-7, 5 1 lightning, role in Hindenburg disaster, 114, 115
gasoline, 38 Locard’s exchange principle, 93
gel electrophoresis, 48, 49
genetic material (genome), 48, 49
Giffard, Henri, 110 malting, 37
glassware, 15 mass spectrum, 49, 66, 68-70,72
see also Quickfit@ apparatus see also gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
GLC; see gas-liquid chromatography melting temperatures, 54-5
‘green’ solvents, 32-3 methylbenzene; see toluene
Grignard reagents, reactions with carbonyl compounds, 2 1-2 2-methylpropan-2-01, reaction with hydrochloric acid of; see
Gross, Hans, 93 2-chloro-2-methylpropane, preparation of

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minisatellites, 48
moisture-sensitive reactions, 18-20, 22
molecular formula, 63, 69-7 1 sabotage investigation, 113-14
molecular ion, 68,69 safety procedures, 16
morphine, 101 see also risk assessment
separating funnel, 16-17, 25
separation, 23
nitrogen, determination of, 56-7 separation procedures,
notebooks; see laboratory notebooks choice of, 51-2
nylon fibres, identification of, 96-8, 99 see also chromatography; distillation; solvent extraction
silica gel, as adsorbent for chromatography, 4 1
‘Smith, Alan’, attempted murder of, 106-9
oil refinery, 38 solubility, 23-4
opiate drugs, 10 1 solvent extraction, 23, 25-6, 28-32,51,52
opium, 101 solvents, 23-4
opium poppy, 100, 101 drying, 26
Orfila, Mathieu, 93 ‘green’, 32-3
oxygen, determination of, 64 polarity of, 24
for TLC; see eluants
spectrophotometric analysis,
packed-column GLC, 46 of dyes, 96, 98
Patterson, Clair, 67 heroin identification by, 103
pentane-1,5-dioic acid, preparation of, 25-6, 27 spectroscopy, 73,89
Planck’s constant, 58 spot tests for drugs, 102-3
planning reactions, 11-12 standard laboratory reagents, 54
polar molecule, 24 sulfur, determination of, 57
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), 48 supercritical fluids, 32
preparation of compound, 11-20
purity (of compound), 54-5
pyrogram, 95 tetraethyltin, preparation and purification of, 39
pyrolysis, 95 thin-layer chromatography (TLC), 41-5
pyrolysis gas chromatography, 95,97 heroin identification by, 103-4
explosives identification by, 107 TLC; see thin-layer chromatography
fibre identification by, 97, 98 toluene (methylbenzene),
separation from benzene of, 34-5
solvent extraction by, 25
Quickfit@apparatus 12,14, 15, 16 transferring solution, 18

Raman spectroscopy, explosives identification by, 107-8 Watson, James, 48

reaction yields, 53 whisky, preparation of, 37
recording experiments; see laboratory notebooks Williams, Wayne Bertram, 94-9
recrystallization, 50-1 work-up procedure, 21-3
reff ux, heating under, 19-20 wort, 37
relative molecular masses, determination of, 68-9
retardation factor in TLC (Rf), 41-2
retention time, 47 X-ray crystallography, 73
risk assessment, 14, 16

yield of reaction, 53

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