INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this experiment was to demonstrate the conversion of a primary alcohol to 1-bromobutance with the Sn2 mechanism using sodium bromide and then to characterize the compound with two different alkyl halide tests.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Nucleophilic aliphatic substitution involves chemical reactions where a neutral molecule or an anion called a nucleophile substitutes a leaving group by attacking an electrophilic, Lewis acidic carbon atom. Leaving groups are molecular compounds that are departed and replaced by the nucleophile. This interconversion is commonly known as the attack of the nucleophile. Two different mechanisms …show more content…
After the alkyl halide was formed, silver nitrate test and the sodium iodide test are done to classify the compound. These halide tests are done to characterize and assess the molecule by determining which functional groups the product contains. The silver nitrate test reacts in a Sn1 reaction while the sodium iodide test reacts in a Sn2 reaction. Thus, a reaction with the silver nitrate to a product with a tertiary carbon will react faster than for a secondary carbon and followed by a primary whereas the reaction will go faster for a product that has a primary carbon when performing the sodium iodide test. Conclusions can be made with these tested rates. If the product is reacted faster with the silver iodide, than it is concluded that the product contained a primary carbon and if it reacted faster with the silver nitrate, the product contained a tertiary carbon. A secondary carbon product would give reaction rates that are alike. In the experiment, the bromide compounds precipitated when they were formed and their rates of reaction was observed when this …show more content…
These reading can be compared with standard IR readings to determine if the product is the target molecule or not. Carbon-carbon bonds have certain energy levels that can be moved within an IR electromagnetic spectrum. The bonds can bend when light from this spectrum is shined on them. An oxygen-hydrogen bond will need a different level of energy than a carbon-hydrogen bond. This is the idea of the test. The IR reading has a functional region, where the different functional groups can be determined. This is the higher end of the wavelengths on the left of the reading. The right end, called the fingerprint region, comprises the lower end of the wavelengths and is distinctive to the