INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY

EXERCISE # 5

Alcohols vs. Ethers

This one is a gimme - the O-H peak is characteristic of alcohols and is easy to spot. A possible complication for ethers is an impure sample - if it’s wet, the O-H peak from water may show up.

The compounds used in this exercise are 1-butanol and methyl tertbutyl ether. See if you can figure out which one is which.

Compound A

Expand any region:
4000 - 3200 cm-1 3200 - 2700 cm-1 2700 - 2000 cm-1 2000 - 1660 cm-1 1656 - 1400 cm-1 1400 - 900 cm-1 900 - 600 cm-1
Get the molecular formula of this compound. Get the name of this compound. Get the structure of this compound. Go to the IR data tables. Get an unknown. Go back to the IR exercise homepage.

Compound B

Expand any region:
4000 - 3200 cm-1 3200 - 2700 cm-1 2700 - 2000 cm-1 2000 - 1660 cm-1 1660 - 1400 cm-1 1400 - 900 cm-1 900 - 600 cm-1
Get the molecular formula of this compound. Get the name of this compound. Get the structure of this compound. Go to the IR data tables. Get an unknown. Go back to the IR exercise homepage.