In the synthesized Friedel-Craft acylation reaction mechanism, the double bond on the nucleophile anisole (methoxybenzene) attacks the acetyl electrophile. The acetyl compound is then bound to the anisole in the para position, which created the product p-methoxyacetophenone. Since anisole is an activator (electron donor), the acetyl could have bound to either the ortho or para position (or in the meta position, but it not as likely). However, the reason that acetyl was not bound to the ortho position was because the para position demonstrated the least steric hindrance. In other lab procedures, …show more content…
This percent yield was within an acceptable range because it was between 1% and 80%. The reason that the percent yield seems low compared to other group’s results, is because the final product contained crystals that were less dense than the liquid form of p-methoxyacetophenone, as seen in Figure 1. The reason that percent recovery was not used to calculate the amount of the final product was because the starting material was different from the final product and therefore, the percent yield equation must be used. Figure 2 represents an IR-spectrum, which shows peaks for functional groups that are present in the purified product. The IR-spectrum shows a peak at a wavelength of 1710 which is depicting a carbon double bonded to oxygen (stretch), which makes sense because the final product was suppose to contain a ketone. There are also two separate peaks at 833 and 806, which are representing a carbon bonded to hydrogen (bending). These peaks are representing an aromatic ring, which is also supposed to be present in the final product. Another important peak is at the wavelength 1170; this peak is depicting a carbon to oxygen bond, which was also supposed to be present in the final product. Ultimately, all of the peaks that were expected to be in the IR-spectrum were, meaning that the product formed was